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You guys are making my head hurt. Please stop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MysticCat (Post 2203603)

Lane-swerving, but:

You and most others posting here, as women experienced with how NPC recruitment and colonization work, understand that. But the student in college who wants to be Greek and who isn't nearly as familiar with how NPC recruitment and colonization work may not understand that, and may read much more than intended into a statement like this:
Hence the hyperbolic responses to that statement from some who have seen that from PNMs on GreekChat all too often.

Then for informational purposes -- PNMs considering participating in a colonization -- some (snark- and vulgarity-free) information:

Quote:

Colonization and PNMs...is it for you?

Yesterday I spent some time describing generally how the colonization process works. There are quite a few campuses across the US that have sororities colonizing on them this fall. So how do you know as a PNM is colonizing a sorority is right for you? Let’s look at colonization from a PNM’s view-point.

First of all, when a sorority colonizes it actually builds an entire sorority…what I mean is that there will be all 4 classes of girls represented, freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. Let’s talk about the upper classmen first, specifically juniors and seniors. Colonization is an idea for those upper classmen women on campus who wanted to join a sorority but for a number of reasons they didn’t. The reasons range from as freshmen they were intimidated by the process (finding recs for each house, LORS), finances (sorority life can be expensive especially for a girl who is paying her own way), or they just didn’t see how sorority life would fit with their college schedule. Many of the young women I have talked to who have gone through the colonization process as juniors and seniors told me they felt that something was “missing” in their college experience and after colonizing their sorority that void was filled. It’s easy to say “why do this when you only have one or two years of sorority life on campus?” The answer is easy..”Because it’s a sisterhood for a lifetime..not just the years you are in college.” A friend who was a senior and colonized on her campus is now working in her sorority’s national office. It is a misconception that these women will be the “leaders” of the new sorority. While age, maturity and life experiences will certainly give them an edge over the younger girls, colonization is a “it takes a village” sort of experience.

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and

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Sororities and Colonization...a tutorial

I was part of an interesting discussion yesterday….several parents were debating whether sorority and fraternity membership was on the upswing. This conversation came in light of a recent article stating that The University of Alabama had the surpassed the The University of Illinois as the largest greek population in the US.

Here is a link to the blog article for those that are interested, NEW #1, ALABAMA TAKES OVER AS NATION?S LARGEST GREEK COMMUNITY » Phired Up Recruitment Blog.

The subject of colonization came up. Colonization is near and dear to my heart these days since my sorority, Alpha Phi, was just approved (and accepted) to colonize at LSU for the Fall of 2013. In the past 4 years Alpha Phi has colonized on the campuses of Kentucky, FSU, Clemson and Alabama. I am excited to seeing their growing presence on campuses across the US.

[...]

A Joint Information Session will then follow on August 22nd. Usually during the marketing phase sign ups are held to attend this session. In some cases sign ups are not required and PNm’s just choose to attend. In Alabama’s case there were two separate info sessions and a PNM could simply choose which one to attend. During the info session information will be shared about how the colonization process works, how much membership in each sorority costs, housing and meal plans…lot and lots of info!!

There are 2 one hour parties planned on this day as well. Usually during this time a series of “interviews” takes place, sometimes concurrently with the parties. In the case of Delta Gamma at Alabama PNMs were asked to sign up for a particular time slot on one of 4 days. The interviews lasted approximately 15 minutes. Think of these interviews as a mini recruitment conversation of sorts. The PNM will be asked the same type of questions that she would be asked during recruitment….why are you going through colonization, what can you bring to this sorority…..tell us about yourself ect.

After the interview and party process then the PNM’s are asked to asked to rank their personal choices on September 7th. Bid matching will occur and a Bid List will be constructed with Bids being issued on September 9th. Bid Day activities will be planned for PNMs for both houses…jerseys given out as they are welcomed into their new sisiterhoods.

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did you do all that on your iPad mini?

did you use Google? The doodle today is pretty cool.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FSUZeta (Post 2203401)

I hope that you will register tonight for the Bama Panhellenic preview coming up in a few weeks. Here is a link for you:

http://www.uapanhellenic.com/index.p...d=57&Itemid=42

Of possible interest:

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More Questions and Alabama Preview

For those of you attending the University of Alabama’s Panhellenic Preview Weekend next Saturday I wanted to pass onto you that just as the brochure states…dress is casual. In fact, the sororities are all wearing jeans. So ladies if you want to wear jeans and a really cute top go right ahead. I will tell you that I think that you will also see girls in skirts and tops and maybe even a few dresses.

Okay so if you are heading to Preview this next weekend what kinds of questions can you ask the sorority members you are talking with? Here’s a few questions as well as some good points to make.

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Titchou (Post 2203635)

You inidcated that colonization was a great opportunity for upperclassmen at Alabama. I asked if you had stats to back that up. It's that simple. The possible answers are 1) no or 2) yes I do and here they are.

Actually, you said that juniors and seniors would pretty easily find a place in a colonizing chapter. That is quite a bit stronger than my indicating that colonization is a great opportunity for upperclassmen.

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Originally Posted by Titchou (Post 2153648)

Keep in mind that both groups will want members from all classes so seniors and juniors who might otherwise not even go out for recruitment would find a place pretty easily with one of the new ones.

Got stats for that? :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Titchou (Post 2153689)

I was addressing the fact that at Arkansas - as at Alabama - juniors and seniors who pretty much otherwise wouldn't have much of a chance would have much better odds in this scenario. If upperclass quota is say 5, you know with a colonization there will be far more total upperclassmen taken than that....as many more would be signing up than usual.

Got stats?

Sounds like colonization is a great opportunity for upperclassmen, to say the very least, as per you. You knew all 'bout it last June -- what happened?

To dwell on the numbers a bit more, I think the thing is we'd all like to see the exact numbers of how many of each class, how many they offer bids to, how many accept, how many make it through to initiation and how many are there 1 year later. But we all know our nationals would NEVER allow this. As logical, practical women, we know there is a large attrition rate for colonies. Many of the girls are just not prepared for what's going to be involved and/or don't get the hearts and flowers rainbows and unicorns experience they're expecting.

My guess is they would love to have approximately 25% of each grade, but in reality it's probably more like 75% freshmen and sophomores and the other 25% for the juniors and seniors. I would also guess that while there are more opportunities for the juniors and seniors than regular rush, those positions have been recruited heavily by the sorority leadership who are on campus weeks to months prior to colony recruitment. Those juniors and seniors had opportunities to rush in the past and didn't, so they have to be found and convinced. I would bet (this is my last one) that a big percentage of the juniors and seniors who go through a colony recruitment were talked into it by someone else. How much of this can I back up with first hand knowledge or stats? None.

This article in the July 2011 edition of The Crimson White is about the Delta Gamma colonization at Bama. It does not give any number breakdowns, but was certainly encouraging to upperclassmen. You can read the entire article, but the person being referenced in the except I posted was Shaun Young, vice president of membership for Delta Gamma.

http://cw.ua.edu/2011/07/27/delta-ga...eek-community/

Delta Gamma is looking to start a well-balanced chapter, so they will be looking for women of all class ranks and ages to join throughout their colonization process.

“What’s really cool about adding a new sorority to a campus, it really opens up the opportunity to women of all class ranks who may not have pledged as freshmen,” she said. “This is the perfect time for upperclassmen who have a lot to contribute to a new sorority in the form of maturity and leadership, as well as those who want the opportunity of lifetime membership in a sorority, to get in.”

Young encouraged every interested girl to at least come and ask any questions she might have about joining. Many upperclassmen already have responsibilities, but Young said she hopes to assure them that Delta Gamma will fit into their already busy lives.

@DubaiSis -- That would be interesting to know -- I would be surprised if it worked out evenly between classes. Far more freshmen would probably be interested, especially following FR. There are probably fewer juniors and seniors interested, since they may already be involved with other campus activities (and have sort of found their campus niche).

When a sorority colonized on my daughter's campus, all the other chapters on campus helped advertise it to non-Greeks they knew. A girl my daughter knew from high school never went through FR, but did pledge as a junior during the colonization.

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Originally Posted by greekdee (Post 2203688)

This article in the July 2011 edition of The Crimson White is about the Delta Gamma colonization at Bama. It does not give any number breakdowns, but was certainly encouraging to upperclassmen. You can read the entire article, but the person being referenced in the except I posted was Shaun Young, vice president of membership for Delta Gamma.

http://cw.ua.edu/2011/07/27/delta-ga...eek-community/

Delta Gamma is looking to start a well-balanced chapter, so they will be looking for women of all class ranks and ages to join throughout their colonization process.

“What’s really cool about adding a new sorority to a campus, it really opens up the opportunity to women of all class ranks who may not have pledged as freshmen,” she said. “This is the perfect time for upperclassmen who have a lot to contribute to a new sorority in the form of maturity and leadership, as well as those who want the opportunity of lifetime membership in a sorority, to get in.”

Young encouraged every interested girl to at least come and ask any questions she might have about joining. Many upperclassmen already have responsibilities, but Young said she hopes to assure them that Delta Gamma will fit into their already busy lives.

Thanks for finding and posting, greekdee. That certainly is encouraging to upperclassmen at Bama.

But it's all moot because as far as I know, no sorority has stepped up. I hope someone does ;), and I'm sure the news will hit here lightning fast, but there's not a whole lot of point in speculation until something solid happens. How long were we kvetching about needing chapters at Arkansas? It could easily be two more years! I mean, if someone stepped up tomorrow, it probably would NOT be for rush fall 2013 because of the importance of doing it exactly right there and getting the background work up to snuff.

I was a colonizing sister 10 years ago, and NOT at Bama or an SEC school...but for what it's worth...our colonizing class had 76 members. Six girls were seniors; 14 were juniors (including me); the rest were freshmen & sophomores. We did COB 3 more juniors and 8 or 9 more freshmen & sophomores almost immediately...but no more seniors. One senior dropped out shortly after Initiation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hartofsec (Post 2203664)

Then for informational purposes -- PNMs considering participating in a colonization -- some (snark- and vulgarity-free) information . . . .

That post may have been snark-free, but please don't suggest that all of your posts are or that you're merely on the receiving end of snark. From what I've seen, many of your posts drip in good old fashioned Southern, butter-wouldn't-melt-in-my-mouth snark. If that's not your intention, then I'm sure you'll want to know that's how they come across.

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Originally Posted by MysticCat (Post 2203708)

Oh Dear Gawd! There is snark on this site? :eek:

Much as I think your attention to my posts is selective, sometimes snark is intentional -- depending on to what/whom I am responding. But I've never whined to a moderator when on the receiving end, either, or requested that a thread be closed.

If your intention is to point out snarky posts on this site, then I'm sure you'll want to know that you missed a few. Quite a few. :rolleyes: