Mutual selection is a key part of the College Panhellenic recruitment process. It involves both the chapters and potential new members (PNMs) making choices to ensure the best matches are made. Here’s how it works:
After Each Recruitment Round
Chapters
After each recruitment round, chapters create invitation lists, deciding which PNMs to invite back to the next round of recruitment events. This is where mutual selection plays a crucial role, the chapters and the PNMs must express interest in each other to continue through the recruitment process.
PNMS
At the same time, PNMs submit their priority rankings, listing the chapters they would most like to visit again.
This is done using a cluster system, where PNMs must rank all their options without removing any chapters from their list.
The ranking process depends on how many chapters they can visit in the next round.
Each recruitment has a preset format. This format determines the maximum amount of chapters a PNM can attend in a given round.
For example, if the recruitment format is 6-4-2: After the first round, where PNMs visited all six chapters, the PNM would rank four chapters in a cluster with a one ranking, indicating the chapters they prefer to visit next. The remaining two chapters are ranked individually, with one chapter ranked two and the other ranked three.
PNMs are not guaranteed to receive all four invitations to the second round; they must be on those chapters’ invitation lists to visit them again. This is where mutual selection plays a crucial role: the chapters and the PNMs must express interest in each other to continue through the recruitment process.
Event Lists Creation: The Release Figure Methodology (RFM) process combines these invitation lists and priority rankings to create event schedules for the next round. This helps PNMs focus on chapters with a strong chance of being invited back and enables chapters to meet PNMs who are mutually interested in them.
After Preference Round
Bid Matching: After the preference round, the RFM process uses a matching algorithm to match PNMs with chapters (similar to medical school matching). This process considers the preferences of both the PNMs and the chapters, aiming to match each PNM with a chapter they prefer and that also prefers them.
Gaining a better understanding of mutual selection will help you go into the recruitment process with confidence. During recruitment, talk to your recruitment counselor if you have any questions or need support during the ranking process.
Emma Austin
