# of pledge classes
 

If your pledge program is structured correctly, you can really make two pledge classes a semester work (as long as the school allows for year round recruitment). The first thing you need to focus on is length of the pledgeship though. For this to work, a pledge program should only really be five to six weeks in length. Then, one of the first lessons you can teach the new members is "how to recruit" and the "right way to rush". This can start with having them list everyone they know at the school that isn't greek that they would like to introduce to the chapter. This creates a "gene pool" that you can use as a start for your efforts for a second pledge class. Two pledge classes also alows you to work on prospective members that weren't entirely sure at the beginning of the semester or needed more time to think.

Having two pledge classes can also lighten the load on the chapter and new member educators. Having two pledge classes of 10 people each are easier to focus on and give individual attention to than having one pledge class of 20 people. Also, if you are having more than one pledge class it constantly reaffirms to the chapter the idea of year round recruitment, instead of getting your big class in the fall (or spring for those with deferred recruitment) and then not recruiting the rest of the year.

This is just my take on the issue. I don't want anyone to think I'm against just having one class a semester, I just want to show benefits of having two classes.

Around the third week of each Fall semester, my chapter paticipates in Fall (formal) Recruitment where we usually take in about 30-40 women. Since cap is currently 75 for each chapter, we don't have a need to recruit in Spring. We RARELY recruit in Summer (we are a commuter school, so we are active year round) unless we have a large number of graduates,but if we do, we usually pick up another 5-6 girls during informal. I couldn't imagine having to go through the "recruitment" experience more than once a semester... it is a truly DRAINING experience!!!

My chapter was, and still is, far below total, so we were always recruiting.

We participated in fall formal recruitment, and held a COB rush week early in the spring semester. Normally we got our "big" class in the fall and picked up 1 or 2 in the spring.

If someone expressed an interest in joining, though, we wouldn't make her wait until the next official rush - we would each make the effort to meet her, then the chapter would vote on whether to extend her a bid. We got several great women that way :) If we had a NM class going at the time, and it was early enough in their NM period, she would catch up in her NM education and join them; otherwise, she met privately with the new member educator and was initiated by herself (and got her own separate NM class designation).

Now that my school has gone to deferred rush, my chapter holds a COB rush in the fall for sophomores and up, and will participate in formal rush at the beginning of spring semester.