Groups of friends pledging together
 

(Well, I didn't know what to call this thread.) 33Girl often talks about how great it would be if large groups of friends pledged smaller sororities together and strengthened them. Does anyone know if this has ever happened? Do y'all think it could happen in the South, given the big emphasis on sorority reputations?

I have heard of small groups of friends pledging together (as in 3-6 women, in southeastern/southern locations). I am not familiar with a large block of friends pledging en-masse at any school, although I've heard such a thing has occurred before.

I think it certainly could happen in the South, but I don't know if it would. Make sense? I also think it would be more likely to occur at a less-competitive campus recruitment and numbers wise, vs. happening at a traditional southern powerhouse "Southern Rush" type campus.

Just my nickel's worth!

I think it can make a difference if a cool group of friends joins a historically "weaker" sorority together. Of course, it takes YEARS for a sorority's reputation to evolve, especially in the South I'd think where the sorority reputations at many schools are pretty firmly entrenched. It would take year after year of getting great pledge classes for a house to eventually move from the bottom to the middle.

This is years ago, but I once heard that the women from a rugby team wanted to start a sorority, and talked to their Greek Advisor. She in turn said that there was a struggling sorority of about 10 women, and maybe they could get together. They did, they all got along, and the next thing you knew, the chapter had doubled in size!

If it were to happen I would think it would probably be through COB.

I think it's cool when groups of friends pledge the same sorority, since they've already bonded and their enthusiasm can spread to the rest of the chapter. However, it can go both ways...there were several girls from one sorority on my campus who had been friends since high school, and one of them got in trouble with standards over something she didn't feel she should have been called in for. Her friends supported her, of course, and all of them ended up deactivating. :(

One of the fraternities at LSU has shown this to work. When they came back on campus, the alums worked really hard in their own home towns. They hosted parties and invited ALL PNMs, no matter where they planned to attend college. With their help, the guys were educated on the fraternity, hung out over the summer and eventually, the greatest percentage pledged together. The chapter at LSU has returned to a large membership with a close brotherhood.

I don't know if it would work for a sorority. I have seen "clumps" end up in the same house, but like AOIIBrandi said, COB might be the most likely situation.

I've always wondered why this wasn't persued more. It seems so logical. Yet, thinking of another thread, maybe finances comes into play. Some parents and/or young women are willing to pay whatever the price tag for membership...in the "right":rolleyes: sorority. When it comes to paying dues to a chapter without the campus rep, they MAY weigh the cost against the benefits. I don't think the average PNM thinks, "I know I will find true sisterhood in a sorority." I think what's on their mind INITIALLY is the social aspect. If the social isn't there, it's a hard sell.

I tried everything I could to get my friends to consider AXO. They had nothing to gain.(IN THEIR EYES) Because they dated SXs they attended their functions. TGIFs were hosted by a different fraternity almost every other week and they were OPEN to anyone who wanted to pay $2.00. MOST important, we were really close with the girls in our dorm, even had their own team for Derby Days and Powder Puff Football. They had what I had for free.

my sister and her friends went through rush together
it was about 8 of them
they all got bids because in Texas
all of the Mesquite girls that go to here college
(unless you pissed someone off extremely)
they all end up in the same sorority
because someone knew you or knew of you
their sororities nickname is the 'Rodeo Girls' as in Rodeo Drive

it's actually because of the Mesquite Rodeo that they got the name
They just changed it to make it sound sophisticated

The VP of my chapter was an RA. A large group from her floor and her dorm wound up becoming the Alpha Pledge class. This was before my time. A few years later a new sorority with over 20 members had started, but couldn't receive campus recognition. They all joined my chapter as a pledge class.

my freshman year at Towson XYZ was about to fold, they took no one in formal recruitment. They were down to like 6 members. At the same time a group of girls wanted to start a new national, but panhell told them they couldn't form a new chapter without all current chapters being at total. So they talked to XYZ and they all became pledges. From what I know now, they are now doing well. I heard there was so intital disension between the new members and how they percieved the older members to be but other then that its been great for the chapter as in they're still around.

We almost always pledge a pair of best friends or roommates. It usually works out that one has gone through Recruitment, while the other comes to us during COB, when it is evident that the roomie pledging is having a great time.

I've never seen a large group come in and all pledge one group, but I've seen a lot of "package deals" where you know that two or three women want to be in the same sorority, so if you invite one back you'd better invite the rest.

My sisters actually thought I was a "package deal" with another PNM because we happened to walk into the rush room at the same time. (This was a COB rush) As it happened, we both got bids.

My two freshman-year roommates and I weren't really a "package deal" but we'd all agreed to try to join the same sorority... Needless to say, we all wound up in different sororities. :p

Some times, the Chips are down!

When a group comes in whom are best friends, then it may be good to look at them as a total. The Biggest Wall Flower Does Bloom and become the President of the Chapter!:)

It is sometimes amazing that the Transformation from the Ugly worm to the beautiful Butter Fly does transpire!

I remeber when Marshall, a pain in the ass became the 2nd Pres. He was Great, Aaln Who was my roomate did not want to join became the 3 Rd Pres.:cool:

Being the first and seeing these Men Still active after 38 years is somethiing to behold!;) :D

i know of 5 that pledged together at state. they wore shirts with letters all the time. they had notes from members in their binders and had letters decorated all over their binders. they attended as many events as they could. every weekend they talked about going down to state or going to a greek party. its great that they pledged together but sometimes you wonder if they only pledged because the others were doing it. i really hope they pledged because they liked the sorority and not because that's where the rest of their friends were.

I think when rush ocurs plays into this a lot.

At my school, rush ocurs at the beginning of 2nd semester. A lot of girls will have formed their friend-groups by this point. Unfortunately my school is very stereotypical when it comes to Greek life--i.e. these type of girls will go here, these will go there, and so forth. So these clumps of girls will join sororities together and so a large part of the pledge class are these groups.

Luckily for me, my lovely ADPi had a unique year. We just rock that much ;) Where as the pledge classes (err, excuse me, Alpha classes) above our's are mainly groups of girls who are characteristically "ADPi" at our school, my Alpha class is different. We have 46 beautiful and absolutely uniquely amazing girls, who fit into every sorority on campus (as far as "stereotypes" go). For whatever reason, we really got lucky my year. The plus side of this is that we are all friends :) And we all get along together well. There are no "cliques" in my pledge class. I count my lucky violets for that.

My roommate's sorority, on the other hand, is not so lucky. There are around 10 groups of 4-5 girls who are pretty exclusively friend groups/cliques in her pledge class. They are an odd assortment of cliques who don't seem to really get along. I feel bad for them ;( but in the Panhel spirit, hope things get better.

While girls rushing together could work out well, let me tell you a sad story. I rushed this past spring (I'm a sophomore) with seven close friends. The eight of us were set for Greek life--we already attended a lot of fraternity functions, etc. etc. A sophomore I knew well was in a sorority (she is now my big sis!) and I knew the girls there were cool; as well, my friends and I however really bought into the "good" sororities on campus.

Every single one of my 7 friends dropped out of rush. The first was cut by the 2 sororities they most wanted; slowly by pref night the rest dropped out. One of my friends actually got invited back to ADPi for Pref Night but her ego was so bruised from being cut by "the #1 sorority on campus" that she dropped out and didn't sign pref card or anything. One of my friends later (after dropping out) tried to COB my sorority, but she didn't get a bid [we had something like 30ish girls try for 2 COB bids].

It's really sad. Everytime I have a Greek function or a sorority sister waves to me on campus, I think they feel even more isolated from the Greek life which flourishes here. The social scene IS dominated by fraternities and sororities and they are very involved socially, they just don't belong to a sorority.

I have asked my friends if they wanted to re-colonize a chapter that "died" on campus within the past 10 years (notably KD and ZTA, which have a strong alumni base & great local chapters 6 miles away at UNC-Chapel Hill) but they don't. They are so caught up in being in the "Best" sorority they won't give anything else a shot.

ADDED TO SAY: Sometimes I wonder if we had first semester rush, they wouldn't have rushed all together and almost collectively decided to drop out. I know some girls would have gone certain places had they stayed in. :confused:

When I joined my chapter there was 4 actives on campus. My friend and I joined at formal rec. and started to really like it. (My pledge class tripled the size of our chapter.) The next fall we had another friend join and then the next semester another friend joined. I think if you get one or two friends that do have a big group of friends outside of the Greek system there is a bigger possibility of getting more members. :)

Yeah it can happen. When I pledged I was in a group of 9 people who were all pretty good friends! We all happened to live in the same hallway, and it worked out for the best! :D

The thing that drives me nuts here at Florida Tech is roommates. Roommates are always a package deal, and it's always the "stronger" roommate that chooses the sorority for them. We had an awesome girl come through who acted very interested but her roommate wanted XYZ. We didn't invite her roommate back to Pref so she turned down her invite and they both went XYZ. It's just kind of annoying that people can't think independently. My roommate and I went through Recruitment at the same time and were fully prepared to join different sororities. We both ended up being A Phi in the end, but I could have gone ABC all the way up until Pref.

I can see what you mean though about them making a weak sorority strong. There's a sorority here that's struggling that started off as a group of friends. If they had a group of girls come through and pick them up that would be awesome. I just hate it when girls who would really fit in better elsewhere follow their roommate.

i can see how a group of friends pledging together is great for the chapter and everything but my only trip is the fact that we are all individuals. thats why there is more than one sorority in this world. we are all diverse in our own way. and though its great that friends pledge together...do you ever wonder if theyre thinking for themselves or actually like everything the sorority is about and not just the people in it? i think some girls only pledge because they are sure they'll get into a sorority because they already have friends in that sorority.

Someone just told me that a few years back at West Georgia, a group of girls tried but failed to get ADPi there so they joined an already-established group and its reputation shot up. I guess it can work in the South!