How can you get numbers up?
 

I am a alum of my sorority but I wonder if anyone has any suggestions. I am sure we have all struggled with this at one time or another.

I went to a campus who had 5 Panhel sororities. House total is 65. 2 possibly 3 meet house total. I know 2 of them do every year. The third does really well as well as the forth Id say too, but they arent always at house total. Now the 5th one isnt close to house total. At one time had about 15 members. Did have nationals come in to help and brought the numbers up, but every recruitment still has trouble. They even have had the backing of the other sororities.

Now we would like to see a new chapter come on to the campus or house total be raised. We make it every time (not bragging) and we would like to be able to take more women if wed like. How can we ever do this though if we have one chapter who isnt really getting it done so they are holding all the other chapters back? I love the struggling sorority and wish we could help them so much but we just dont know what to do.

I just wish we could do something so we could get total raised. We work so hard and have such amazing women, wed like to be able to take more amazing women.

Any advice? IS this going on at anyone elses campuses? Is there a way to fix it?

I'm sorry but if only 2 chapters are making total, you DO NOT need to raise house total, in fact it should probably be lowered.

What have you done to help the smallest group? Did you direct PNMs you didn't take to their rush parties? Have you corrected sisters when they are gossiping about this group? Have you offered to co-sponsor an event with them to help get them some publicity? Have you offered to have a double mixer with them so they can get to know the fraternities?

Unless you've done something concrete to help them, the "we really love them and wish we could help" rings kind of hollow.

You're going to have to think outside the box. The best thing to do is have that sorority read up on sales management and sales training. Their rush/recruitment chairman, or whatever title she holds, is a sales manager. She should not be doing the recruitment. This means that she has to be a sales manager and a sales trainer.

They can start by targeting their least effective recruiters. Rather than use the old "have her serve punch," they should find out why she isn't effective. Maybe she just needs a simple lesson. Maybe she's suffering from social anxiety, in which case you should help her get help. As they pick up the bottom of their sales force, the middle will feel compelled to step it up as well, and that will get you best to work even harder.

I would be interested to know what your quota is every year. It also sounds like your rush numbers have been down, which will contribute to the problem of chapters getting to total, even if they make quota. How much COBing goes on at your school? What percent of your rushees go bidless? Does your campus effectively use release figures? I do agree with 33girl, if only 2 of your groups are at total, it doesnt sound like it needs to be raised, it sounds more like the whole situation needs evaluation.

Ill see if I can answer it the best I can. Ive been alum since May 03 so I am not sure of all the status right this second. Based on Fall 02 and previous years, I would say 2 chapters have always done exceptionally well. The other 3 were doing ok. Then Nationals came in and implemented a HUGE change with one of the 3 chapters, they held their own cobing, they had fliers all over, they interviewed people, they did it all. From that they were able to get their numbers WAY up, I mean almost to where they were either at 65 girls or close to it. They have pretty much held strong. I think if what Im told now is correct, they are at 60 or so. One of the other 3 chapters also had a semester where they stuck with it and did their all and got their numbers way up as well. I think they are at about 55 now. Now these numbers are great as both were low numbers before and they have since kept getting better and stronger, and keeping their numbers high. Now the last chapter as I stated before was about at 15. They were struggling while all the others were soaring.

They contacted their Nationals in hopes of doing the same thing the other chapter did. They held their own CORing, which other chapters came to and supported. They asked us to wear buttons, they canvased the whole campus. All of the Greek system was behind them. We had meetings with them, task force meetings, where we sat down and shared ideas, where we told them how we ran recruitment, where we gave them all the pointers we could. We even asked them over and did a mock recruitment with them to show them how we did ours. I mean aside from going to their chapter and pretending to be in it to help them, we did everything. Not just us, but several other chapters as well. It was just they werent seeing the results they had hoped for. They did get 15-20 new members, which was great. Its just after that Im not so sure they were getting 15-20 members each recruitment then. If I am correct and this is just from fall 02, Im not sure about fall 03, they were about at 35 members.

Now recruitment is recruitment, we are all out to get girls, but noone talks bad about the other sororities. Its pretty much a rule thats followed in all chapters on our campus to not be disrespectful and just focus on the positives. If a girl comes to our chapter and is like this person said this or that we just say I see or something. Noone bashes. I think my campus had really grown up in the past few years and tries to help each other and tries to get the potentials. So no there is no XYZ stinks dont go there or stuff like that.

As far a quota we have in the past had 200 girls sign up on campus, then only about 80 actually go through. I will admit we always seem to have a problem getting the girls. We get tons of freshman and some other years, but not as many as wed like to see. Quota is like 10-15 Id say. I do think there is def a problem with our campus, but all Greeks have tried to recruit and it just seems we dont get as many as wed like. We have a campus of 20,000 and only 2000 live on campus so its a commuter school. We really try to get people to get involved. I know we advertise about recruitment all fall. We send fliers to freshman before they come to campus to move in. We hold fun socials on campus so people can check out greek life. We really do everything. We are even possibly inmplementing a Greek Village where all the chapters will be in one location.

I guess maybe we need to look at trying more to get more potentials though Im not sure how anymore, we do all we can now, or it seems. As far as the one chapter its just we wish we could do more or something so they didnt struggle and so they dont get discouraged. I know they have felt they are holding the other chapters back and they have wanted to really get high numbers too, its just seems to be so hard. When I was a Rho Gam some of them were so upset, they just didnt understand how they werent getting the numbers they wanted and to be honest neither were of us cause everyone was doing everything to help.

Quota is always filled by Id say all chaoters, if not, only one doesnt get quota. Quota is always diff based on how many potentials stick it out, but usually its about 10 Id say. If not higher. COR is 365 days a year each chapter says. We COR till we get total, but usually we get big numbers with total so we dont have to do much CORing. All the other chapters hold COR events till they get total or till the year is over. I always see them having COR events. COR has become huge on our campus. It has now been implemented into 365 so it is ongoing.

My biggest question for you is, when is recruitment on your campus? Fall? Spring? Before school starts? Is it deferred? Also, what type of advertising does everyone do? What type of (panhellenic) events are held prior to recruitment? Are their any annual socials held prior to recruitment? Do you have houses? Give me some more info and I'll see what I can come up with to help you. By profession, I am a recruiter - and it was my passion when I was in school.

Biggest recruitment is Fall. We have recruitment fall and spring though. Spring we take much less girls though and quota is much less too. We take so many in fall cause of all the newe freshman and new people coming to college and cause we usualyl lose about 15-20 girls in spring cause of graduation.

It is about a month after school has started. School starts end of Aug we usually have recruitment end of Sept. We make a recruitment book each summer. Its a small book with all the sororities in it and info about each one. We send them to incoming freshman on a list student affairs provides us. During the year we have oritentation days where incoming freshman come to see the campus and sign up for classes, we have a greek booth set up so they can come over and ask questions and learn more and their parents can as well. We also have a booth when they bring the high school kids who come to view the campus, we have a room where booths are set up and we have a greek booth there, others are there too like sports, bookstore, ect.... We have sorority and fraternity peopel sign up in greek affairs and take books about sorority and fraternity life to their old high schools so they are avaliable in the guidance office for the juniors and seniors to have. We put recruitment times in the campus newpaper, we set up booths that diff frats and sororities man on campus in the student union when school starts for 2 weeks and this allows people to come over and ask questions and sign up for recruitment. We have fliers on campus advertising upcoming recruitment, the radio station goes over how you can get involved for those first 3-4 weeks of classes they talk about recruitment on air. Then we hold a day on campus about a week before it all starts and we all set up Greek Booths like one sorority has cotton candy, one popcorn, dunking tanks, other food and drinks tables, boxing ring, rock wall, all sorts of fun things and we all talk with people who come over and give them the greek book for them to look as, also Rho Gams are there to talk to potentials and sign up tables for recruitment. We are able to get in with resident life and housing and help with the freshman move in. We help them move in to the dorm and we are allowed to wear our letters and tell them about upcoiming events we hold. During that weekend freshman move in weekend we are allowed to come to their planned events like there is always a beach party and one of the dorms and all greeks go to talk about recruitment, also to other events, then we host a event on campus that weekend in the student union where they can come talk to sororities and frats and hang out its a mixer and we give them info and they can sign up there as well. To be honest the first 3 weeks of fall we are busy like no other with recruiting people. Its just we get people who sign up from the beginning and forget or lose interest or something. Its like we have so many events in those 3-4 weeks but still not as many potentials come through recruitment.

With only 2 of 5 at total, you do not need the competition of additional new sororities at your campus. And there should be a vote in Panhellenic to lower total to something that is more feasible so the other chapters can catch up. If the majority of the chapters are not at total, then total is not a feasible number.

I'd recommend coming together as a Panhellenic to get more PNM's out at recruitment, as well as Panhellenic holding recruitment workshops. Bringing in guest faciliatators, etc., to hold conversation workshops, party planning, etc.

Chapters that "mock rush" one another are very successful events-- it gets two sororities to mingle and gives both an opportunity to practice conversation.

Practicing a no-frills recruitment and keeping the focus more on conversation and less on decoration will be more successful.

Also keep in mind that recruitment goes beyond COB and FR. It's also a lot about projecting a positive image. Wear letters, recognize members and encourage members to bring non-sorority friends to events. Also, make sure members are well-rounded, joining activities outside of the sorority. When you hold an event, submit a press release to the school paper. Put together a PR campaign to gain additional campus exposure for the sorority.

I appreciate all propectives. I guess I only looked at it from the prospective of ADPi needing to get bigger and wanting the others to catch up. I dont know what will happen in the future of our campus and our greek life, I really hope that they are able to get it all together and make it all work out so that all chapters can do their best and all be strong great chapters. I know as an alum I sit and wonder what there is to do, but I guess Ill just have to wait and see what Greek Life does and what happens down the road. I only hope for a great Greek future on my campus and know as an alum Id do anything to help.

If your campus total stays where it is and you continue to have quota of 10-15 each year, then realistically no one, not even ADII, is going to be able to grow. Commuter schools lose a lot of students each year - not to mention the ones who graduate - so I would imagine you are barely keeping your head above water as it is. Total on that campus needs to come down so that everyone has the opportunity to get to total at formal rush and doesn't have to spend the whole year COBing. I doubt if most NPC groups would be interested in coming to campus under the present circumstances, even if your campus opened to expansion. While there may not be much you can do about the group that can't get their numbers up, it sounds like your Panhellenic needs to work internally on the health of the healthy organizations as well.

I am a member of the same chapter as Shannan...and am also an alum. Back in 1997 one chapter did leave our campus and we did lower total from 75 to 65. I know from that experience, it really hurt our budget. But we were the only ones who voted against the decrease in total....because we were the only one meeting total at that time. Our Alma Mater is a big commuter school and I do not mean to bring it down- but they take anyone. So when it comes time for Recruitment, some girls have to be turned down because of the GPA requirement to participate. That is such a bummer...but I do not expect things to change anytime soon. The one reason the one chapter is having major problems is because of their GPA requirement. The chapters on campus have a lower GPA requirement than the struggling one. So after the first round of parties they have to cut many more girls than the rest of us do....I believe they have spoken with their national org and nothing will change.

I think if we lower our total things will only get worse and total will have to continue to drop. It is how our school is....back in the 70s there were 12+ sororities on campus...and now we are down to 5....and total has lowered over the years.

The school is adding/expanding...so I hope it will make a difference in the type of students it takes (not all students are bad, don't get me wrong..Shannan and I and some other GCers went to school there....it is just the requirements to get in are lower than other state schools) and its commuter style.

I have also heard rumors about adding another sorority and am also praying it does not happen. We actually just added another fraternity at our school....we have 10 fraternities already....which many of them are strugggggggggling. So who knows....we will see from here what we can do. I am active in my chapters alumnae association and help with things on campus when I have time (was in the area alumnae Panhellenic Association until it closed and I try to attend Greek Alumni Society meetings when I have time).

So all we can do is continue to work to fix it!! Which I think is being done to the best of the greek community's ability!! Our school has a very strong Alumni base and we would never let the greek community become extinct!

So this is their national GPA that they have to enforce? What is it compared to the other chapters'....or if you'd prefer, what's the difference between them?

One chapter is 2.0

Three other chapters are 2.5 or 2.6

Last one is 3.0 or 3.2 something around there and will not budge to take people lower.

I think this is the correct GPA's

3.0 - holy @#$% - I am all for academic high standards but unless it's a professional or honorary, that seems excessive.

One question, though--

Is the sorority with lowest membership *happy* being a smaller group? I know one of the things on our campus that drove PNM's to the professional and academic GLO's, rather than the limited number of PHC's was the overwhelming size.

Granted, I belong to a GLO that was not allowed to join the Greek council on our campus, but perhaps this chapter has a desire to stay smaller?

~ Mel.

I lived with their president one year at an apt across the street from our sororities and no I would say they are not happy with it. They want to be strong and gain members just like anyone else. I do not think they like the idea of the GPA requirement, I know they dont, but they cant change it as their EO has said no. Its hard cause they want so badly to get the girls and they are frustrated cause they recruit so hard but they just cant get the numbers everyone else is able to obtain. I would say none of the sororities on our campus are about number, were all about members, but its hard for the ones who have a high house total already when we would like to take other girls who we feel fit in perfectly but we cant cause of house total and maybe some of the girls cant get into the lower number sorority cause they dont have a 3.0 or 3.2. Its just frustrating all around and I dont see how it is going to get any better. We are behind that sorority 100% but unless they get that changed, Im afraid we will all sink. Its just so hard.... Ive seen how upset they are and how much they work but it just is a shame.

Alright....I think I should jump in here too since I am also from this campus and know what is going on also.

In response to whether the small sorority enjoys being a smaller group, I have heard it in different ways. Many of them enjoy the small sisterhood that they have when many of them desprately want to expand. This has caused some major conflict internally and might also be a reason why their numbers continue to decrease.

As for expanding and/or decreasing house total, I am not forseeing that happening soon. Especially expansion. Last night, I spoke with our Assistant Director of Greek Life and specifically asked him about expansion since I had been Panhellenic President and on the Expansion Committee in 2002. He spoke of our newest Fraternity and also of a Latino Fraternity that has requested to come on campus but not specifically of PHC chapters. I did ask about them and he said that we are not looking at anyone right now but many chapters have expressed some sort of interest.

Since Spring 2002, our PR within Panhellenic has increased. We've had strong PR plans and increased our visibility to new and incoming students. We have had some strong leaders who have organized and worked to do this (but also those that have failed in those areas too...Shannan would know what I'm talking about....:rolleyes: ). This has since continued to expand and as new people come in, different conferences are attended, and new ideas are established, more things are happening in order to improve our numbers.

I too want our campus to grow and would like to see another chapter come on campus and our smallest chapter become strong again, but until that happens, or godforbid this chapter closes, I'm not sure how long it will really take.

Just thought I should throw in my .02 especially since I just went Alum in December.

That's crazy, I thought Kent was a big commuter school (23,000 students, 6,000 on campus). I also thought Greek Life was struggling here. I knew Akron was mostly commuter, but 2,000 on campus?! Out of 20,000?!

It's just so strange to me cuz we're maybe 30 minutes away, but it's like a whole new world. Greek Life is actually growing here (Mrs. McCartney can attest to this) :) We're a little over 10% greek I think, but I don't think it's always been that way.

I think it has a lot to do w/ the environment. Akron= downtown, city campus, Kent= college town. I think you could increase your on campus visibility w/ t-shirts, buttons, ads in the school's paper.
I know here at Kent we have a Greek Beats section of the paper where groups advertise COB or give each other shout outs.

(i.e. DG congratulates Alpha Phi on winning Derby Darlings! Way to go! OR Thanks Delta Chi for an awesome mixer love Tri-Sigma!!)

It may not seem like much but it definitely makes girls interested. I remember looking at them and thinking of how much fun it must be!

Even if you don't have a special section, taking out classifieds once a week is great PR.

Also WEAR YOUR LETTERS and event T-shirts. I couldn't count the number of times I saw a cute, fun, Greek Week tee and longed to be in on the fun!

When COB starts, you could set up a signup table in a popular area of campus. Have your paddles, scrapbooks, etc out for girls to look at. Girls can stop by, look around and ask questions, and actually see the members.

I'm just trying to share some of the things that made me notice greek life as a PNM, since that was only like a month ago.

:)

Hope I helped,

JocelynC :)

I think the idea of the shout outs in the paper is a great idea and also a way to increase our Panhellenicism and Interfraternalism on campus. I know we have tried before to have positive PR in the paper, however, the truth of the matter is that our school newspaper isn't too supportive of Greek Life. That might change though, I don't know. I do know some greek members who write for the paper but as far as I know with past editors, anything greek was never published unless it was negative or had a negative connotation tied to something positive. They would, however, post Songfest and Mocktail results, but articles were very small if anything more than a picture.

But I'm also not saying that we can't keep trying because we can...I'm just pointing out the issues we've had in the past.

Also...wearing letters and event T's on campus is not a problem AT ALL. I always see letters being worn on campus and I would have to say that all (if not most of) the sorority women own bags with their block letters on them. So visibility of letters isn't really an issue...

If you put classifieds and other ads in though, it doesn't matter how anti-Greek anyone on the paper staff is...give them $$$ and they won't care.

I wish there was a sure fire answer, but My old school is in the same prediciment. 6 Frateritys and 3 Soroities. The Soros are having problems getting numbers ergo no new Groups on campus. Fraternitys are also have numbers problems.

They do not to seem to have the answers either.

I hear that Greek Numbers are growing, and in the next article, Greek Numbers are declining, which is right?

Should protection be issued to Soroitys who do not make their numbers and maybe bring new ones on campus who may give other Independents something to decide on?

I dont know the answer, but if some Groups are holding expansion back, then whose fault is that, theirs and theirs along.

It truely sounds like the Greek Community has really come together at Akron, and dont say it is just because it is a commuter school.

In smaller towns, they are called townies, who go to college but live like they were still in HS, with their parents. Hell, we had Guys living in the house who were Townies!:)

Just subscribing...

Wonderful question!

It seems to me that if quota for formal recruitment is only 10-15 girls, house total should NOT be 65.

But that could be my experience... At my school, it is quite lovely because we only use COB to fill a couple empty spaces. There are some sororities who never COB at all on our campus (good retention, I guess). Quota each year is around 20, and total is 50. So if you successfully get quota every year during recruitment, and hang on to those girls, it's very easy to be at total or above!

I wish I had more advice for you... but I think raising your campus total is not the way to go.

33girl, there is quite a range of GPA requirements -- different campuses and different GLOs, y'know. For instance, at Oklahoma State -- which admittedly is not a commuter school -- all the NPC sororities require a 3.0 high school GPA, and for sophomores, etc. the college GPA ranges from a 2.5 to at least a 3.0. They have an info chart with GPA requirements, financial info, live-in requirements and so on at

http://osunet.okstate.edu/greeklife/...y_chapters.asp

Guess what I'm saying is that while a 3.0 may cause recruitment headaches at Akron, it looks like it's the norm for OSU frosh. I'm fairly sure that there are other Greek systems where a 3.0 high school GPA requirement for NPC chapters is nothing unusual.

I'm thinking of a 3.0 college, not a 3.0 high school. If it was high school I would say that was fine. But I got the impression they were talking about college GPA.

And it has to be remembered that we're talking about a different type of school than OSU.

33girl, Oh, yeah, that's different -- sorry I misinterpreted what you were getting at. And yes, absolutely, they're different kinds of schools.

3.0 period
it is 3.0 for hs or for college

I attended a university (also in Ohio) that was, at that time, mainly commuter. Less than 10% of students lived on-campus (that has since changed) so I can empathize with your challenges. If the campus newspaper doesn't print positive things about GLOs, get some Greeks on staff. Put in ads... they won't turn down your money. Most of all, target those ads to reflect the positive message that you want conveyed (like congratuating all the 3.5+ GPA members or announcing results of a major philanthropy event). Try going 'outside' your circle for social events.... nothing against the fraternities, but have you ever thought about having a party with the men's lacrosse team? It may not help you directly but it might help that struggling fraternity across the street who then might reciprocate.

And if I'm understanding you correctly, some of the groups on your campus require a minimum GPA of 3.0- 3.2 (HS or college) and that is not per local bylaws but is set by their headquarters?

I agree with what some of the other posters are suggesting that raising total isn't really a feasible option since not all chapters are at total. Don't all chapters have to be at total for a certain period of time before it can be raised? Or is that just a requirement in order to add a new chapter.
I think it's great that your Greek Community as a whole is developing PR plans to raise the visibility of the overall group, that is awesome. Hopefully by doing this, more women will be interested in participating in recruitment both formally and informally which will have a rippling effect.
But if this one house is having a lot of struggle then they will need to step up to the plate. I'm not trying to sound mean toward them, I come from a chapter that has struggled for years and is just now rounding the curve and coming up. I would suggest that the chapter evaluate why their numbers are so low - ie. have they always been like this or did something happen? Is it just the scholastic requirement?
In my opinion having that high of a scholarship requirement just to get in should make it fairly easy for them to be close to, if not #1 on your campus in grades. Is this true? If they are #1 in grades this is something they should really play up more - both during formal and informal. That seems really high for your campus if everyone is significantly lower than them.
If they don't want to budge on the GPA requirement and they aren't getting the numbers they want during formal (my chapter never got quota once while I was active) they need to be COBing 24/7. My chapter COB'ed like it was their job and it's very successful for them, still is, they got over 20 women through informal this year alone.
PR is also key. I'm suprised that their HQ is not stepping in to offer more support. Perhaps they are, but from the way you make it sound there has been support in the past but currently there isn't too much support.
I understand the concern that they may have about the growth of the chapter potentially effecting their sisterhood. Some women in my house liked our house being smaller because everyone knew everybody and what have you. They are realizing as they grow though that they can still enjoy all that wonderful sisterhood while becoming larger. While I can't relate as to the climate of your campus (mine was definetely not a commuter school) I understand potentially where that chapter may be coming from.

I will say they used to be #1 in grades with all the sororities. Wed always compete each year for best GPA overall and they got in a lot, but in the past Id say 2 to 3 years they have not received the best GPA. Most of the chapters are always very close behind them if they are number one anyways, but they havent been number 1 in some time now.

I think that they have in the past played up the GPA thing, but it didnt seem to work.

Remember, what the chapter is or isn't doing, the help they are or aren't getting from their Headquarters is all speculation at this point. I understand you are trying to help but none of us really know what is going on in that chapter--only their members and their Headquarters do. Even if they speak of things to you, it's still word-of-mouth and information can be misstated and misinterpereted.

Just by going on the info provided in this thread, I think I figured out which chapter you're referring to. The 3.0 GPA requirement should only refer to high school. Collegiate GPA is lower, unless they have it written into their chapter bylaws that it's higher. And they can change their own chapter bylaws whenever they want. So there is obviously some miscommunication going on between the chapter and their HQ. And I agree, the girls need to be willing to put forth the effort to work together as a sisterhood to increase membership.

Thank you to everyone for all of your input....and not to sound like a "biotch" but we/they have already tried most of these suggestions.

It is just difficult for a school like ours to recruit because of the type of school it is...when you only have 3% of your campus greek at a school with over 20,000 students it is hard. I must also add, many students who attend Akron are non-traditional (older) students...graduate students and PhD make up some of the total too!

Our Panhel and IFC work soooo hard though..the officers are always the best leaders on campus!! BTW, we also just got a new greek advisor less than 5 years ago....so things are changing!!!

This may have felt futile to you, but actually, I think a lot of us learned things, both from folks suggestions and from your run-down on what you've done already to help this sorority get its numbers up.

My brother attended a school (Temple) which faces some of the same challenges - commuter schools are so much different.

Good luck, and hang in there.

35 from 15 really isn't that bad! It might take more than one year for them to come out of their slump. I would try another year or two of really helping them out.