What is the rationale for recruiting a "type"?
 

This might seem like a weird question, but here we go.

Why do some chapters recruit a certain "type"? I'm not asking for membership selection information and I'm pretty certain that there is no NPC group that always recruits the same "type" on every campus.

Without going too much into Tri Delta membership selection, we were always encouraged to recruit a diverse group of women. We wanted a well-rounded chapter with different women in terms of majors, hometowns, looks, campus involvement, etc.

So I guess I'm curious what motivates certain chapters to go for a certain look or type. Campus reputation? Wanting to be around people just like themselves? Fraternity relationships?

Thoughts or experience with this? Thanks! :)

Do you mean like why does the hot blonde (or any other popular stereotype) house always recruit hot blondes? Because being known as a hot blonde is important to them. I'm pretty sure no one discussing Greek life on the Internet is going to have a meaningful rationale for that.

Otherwise, I think it's important for chapters to think of their future pledge class not only as individuals but also how they'll do as a class. If you bid 50 wonderful girls who are all type-A leadership types, that pledge class is going to be a hot mess. Instead, if you bid 50 wonderful girls who are a mix of leaders, active followers, creative girls, athletic girls, and any other sort of "type" of person who is useful to an organization's growth and advancement then you're going to be better off.

Are you sure they recruit a type? Have you thought maybe they just recruit girls that are just similar to themselves?

I think when you look at some pictures on chapter websites, you can tell that there are groups that definitely recruit a type. We had a couple where I went to school as well. It was well-known and obvious.

I guess it is hard for me to fathom that the highest goal of a group of college women is that they are the "hot blondes" on campus. I know it is probably the case, but still...

This.

I think that some sororities do recruit "types" but it may not be a conscious thing. One group at Auburn seemed to attract the girls who were upper-class and strong Christians. One at Arkansas was said to carefully choose their new members with an eye to taking as many beauty titles as possible.

Now you definitely see some sororities aim for the girls with the best grades (because they're proud of their standing on campus) or jocks (they practically advertise being #1 in intramurals on their campus for 20 years). I recall one chapter that tried to pledge the girls with the best voices because they were so determined to win the Christmas Sing every year. Said the former Panhellenic president from back in the day when we met up a few years ago:"Don't you remember how everyone else would maybe get out there with antlers and sing Rudolph? And then that group would sing the Hallelujah Chorus in black gowns in 8-part harmony."

Unless you are in the room when they are selecting members I don't think you can say that for sure. I know on my campus the chapter who is the HBH still have members who don't fit that stereotype at all. You only notice that a majority of the women are "hot blondes" but the rest fade back. Also you can't base membership simply on photos on a website. Those photos are always selected to show the chapter in the best light.

Why is it that some people assume that just because you and your sisters are attractive and care about your appearance that it's your only or highest goal? My collegiate chapter was often described as the hot blondes but we were also the highest GPA house my entire tenure there and won many national philanthropy awards as well as academic accolades. All women are multidimensional.

I think, if anything, chapters are more likely to consciously recruit for what they DON'T have enough of in their chapter, e.g. "We sucked at intramurals this year, let's try for some more athletes" or "it would be great if we had more artsy types for making bid day banners".

PNMs coming thru may have older friends from HS in sororities on campus. They may be drawn to that chapter because they have(or had) a strong friendship with the older girl and at the same time the older girl might really be pulling for her PNM friends because they were friends back home. In the same vein, they may not like a chapter because of a hometown girl they knew back in HS.

Because you met/saw one or two members in one or two situations acting shallow or stuck up and that automatically means that the entire chapter is like that, of course ;)

Seriously now, I think it's part of the way that people would rather identify a group by a negative trait than a positive one, the way news reports on Greek life are almost always negative. Story about bright, caring girls doing philanthropy? Boring. Story about shallow, controlling stepford wives making their pledges line up and circle their fat? Much more interesting/profit-making. In the same way, when Greeks look for a one-liner to sum up a house you can't go "oh they're smart involved house" because that's not very interesting (and hopefully describes most chapters at the school), but "blonde cokewhores" is much more interesting and makes us feel better about our own group. It's easy to be rude to the blonde cokewhores and not feel bad about talking badly about them in an attempt to get more/better new members- much harder to do so with the smart involved house (who happens to be pretty).

Alternately, I do believe that there are houses that value good looks during MS, among other things of course. But if you're in a group that doesn't (or, more sensitively, can't because you don't get those girls) value good looks during MS, you start rationalizing that the others are superficial human beings and you're better than them because you're not like that. It kind of sucks to think that other groups might have value when your whole selling point is "join us because those girls are useless hot blonde clones".

Think about how often you meet best friends who look like sisters? Like attracts like and people that hang around each other a ton will start developing similar interests and tastes.

So even if the "Hot Blonde" chapter recruits a "Not Hot Bruenette" she's likely to start eating and working out like her sisters. So maybe she becomes "Hot". If she has lots of bottle blonde sisters she may decide to give it a whirl too. Now she's just another "Hot Blonde" sister.

This!

This question is offensive on multiple levels. The OP's chapter would never do such a thing, of course.

Why is it offensive? The topic of chapter "types" comes up in just about every lengthy recruitment story we get.

And my chapter was never in the position to be selective enough to only go after certain types. When your goal is simply to approach something even close to quota, you aren't thinking about establishing your chapter as a certain type on campus. :)

That explains a lot about your perspective. It's easy to dismiss other chapters as shallow for their choices when you're not in a position to have choices.

I think this all goes back to the "typical greek person" concept. My campus just had a new group come on last semester and they learned very quickly that saying things like "we're not a typical GLO that drinks all the time and disregards academics and those who aren't in our group" backfired very quickly- people grouped them into it anyway and it just made the rest of the Greek community angry. Because none of us fit that stereotype, not a single one, regardless of what people who don't know anything about us think. Are there groups that take looks into consideration? I think yes. But I have no idea if that's true since the girls are awesome anyway.

tldr, every time someone says "I'm not a typical sorority girl" your universal power of choice kills a puppy.

How did they know which girls could sing? Did they have them sing during recruitment?

Also, I'm going to go MC on you and point out that the Hallelujah Chorus is only written in four parts.

They recruited girls whom they knew to be great singers plus they looked on rush resumes to find people who had won choral awards.

I know that it's SATB but the woman who was reminiscing was exaggerating on purpose.

I don't think it's offensive. I think attempting to recruit a certain "type" of new member is a trap that both competitive and non competitive chapters can fall into. It goes along with that mentality, and I know we've all heard this about some PNM or another that goes something like this" "well, she's just not *insert greek letters here* material." That always make me CRINGE.

When a chapter strays from recruiting members that meet their membership standards and either goes after or dismisses women that they think present a specific image, they are headed for trouble, IMO.

For example, if the chapter that wants to improve it's prestige standing on campus targets only women who are heavily involved in student government or prestigious campus orgs, your chapter might end up with a leadership vacuum of its own with too many women that are overly involved in other campus activities and therefore don't have the time or interest in making their sorority membership their top priority.

On the other hand, a less competitive chapter that doesn't work to attract some "bling" for their chapter, maybe thinking they should only pursue women who are "natural" or "down to earth" are probably not only selling themselves short, but missing out on some great PNMs who would be assets to the chapter and great sisters.

Bottom line, we've all got to work to create balance in our chapters and remember that the recruitment process is largely a leap of faith. The reality is that most PNMs could be happy and have a great experience in almost any chapter, if she meets the basic membership requirements and has the right attitude, and most chapters are diverse on all kinds of levels. Isn't one of the greatest things about sorority membership discovering the talents and qualities of your sisters that don't overtly come across in recruitment?

Why I believe 33girl said it was offensive is this line from the OP
She is assuming that some chapters ONLY recruit based on appearance.

YES. I totally agree with this. Especially if we're talking (which it sounds like we are) about chapters that have a tendency to get women who look a certain way.

Now, I do think there's a benefit to a chapter looking at what the chapter's vibe/type is, and being thoughtful about what type of members they would like to actively recruit - whether that's athletes, women with higher GPAs, more leaders, active followers, etc. A healthy organization will regularly self-assess to see what components they are lacking.

And just because your chapter looks for a type doesn't mean that it's ignoring your organization's membership standards - if anything, I think it's just narrowing down the standards for that chapter. Some chapters share a quirky sense of humor, or have a more "chill" attitude that won't mesh with all of the super-star PNMs that come through. Understanding this can be a matter of membership retention.

Also, have we completely ignored the PNM's preference in this matter? Those "hot blonde dancer" chapters also have the hot blonde dancer PNMs CHOOSING to be there - so how much of it is the chapter's affinity to the PNM, and how much is the PNM's affinity to the chapter?

LOL--within an eight year time frame, two of my brunette cousins joined same NPC group at different (SEC and Big Ten) schools, and they both became bottle blonde sisters. I, too, wonder whether blond-ing is a semi-requirement for collegians of their group.

If you read one of her next post is spells it out completely how I wrote it. She is assuming that some chapters ONLY recruit based on appearance.

Thank you.

The only reason I mentioned the hot blondes was because someone followed up with that example and I responded to it in the conversation. I specifically said "look or type", not just "look" in my original post.

It's curious to me that in the present day when diversity is such an important value for younger generations that they would want to make choices that appear to fly in the face of that value. The lack of diversity (income, race, etc.) is one of the stereotypes that Greeks have fought for a long time.

It still seems odd to me that a chapter would want to be known as the hot blondes (to follow with that example). I guess when I see how empowered women are today in terms of education and opportunities I don't know why they would want that to define their chapter. It's great if they also distinguish themselves by having a high chapter GPA, but it still puzzles me based on the core values of this generation.

If your chapter truly thought it was not in a position to be selective, then it's not our fault that your chapter followed stupid advice.

Even if you are 50% under total, even if you have to pray every night that girls will sign bids with you and/or not drop out before initiation and/or self terminate, the day you stop being selective is the day you might as well give up and close your doors. No one wants that which everyone can get.

And I think you are way overestimating this generation, considering that Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton have careers.

Is it type or is it fit?

Women will like women that they get along with, that fit in with them. So over time, athletes recruit and favor other athletes, girly-girls favor girly-girls, ect.

This is what I am scared about.... I am a newly enrolled freshmen and would love to rush. ALL my college friends who are in sororities tell me I would love it. I am just scared I will not fit in. I listen to rock, I am not bleach blonde and do not have loads of money. I have always been outgoing. Volunteering and caring for others is my passion. I am 5'10 and a curvy size 8 psychology major. I fill like I would be the fish out of water...

I can assure you that not all sorority girls are bleach blondes with tons of cash. Honestly the majority of sorority women I know do NOT fit the stereotypical archetype... If you go through recruitment you will soon see that there isn't ONE type of girl who goes through rush, or ONE type of girl who makes up a chapter. This thread probably doesn't ease your concerns at all-- maybe try looking through Recruitment Stories. There are loads of posts from girls who "weren't the sorority type," or "never in a million years thought they would fit in." Also, glance through the chapter websites at your school-- in addition to pictures, there are usually involvement lists. It might help you get a sense for how different each member is.
Good Luck! Go Greek!

Meet the women before you start freaking out, and if you hear gossip about who's supposedly what type then make a real effort to keep an open mind. Often, a handful of members from wealthy families turns into "the snobby rich girls" or a couple girls who enjoy sports becomes "the athletes," which obviously doesn't apply to the chapter as a whole at all. If you make an honest effort to get to know the actives, they'll surprise you :)

(and the obligatory "I'm an example of someone who doesn't fit the stereotype" comment, I'm sitting here in an Air Force jacket and a Doctor Who t-shirt ;) )

So is this what all your college friends who are in sororities are like? Where would you get such an antiquated stereotype?