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-   -   help! bad sorority rep! (https://greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=125544)

sconnie09 03-24-2012 04:47 PM

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knight_shadow 03-24-2012 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sconnie09 (Post 2134236)
hey guys! i'm fairly new to greekchat and the greek system. i'm a sophomore and rushed this past fall and have been initiated into my sorority. i have a problem and need your help! my sorority has a bad reputation as being "ugly" and "boring" and "weird." i have no idea where this reputation came from but all other sororities hate us and frats hate us. we can't get a social with any of the big, popular frats. im feeling very down about this because it's like people look at me funny when i tell them im an "XYZ" and i just dont know what to do. i want to have to same opportunity as other girls to meet guys in the better frats and do fun things like derby days. please give me some advice! :)

You sound stuck up.

Why not mingle with the guys in the "worse" frats?

Splash 03-24-2012 04:58 PM

I'd have a meeting with your chapter and discuss some ideas of how you can turn this around. Some ideas:

1) Look good and be fun when you wear your letters. Let's say you look awesome one day, wear your letters and be sociable and make friends!

2) Plan events that give back to your campus. For example, during finals, have a table set up near the library that gives free coffee or free chips or something.

3) Plan events with other Greek groups that aren't socials. I would reach out to more than one (maybe 1 other sorority and 2 fraternities) and plan an event that is not a social. This forms friendships which leads to people wanting to mix with you. Establish good relations with other Greek groups and continue to branch out to even more Greek groups from there.

4) Get involved on campus! How can someone think your rep is bad if your sister is homecoming queen or captain of the soccer team?

You need to turn this around and I feel the best way to do this is to start connecting with others as friends. They don't know you and that's why you have a rep. When they get to know you and see how awesome you guys are the rep will slip away. I hope some of my ideas helped and hopefully other posters will offer some other suggestions or critique mine if they're not sound.

sconnie09 03-24-2012 05:10 PM

@knight_shadow: im not stuck up, i just hate that people form a negative opinion about me when they see what house im in.

@splash: thank you so much for the advice! :)

knight_shadow 03-24-2012 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sconnie09 (Post 2134241)
@knight_shadow: im not stuck up, i just hate that people form a negative opinion about me when they see what house im in.

If it makes you feel bad when folks do it to you, why would you do it to others? Why can't you mingle with fraternities, as opposed to "big, popular" fraternities?

sconnie09 03-24-2012 05:28 PM

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knight_shadow 03-24-2012 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sconnie09 (Post 2134244)
i do. it just bothers me that there are some that literally won't mingle with us just for the fact that we don't have a great reputation!

...and you're doing the same by ignoring the less-than-popular guys.

excelblue 03-24-2012 06:12 PM

I'll be blunt here. Do you remember that you are part of that very sorority?

Have you done anything yourself to address this issue? Or, are you just complaining about the rest of your chapter?

Are you actively doing things to give your sorority a good reputation? Or, are you leaching off the reputations of your sisters?

Have you spoke to the fraternities in question and figured out some way for them to have a social with you? Or, are you just observing that you don't have socials with those fraternities?

More so, did you or your chapter ever do anything that gives your chapter a positive reputation? It's something that's earned, not given, traded, or kept.

Those are things to think about: you are a part of your chapter as much as every one of your sisters.

AnotherKD 03-24-2012 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knight_shadow (Post 2134251)
...and you're doing the same by ignoring the less-than-popular guys.

Boom.

MysticCat 03-24-2012 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knight_shadow (Post 2134251)
...and you're doing the same by ignoring the less-than-popular guys.

Bingo.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sconnie09 (Post 2134236)
im feeling very down about this because it's like people look at me funny when i tell them im an "XYZ" and i just dont know what to do.

Make the choice to be proud instead of embarrassed.

33girl 03-25-2012 12:13 AM

ALL sororities on campus should be invited to participate in Derby Daze. If this isn't the case, Sigma Chi's national headquarters should be contacted immediately. If it's your sorority that is ignoring the event, I would speak up (sooner rather than later) and say that the newest pledge class would like to change that and participate.

Quit worrying about getting mixers with the "popular" fraternities (frats grates like nails on a chalkboard, you might want to not use it). Have fun socializing with the ones who like you and forget the ones who are too stuck up to give you a chance.

IndianaSigKap 03-25-2012 03:55 PM

To add to what a previous poster said above, do work on your social networking and I don't mean online social networking sites. Get out there and meet people. If you have a chapter house, do dinner exchanges with fraternities and other sororities. When we did them we would send 8 members of our chapter over to the other chapter and they would send 8 to ours. Send your most outgoing members to the other chapter because they do not have others to rely on for conversation. Usually the 8 guests were split up among all of the tables. The sisters remaining at home to hostess can rely on each other to support and carry the conversation with the one guest. The fraternity men can see that your chapter is full of nice, intelligent young ladies. Believe me, they will tell others. It doesn't cost anything because you are just swapping numbers. If you don't have chapter houses, you have to be a little more creative. You can reserve an on campus room and have a study break for an hour or so, with snacks or meet up at a local restaurant for a group dinner date. I think your best bet is to just get out there and show the campus what you're really like. Start having days where the chapter wears letters while looking their best and use part of your budget to reward sisters for doing this. One of the chapters I advised did a token reward system like this. Sisters put names in the box when they saw a sister perform a random act of kindness, attend another chapter's philanthropy event, wear letters or badge looking especially nice, etc. At the end of the semester, they drew names out of the box for prizes like lettered tees, a hoodie, and the big prize each semester was free chapter dues for the following semester. (The advisers got together with the alumnae sponsored this prize.)

AOEforme 03-25-2012 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sconnie09 (Post 2134236)
hey guys! i'm fairly new to greekchat and the greek system. i'm a sophomore and rushed this past fall and have been initiated into my sorority. i have a problem and need your help! my sorority has a bad reputation as being "ugly" and "boring" and "weird." i have no idea where this reputation came from but all other sororities hate us and frats hate us. we can't get a social with any of the big, popular frats. im feeling very down about this because it's like people look at me funny when i tell them im an "XYZ" and i just dont know what to do. i want to have to same opportunity as other girls to meet guys in the better frats and do fun things like derby days. please give me some advice! :)

Unfortunately, the tiers at Madison are not going to change a whole lot....I went through recruitment 6 years ago and the top three and bottom two are exactly the same. If you are looking to switch to top tier it is not going.to happen.

However you CAN improve the reputation of your chapter. Run for panhel rep and volunteer members of your chapter (especially the bright and vivacious ones) to help out. Maximize your opportunities with the mandatory Sorority Sisterhoods and Sober Socials. Go to fraternity philanthropy events..... All of them.

If you show up at their house on Friday nights to drink beer expecting to be paid for because you are a sorority girl, that won't help. Build friendships and go from there. Any fraternity mixer I planned was with a friend in another chapter. I was wary to plan mixers with people I didn't know that well.

Good luck!

AOEforme 03-25-2012 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndianaSigKap
Start having days where the chapter wears letters while looking their best and use part of your budget to reward sisters for doing this. One of the chapters I advised did a token reward system like this. Sisters put names in the box when they saw a sister perform a random act of kindness, attend another chapter's philanthropy event, wear letters or badge looking especially nice, etc. At the end of the semester, they drew names out of the box for prizes like lettered tees, a hoodie, and the big prize each semester was free chapter dues for the following semester. (The advisers got together with the alumnae sponsored this prize.)

Every chapter at UW has several supportive alumnae and/or alumna chapters. Just ask and I'm sure you would have people willing to set this up.

33girl 03-25-2012 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AOEforme (Post 2134468)
Unfortunately, the tiers at Madison are not going to change a whole lot....I went through recruitment 6 years ago and the top three and bottom two are exactly the same. If you are looking to switch to top tier it is not going.to happen.

Did I miss something????

AOEforme 03-25-2012 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 33girl (Post 2134527)
Did I miss something????

Sorry! With her going to University of Wisconsin or my response?

I assumed she is a UW student because of the name "sconnie9". Sconnie is a term we use to describe UW students or students from Wisconsin, especially those at UW. (It's also the name of a clothing "line" in the area, that makes a bunch of college gear).

33girl 03-26-2012 12:47 AM

With her going to UW.

DubaiSis 03-26-2012 02:04 AM

That was a leap most of us didn't make.

Cheerio 03-26-2012 11:35 AM

Google sconnie or check you tube. (sorry, I don't set-up links well, but the youtube video What's a Sconnie? is cute)

TSteven 03-26-2012 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 33girl (Post 2134359)
ALL sororities on campus should be invited to participate in Derby Daze. If this isn't the case, Sigma Chi's national headquarters should be contacted immediately. If it's your sorority that is ignoring the event, I would speak up (sooner rather than later) and say that the newest pledge class would like to change that and participate.

I have never heard of a sorority chapter not invited to participate in Derby Days. Though I don't know what IHQ could or would do, I am sure they wouldn't like it either.

DeltaBetaBaby 03-26-2012 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TSteven (Post 2134659)
I have never heard of a sorority chapter not invited to participate in Derby Days. Though I don't know what IHQ could or would do, I am sure they wouldn't like it either.

LOL, when I was in school, the Sigs invited everyone, but went out of their way to be sure one of their favorite sororities won it.

amIblue? 03-26-2012 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby (Post 2134661)
LOL, when I was in school, the Sigs invited everyone, but went out of their way to be sure one of their favorite sororities won it.

Exactly

TSteven 03-26-2012 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby (Post 2134661)
LOL, when I was in school, the Sigs invited everyone, but went out of their way to be sure one of their favorite sororities won it.

:eek: I am shocked. ;)

Ruspa 04-05-2012 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MysticCat (Post 2134296)
Bingo.

Make the choice to be proud instead of embarrassed.

epic win :)


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