number of pledge classes per semister
 

I was talking to a guy from a differnt fraternity, and told me how is chapter went through some stuff and lost a bunch of guys (a big house down to 20) and he said to get back up they are doing to pledge terms in the semisters, what does everyone think about it? I see pros and cons, but i want to hear some differnt opinions about this before i bring it up in meeting.

Well, depending on the length of the pledge program, if the school allows it, and how DRAINING the actual pledge program is.....I don't see a major problem.

I mean, would it be possible to have recruitment essentially during the last weeks of one pledge class' pledging?

Re: number of pledge classes per semister
 

We only take 1 per semester. I dont have a problem with a group taking more than 1, but I dont think they will be too successful.

One small fraternity on my campus tried taking 2 pledge classes a semester and they didn't get any pledges during the second cycle. If someone really wanted to pledge they would probably pledge during the first cycle.

My chapter of Phi Sigma Sigma takes 2 every semester, and I believe that most other chapters do as well.

The first half of the class is usually larger, this semester we have 7, and we don't get as many with the second half, 3 this time. But we are sure to make sure the NMs know that they are all one class.

I think its a good idea to have 2 classes, because it gives people more of an opportunity to join. Another sorority on my campus decided to take 2 classes this semester, too.

Our chapter of Alpha Phi only has one a semester. In the fall after the girls we get through formal recruitment, we usually do Continuous Open Bidding (COB) to possibly get to total. Depending on how many girls we get gives the size of the pledge class. This semester we had 7.

We have one pledge class in the fall and one pledge class in the winter.

we have one formal rush per year... in the fall, And it starts a few days before classes start... and kinda ends that weekend after classes start. I liked it cause then I knew a bunch of girls around campus right when I got there... not neccesarily by name - but by face.

Last spring we had two pledge classes, and this fall we had one.

Usually multiple pledge classes means that the chapter does a a variation of rolling admission.

That is probably the most effective way of getting the most amount oif new members because it strikes when its hot.

We all know of people that would pledge if they could now, but might not if they have to wait a semester.

However, many groups that try this fail because their pledge programs aren't adapatable enough to have people coming in at all times. . .

Most pledge programs are designed for a specified group going through at a specified time.

Its a great tool though if you can manage it correctly.

We do this kind of stuff with our pledge classes.

We are small about 30 women.

This is our year:
We cannot pledge first semester women so we give them their bids after thanksgiving, but we give them ribbons...aka social pledge i guess. then they get pinned in january. they finish about 3/4 through their program we bid out again. This class then is finished by the last week in april. however, about 3/4 through the second spring class we bid out again. that class gets pinned and then actually do pledge when they get back starting in august. We will bid out if we can get the numbers in the fall. once or twice, using the same times. it works well for us. but we also do small classes more often rather than one or two huge classes. we average about 5-7.
Does this make sense?
We also do not have formal rush (we are the only npc) We also tend to get girls who are not 'always' joiners. we have a lot of girls that do not think they will, then change their minds.
one thing to be careful of is that class that holds over the summer. you need to have someone that is willing to keep in contact with them make sure they stay interested. but it has worked well for us. one girl we almost lost ended up delaying till the next class. but other than that...i don't think we have lost one over the summer hold.
hope that helps!
Tau Love
Lil E

i've heard of some chapters doing it - usually if they're under quota they COB to fill up to house/pledge class total and then depending on how many they need or how many they get to accept the bids, and if they have enough for another pledge class, they do it.

i dont think its really that fair or fun for the new members to have a pledge class of only two or three girls when the average pledge class size is 20 or 30 girls -- usually most houses would wait until the next semester.

in theory i think its a good idea, especially if the chapter is doing a lot of rebuilding. but it definetly seems like it would be hard to execute.

Sounds like a lot of work...

1 per semester, 2 per year. That's all I think we'd want to handle.

We only take one class a semester, but a few years ago one of the other sororities on campus took two a semester and it just seemed insane to a lot of people. It's not so much of the fact that there were two classes as it was that there didn't seem to be any structure to it. I know one girl received her bid, was pinned, had big/little week, and went through initiation all in the course of one week. In my opinion, I don't see how one week is a long enough time to prepare for initiation. If the different classes actually have structure to them, and anyone who received a bid past a certain point would be initiated with the next class, I don't see any reason for the system not to work.

We do one big formal in the fall, then an occasional spring if we drop below total due to girls graduating in December. We have also picked up a few girls in the past and held them over the summer to join the fall class. Our system is pretty small, so most sororities try to come back as close to total as possible.

We usually do one class in the fall and then two in the spring. I was in the second class last spring and was initiated the week before dead week. I don't really see a problem with it. It's harder to do two classes in the fall because we have Thanksgiving break and then only dead week and finals week when we get back. So that means that everything has to be done by Thanksgiving which is sometimes hard to do with two classes. When we take in two classes our New Member period usually ends up being about 6-8 weeks, but I think it works out fine for us.

# of pledge classes
 

If your pledge program is structured correctly, you can really make two pledge classes a semester work (as long as the school allows for year round recruitment). The first thing you need to focus on is length of the pledgeship though. For this to work, a pledge program should only really be five to six weeks in length. Then, one of the first lessons you can teach the new members is "how to recruit" and the "right way to rush". This can start with having them list everyone they know at the school that isn't greek that they would like to introduce to the chapter. This creates a "gene pool" that you can use as a start for your efforts for a second pledge class. Two pledge classes also alows you to work on prospective members that weren't entirely sure at the beginning of the semester or needed more time to think.

Having two pledge classes can also lighten the load on the chapter and new member educators. Having two pledge classes of 10 people each are easier to focus on and give individual attention to than having one pledge class of 20 people. Also, if you are having more than one pledge class it constantly reaffirms to the chapter the idea of year round recruitment, instead of getting your big class in the fall (or spring for those with deferred recruitment) and then not recruiting the rest of the year.

This is just my take on the issue. I don't want anyone to think I'm against just having one class a semester, I just want to show benefits of having two classes.

Around the third week of each Fall semester, my chapter paticipates in Fall (formal) Recruitment where we usually take in about 30-40 women. Since cap is currently 75 for each chapter, we don't have a need to recruit in Spring. We RARELY recruit in Summer (we are a commuter school, so we are active year round) unless we have a large number of graduates,but if we do, we usually pick up another 5-6 girls during informal. I couldn't imagine having to go through the "recruitment" experience more than once a semester... it is a truly DRAINING experience!!!

My chapter was, and still is, far below total, so we were always recruiting.

We participated in fall formal recruitment, and held a COB rush week early in the spring semester. Normally we got our "big" class in the fall and picked up 1 or 2 in the spring.

If someone expressed an interest in joining, though, we wouldn't make her wait until the next official rush - we would each make the effort to meet her, then the chapter would vote on whether to extend her a bid. We got several great women that way :) If we had a NM class going at the time, and it was early enough in their NM period, she would catch up in her NM education and join them; otherwise, she met privately with the new member educator and was initiated by herself (and got her own separate NM class designation).

Now that my school has gone to deferred rush, my chapter holds a COB rush in the fall for sophomores and up, and will participate in formal rush at the beginning of spring semester.