You *have* to take your QA's and snap bids? Are the QA's anywhere on your bid lists? Are you using RFM...i know some of our chapters balk about being told not to cut more than X women (due to RFM statistics, cutting more would make them not meet quota, etc) but they *can* still cut more than what's recommended (though cutting off their nose to spite their face so to speak)...wondering what area you are in? I agree with the other posters about contacting your I/HQ or NPC rep (or even the NPC advisor assigned to your school) to review what's going on.

Yes, we have to take the QAs and snap bids. They are put in alphabetical order with the girls who were NOT snap/QAs, so unless we took out a copy of our list and compared it and found the X # of people above quota that were lowest on our list that we got, we would not know who was what. We actually agreed to, because of being unable to cut, not take any QAs beyond a certain point on our list if we made quota before that. We went well over quota (more than any other chapter) and the GLA refused to allow us to not take those girls.

We do use RFM at our campus. However, when this happened last fall, we were coming INTO recruitment at just BARELY below total, and larger than other chapters. There is a lot of pressure for us to cut no one because of RFM; however, it ends up biting us in the long run because the girls we got that we DID NOT WANT are:

a). Unhappy
b). make us unhappy
c). Hurt us in rush the next year, because they are awkward and do NOT represent the rest of the chapter.

So studying is not a valid reason not to attend a social function? Oh please. My daughter is in sorority and there are social events, including mixers she cannot attend because indeed she is studying, on *gasp* a Saturday night. She is a 3rd year student majoring in Chemical Engineering, so she pretty much studies all the time, including weekends. I cannot believe that I am reading statements like a have read on this thread ragging on girls who choose to study instead of attend a mixer. I thought getting an education was why these girls are in college.

QFP.

Wow.

I don't really feel like going through all of the pages in this thread, but did the conversation really digress THAT much? Are we talking about studying now?

Good ol' GC lol

Would changing the campus's total help?

I think everyone knows which girls are in majors that require them to study all time, which girls have a huge project due that week, and which girls wasted all their time on facebook/at the house/drinking. not to mention which girls think the fraternity they're mixing with is below them (or not their boyfriend's frat, where they want to hang out) and think that claiming they're studying is a way to get off scot free. And then they "study" (facebook) for an hour and then go out.

Plus, the girls that do study all the time often use the mixer as a welcome break. Show up in minimal costume and maybe only for an hour. Have one drink max. But everyone knows that they've worked hard to get this hour off, and appreciate it.

There's a difference between not making it because you need to study, and making time in your studying to get to do the fun things you pay money for. sometimes you have to miss a mixer because you just have to (sometimes, if you're me, you know if you plan to go out only for an hour, you'll be there until 3am. But everyone knew if I missed a mixer, it was serious :) )

What I really hated were the girls who deliberately planned things to coincide with the events they didn't like. We always had to come back from winter break a few days early so for work week and recruitment. But every year, some of the girls would by plane tickets for the day before classes started "because they didn't know the dates and needed to buy tickets early." I always tried to call BS (I lived way farther than them, I had to buy tickets too, and somehow I always managed to get there for work week). It drove me crazy, but my chapter refused to fine them because they had nonrefundable plane tickets. :rolleyes: (These girls eventually became Rho Gams, which took care of the problem to some extent, and the chapter fines more harshly now, I believe).

Someone else said it, but perhaps there DOES need to be more education that being a member IS a commitment, but if you organize your time, you can fit in most of the stuff you want to. Would it help to offer a "Study Skills" class to new members? Yes, it's something ELSE to do, but a few hours' worth of tricks and tips can make a real difference. Or petition the college to start such a class for freshman. Maybe during orientation. I don't know the right answer, but having taken such a class during freshman year of HIGH SCHOOL, I knew way ahead of time how to effectively study, how to organize fun time and work time, and to make sure I had "free time" to just relax.

ETA: Do members now have "study buddies"? When I pledged, every group had a program like this. They paired a younger and older member (grade year, not initiation year) and studied together at the library a certain # of hours a week. I think 2 "buddy" hours were mandatory (pledges also had other "whenever study hours at the library) and for grade risks, there was more time. It was a built-in time to get busy work or research done (I know you can't do mandatory PLEDGE activities but if EVERYONE participated...). A lot of girls were thankful for the "mandatory" time, though a few chose to chit chat. They finally passed a no-talking rule (outside of talking about school work) for those two hours. For those who felt that they "don't need it", they could be a "buddy" who helped another girl, or find something to work on productively. I am betting that just about any college student could find school work to do for two hours in a library (even if most of their stuff was lab work or done elsewhere). After all, you ARE there for an education, and this is a way to help everyone find time to get work done. These days, you'd have to implement no cells or FB, but that might be hard to monitor. Oh wait, your buddy could do that!

I'd love to hear from GC members who have degrees in Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, etc. Would a "study tips and tricks" class for new members really help those students deal with the workload required in the hard sciences? Doubtful. All I'm saying is that some majors just require more work and time than others.

I have several fraternity brothers who majored in tough disciplines. They were able to manage their time in order to make required events and, in the event that there was a conflict, informed the exec board about what was going on.

If (general) you have absolutely no time for any outside activities, then maybe Greek life isn't meant for you right now.

I went to an engineering school. Plenty of my Brothers found time to dedicate to both the Fraternity and their studies. It's all about time management.

Why wouldn't it? They have other classes as well, ones that DO require memorization or research papers. A three-hour course teaching the basics of how to best retain the info during class, how to take notes, how to "study" and understand concepts. Often it's the classes outside the major that causes a lot of "nuisance" for lack of a better word. I found that listening and taking notes effectively, and figuring concepts and theories in class, made doing homework easier.

As for studying and learning dates and terms, some people are not good at memorizing lists. In many majors, you will have a class or time when you have to learn a lot of definitions, formulas, dates, etc., usually in the 100 and 200 level classes.

Why would you callously dismiss something that gives you tools to learning? Not only did I do better at "passing the test", but I also learned to grasp things better. Saving time can help any person in any major. Why wouldn't it?
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To PL: Did you go to college or join a sorority? Just curious.

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A study tips and tricks class for new members helps every student who wants to learn how to manage a workload. Undergraduate study skills (including the tendency to procrastinate) and average course grade do not vary that much across majors. The average collegiate (across institutions and majors) is a B-/C student--with exceptionally high and exceptionally low averages in between. So, chapters incorporate study programs that will help new members across majors and across learning capacities. It is up to the students themselves to pick up the slack from there.

BTW, the difference between the majors depends on the institution, the courses, and the professors. The majors that require more work and time aren't always the majors that people assume they are.