i guess i can understand the whole 40 to 50 close friends when youre in a chapter of 100, but isnt the point of being in a fraternity or sorority to know all of your brothers/sisters? i am best freinds with every single girl in my sororoity and we have about 25 girls. on our campus the bigest chapter is, i believe, 55. last semester, one night at the bar, about a week before their initiation, i asked a girl from XYZ one of her pledges names, and she had to find 3 girls from her sorority before she could tell me. now there is something wrong with that.

Some sororities that are that big make their pledges memorize their composites. I think of that this way, though... our greek life system has thousands of people in it (I'm not sure the exact number), but I still know at least a few people from every sorority/fraternity, and am close friends with about 20 or 30 of them(from outside my chapter) so I figure if I can do that in a Greek Life system where I may only see people once a week, and there are thousands of people, then certainly these people in 200+ member chapters can, too. My chapter was only 90 people at it's biggest, and that's one of the things we enjoyed about it... we knew everyone else in our chapter. But at a big school that's building $2 or $3 million houses, as well as having a different philanthropic event every week (sometimes three in a week, as I've found out before) it does cause a problem and make things difficult. I dunno, it's a crazy debate that could go on for years... what's more important, being competitive on campus or having a true sisterly bond? I gotta say, though... We all feel a bond with ANYONE we see wearing our letters, whether from our chapter or not... and THAT's the point of being a part of a national or international organization.

AOII's biggest chapter is most likely at University of Georgia and then I know my chapter here at Ole Miss has over 200 members too.


At Ole Miss the Chi Chapter of Tri Delta has almost 300 members, as does the Alpha Psi chapter of Delta Gamma, Alpha Mu Chapter of Kappa Delta and Tau Chapter of Chi Omega. I believe the Alpha Delta Chapter of Phi Mu has about 250 members....

Re: like to hear all points of view...
 

Erik, as always, great e-mail. From the KU Beta website:

Academics:
"Since 1934, the Betas have had the highest GPA among KU fraternities every semester but five (they finished second in '48, '51, '53, '82, and '00). The Chancellor's Cup has remained in the Beta trophy collection every semester but two since the award was established in 1979-80."

Sports:
"As early as 1950, the Betas found themselves "competing against houses with larger memberships." That situation has continued to exist since that time. How then, have the Kansas Betas had such an impressive overall record? The Kansas Betas notes, "The Betas won, it seems, not because of better athletic talent but because they cared more, worked harder, and had practically every man in the house involved in one sport or another." Which still remains true today."

Recruitment (it appears they choose 24 guys a year):
"At 1425 Tennessee we regard rush as one of the most important of all Hutt actives. Every year we bring together 24 of the strongest young men, and make them stronger as they become one united class over the next six months. Although we receive many recommendations from the active chapter we also rely on the alumni for their support; and it is through your support that the Hutt stays strong. However, if you are interested in rushing the Beta house and do not know any Beta Alumni or actives within the chapter please fell free to contact our rush chairs."

I was thinking, based on rush numbers alone, if Auburn Gamma Delta's well over 200, then Epsilon (Kentucky) and Upsilon (Oklahoma) must be around that number also...since quota in recent years have been in the 40-50-60 range.

I really don't know if I'd be able to handle so many sisters!

According to our website this is our info. It was updated on Sept 16

•Largest chapters:
Alpha Psi-Mississippi: 250
Alpha Iota-Oklahoma: 237
Mu-Missouri: 223
Gamma Zeta-Louisiana State: 213
Alpha Nu-Southern California: 204

D Phi E's biggest chapter is probably the Delta Kappa chapter at University of Florida with like 175 members.

How many are actually active in the 200+ member chapters...?

The sororities on my campus max out at like 90, but truely active girls-that's closer to like 30. Maybe 40 tops. Among the frats on my campus, the largest is under 60, but active guys...maybe 25.

In my opinion, numbers really don't meet anything. I would rather have a small chapter that when I call them brother, I am proud to say that, rather than have 150 guys with most of them I don't know personally.

I just guessing b/c I don't think it's published anywhere. I think ours is the Psi chapter at James Madison Univ. w/ 130 women. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I think so, too. That's a lot of sisters! :D

For Gamma Phi, I'm sure of the absolute biggest chapter, but I do know that Oklahoma, Southern Cal, possibly Kansas are all very large chapters.

DU is around 160 members at OU. Missourri has 130.

I can truely understand Eriks point of view about largeness of a GLO.

If one is walking across campus and sees someone wearing letters would they know them or think maybe it is someone just wearing them?

At one time, We had a chapter size of 65 which was very large on our campus. Many years when I was active in the earlt post grad years, I knew everyone.

A space evolved for me of some years that I was not active and knew so few. Now, though, back into Chapter life, I still know many if not most for the last seveal years. But remembering names is another thing.

I just cannot imagine having chapters of these sizes and not knowing who my Brothers and Sisters were.

Whoa! That's an Alpha Delta Pi ARMY!

the poor photographer who had to mat that entire composite. I bet he took a long vacation.