I suppose that's true, there were women in my own class that didn't go through formal recruitment at all! :o

If the new colonies decide to bid up to the size of the other chapters, then it works out to roughly 100 women in each class (fr, so, jr, sr). At a campus as large as Arkansas, I would think that finding that many women interested in the new chapters is definitely possible. I will be curious to hear how the simultaneous colonizations works in actuality.

I respectfully disagree. I would be very surprised if Alpha Chi and Phi Mu extend bids to 800ish women. This is the time to be very selective. I would think they would take a while to get to average chapter size, while focusing on quality over quantity.

I will definitely defer to you or anyone else who has been through a colonization! :) I was just speculating. How far below campus total will each chapter be able to go? If they go too small, will they be at a disadvantage next fall during formal recruitment if the older chapters have 300 members and they have 200 members? Would they maybe colonize in two groups: take a big group in the fall and then recruit another smaller group in the spring semester? I just assumed that a chapter could be selective and find quite a few quality upper class women who did not go greek originally or transferred in too late in their college careers to go through recruitment.

Let me preface by saying I am not a Phi Mu or an Alpha Chi, and I don't speak for them in any way. Colonies are tough, because the colonizing members have not mutually chosen themselves. The national organization/colony team has chosen them. So, developing chemistry and sisterhood is paramount and challenging. I think 400 young ladies might resemble a mob rather than a sisterhood. And remember they aren't living together this first year, so that makes bonding tough too. These women need extra guidance and attention because they have no actives in their chapter to teach them how to operate. Of course they have advisers, but those women aren't around 24/7. I think logistically that would be too large of a colony to successfully manage. I'm sure both groups have a target membership in mind that will maximize the experience of the members and provide a stable foundation for their futures on campus.

If I were in charge, I wouldn't choose anything near 400. I might even take as few as 200 and do another big informal rush in the spring to take another 100 or so. And I might take more upper classmen and fewer freshman (feeding into my scheme of taking a big spring pledge class). But of course, I'm not in charge, and have no idea about the science and management of how this works in real life. I'm really interested to see how this beta test goes.

Based on my own personal experience (I was a colony member) and the numbers I have seen of other colonizations, I would put money on Alpha Chi and Phi Mu being a bit more selective. IIRC, I heard that almost 400 women submitted interest for my chapter's colonization in 2008. I believe 200ish went for interviews. Average chapter size at U of I is 175 and our initial colony class was 130. It did take use a year or two to get up to average, but now, as we begin our 4th year on campus, we are 100% up to par with the other chapters (based on what I'm seeing in the grade reports). So not being at the same level numbers wise from the get go isn't necessary going to be an issue.

How is colony recruitment going to work with two chapters? Will they have bid day the same day? Is it possible for women to get two bids? Sorry if this is already posted, going back to read after I hit submit :)

KKG took 156.

I am really, really rooting for our two new colonies! This campus needs relief.