[thetygerlily]

My initial thought, as someone who came from a very small system, is yes.

My system had three sororities with around 30 members each, with an average of 20-25 PNMs matching during formal recruitment. It was not competitive, although not everyone got where they wanted or had a perfect recruitment. We saw maybe 1-2 legacies a year max (mostly when an older sister was in the same school), and about as many recs. Legacies and recs were novelties, not requirements or major factors in decisions. But there were not mandatory cuts on either side, nor were chapters known for only taking certain kinds of girls. The personalities of the chapters were different and certain chapters were known for more things than others (e.g. smart, athletes, pretty partiers) but all chapters had a variety of those three stereotypes. Ultimately most people joined where they felt the most comfortable, where they knew the most people, or who impressed them the most in various ways. We also had deferred recruitment, though.

This is probably an argument for deferred recruitment as well, to allow time for PNMs to get to know the chapters better and vice versa. Thus real connections can be made, and the inputs into the decision making process can be based on a variety of interactions rather than literally and figuratively, a "rush".

I will say that had I gone to a larger school with a lot more chapters and a competitive recruitment, I probably would not have gone through. Hard to say in hindsight (we were so brave as 18 year olds, weren't we?) but I barely went through as it was.