Has KS replaced PiKA as "most successful"???
 

The Pikes have been talking about their great success, but the latest Kappa Sigma magazine says:

"The greatest year on record"

- a record 5,309 pledges (up 32 percent). Average 24.2/chapter

- a record 3,783 initiates (up 29 percent)

- a record 19 colonies established

"More men choose Kappa Sigma today than any other fraternity," says FEA survey

$4.3 million raised for new Headquarters: "the finest fraternal home in the world, befitting of the finest fraternity in the world."

Rhodes alum Dr. Russel L. Weiner makes a $1 million gift to the Hqtrs. fund.

2005 Convention: Las Vegas July 13-17, at the Riviera (great cheap magician show there, and free shuttle to Rio)

- 27 chapters initiated 31 or more (TX Tech and TX State tops with 60.)

- 26 chapters pledged 44 or more (U Miss tops with 73, and initiated 51 of them)

"Our undergraduate brothers ... enjoy the lowest dues and fees in the fraternal world." No increase since 1991.

Things are going well for the Charlottesville bunch.

Holy crap, 19 colonies?!?! :eek:

Congrats to the men of Kappa Sigma for such a successful year.

Yay Kappa Sig! My boyfriend will be thrilled to hear his fraternity is doing so well! :D

The very best of luck to them, but I don't see how any group can support 19 colonies in a year -- financially or otherwise.

We're working with Kappa Sig for homecoming this year!

Well, congrats to them.

It said 19 colonies were "established" - that could mean they began chartering, they finished it up or they were in the middle of the process.

My thoughts exactly. They'll know in 6 years if it was too much.

Don't hate ;)

Kappa Sig has done a great job of increasing the number of men pledged and the number of men initiated. Their retention rate sucks, though.

Haha, I agree with James, don't hate.

Seriously though, it's nice to see all the growth. Of course, all of us feel like we're a part of the best fraternity, so me saying so wouldn't hold much water. Our Supreme Executive Committee has been very agressive in promoting growth, as well as making sure that colonies have good membership/alumni bases before starting up.

Also, the endowment fund seems to be getting larger by the day, coinciding with more pushes for alumni to pay alumni dues/donate to IMH. Hopefully with a good alumni base and increased funding, the larger membership numbers will be well-supported.

I'm wondering what the new HQ will look like; from the models it appears to be a beautiful building, hopefully the real thing measures up.

But then again, I'm pretty biased on my fraternity, so take my response for what you will.

ETA: I guess it also depends on what you define as success. When it comes to Greek Life, it's all subjective; is it community service, number of members, amount of endowment? There are so many ways to judge a fraternity/sorority.

Kudos to Kappa Sigma.

My dad and Ms. MysticCat's dad would be proud.

Congrats to Kappa Sigma - you are well on your way to being just like TKE and Sig Ep. Way to go.

Kappa Sig is the most "successful" frat on campus here. They have something like 21, while the other two (TKE and ZBT) have about 15 each.

Thanks for noticing.

There has also been a large increase in alumni volunteers to support these new numbers.

After this weekend there will be 18 colonies since we will initiate the first 43 men and return the Alpha-sigma chapter to the Ohio State University.

YAY Kappa Sigma!! It's awesome to date a man from such a fine fraternity. My congratulations to all the hard-working Kappa Sigma brothers out there. Keep it up!

Stephen Alonzo Jackson's dream grows ever more into reality.

And congrats to you, SigmaChiGuy. Sigma Chi has a very fine group of men, and I'm sure they are glad to count you among their members.

This post has been edited in the spirit of interfraternalism.

Their ritual was on the internet? Damn.

-Rudey

That was out of left field.

Let's try to keep this clean on both sides - as I said, every fraternity (and every fraternity member) has their own idea on what's successful and what's not. No reason for anyone to get upset.

I didn't know the Pikes were the "most successful"? From the numbers it looks like others like Sig Ep still run circles around them.

I agree. KS has done some great things nationally. At UCO, they usually compete with us over a few guys. Their house is also pretty nice.

Name someone better
 

Who's better? Not many GLOs publish such stats, unless they make the Board and Office staff look good.

Hey tough guy, check your PM box - lets talk.

Retention Rates
 

My fraternity's retention rate is usually around 85%, give or take a point or two...seems like we were near 90% one semester. I would hope most fraternities are at least around the 80% mark.

It may sound like I'm dogging Kappa Sig...I'm not. Increasing your number of pledges by over 30% and your initiates by over 20% in one year is great - I'd be happy with 10-15% growth.

At the end of the day, you can talk all you want about the number of men you pledged. But what good is it if they aren't initiated? It tells me that you've gotten the first step: they're being pinned. Now here's your next step: initiate them. And from there, get them to donate to your foundation.

Again, congrats to Kappa Sig and I hope you're even more successful this year.

Congrats to Kappa Sig. I don't know any of you guys in real life and I've never seen any of your numbers but if you're doing well, congrats.

I'm sure many chapters of KS are doing well if some aren't, just like many fraternities. How about we all agree to congratulate them overall? Kudos to KS and the Pikes.

-Rudey

Thanks for the kudos; at the end of the day I think all any of are trying to do is make our fraternity better and stronger, and we all have our own ideas on how to do so.

SigmaChiGuy, thanks for the PM...no hard feelings on my end.

Here is our numbers for PIKE.

5,567 pledges - 9.5% Increase
4,582 initiations - 8.6% Increase

At GMU, Kappa Sig (along with Theta Chi) are considered to be the major 'competition' for Phi Sig. That's a good thing though, as they're all considered generally diverse groups of nice guys who do well in sports and academics.

Congratulations to All involved!:cool:

I think We all wish Growth to each and all Greek Organization.:cool:

I have seen many Organizations do as LXA is doing, using a two pronged attack, re colonizing and new colonizing Schools.

As each of us grow, then will all of us grow.:)

We have a lot more to offer to young people!:cool:

i just noticed costalpike put up the numbers but here is where they are from plus alittle of my looking into the numbers

From http://www.pikes.org/sd/recruitmentreport.html

After a renewed emphasis on recruitment over the past year, Pi Kappa Alpha is celebrating one of the Fraternity’s most successful recruitment periods in history. During the 2003-04 academic year, Pike chapters and colonies signed 5,567 pledges and 4,582 initiations, resulting in a 9.5% and 8.6% increase respectively.

With initiation rate on pledges of 82.3%




Pledgings Initiations
PiKA 5,567 4,582
KS 5,309 3,783

If you add the kappa sigma numbers thats only a 71.3% initiation rate. this could also be due to the colonies that are still in their colonization phase but PiKA still has more numbers as well as initiations. I give the huge 32% increase to the 19 colonies they are beginning. Still good numbers. Congrats to the Kappa Sigma Fraternity.

Congrats to Kappa Sig on their great growth. My second cousin and housemate is a KS although his chapter just got shut down a year ago...from his experience, he felt that their fraternity staff ditched out on them in order establish colonies instead. There obviously is a flip side to this amazing growth, and it seems to be - at least in my cousins case - that existing chapters are left to die if they aren't holding it together.

That's not to dog on KS like others, but growth and increase in members is nothing unless they are contributing to the campus...

Maybe it's just me, but I'd prefer to hear that fraternities were keeping men pledged AND initiated in school, making their GPA's better, providing them with the opportunities to serve, and setting them up to be principled members of society. In the end, it is the quality of action of the members of a society that bring it honor and success, not the number of men a society boasts. I think that is pretty self-evident and undebatable.

Just curious...what does this mean??? Does TKE and Sig Ep have a lot of members/chapters??? I'm not up on who are the largest in terms of active members/chapters nationwide-I always thought that it was Sigma Chi or SAE's. Thanks...

He is meaning that TKE has some 300+ chapters that have been colonized but only 240+ active, meaning alot of silent chapters with a dismal future of recolonization. and the same with Sig Ep though their numbers colonized is less(maybe 280) but number of active chapters is similar, something like 240. He is Saying something like "Congrats on being a national fraternity just looking at numbers of chapters you have and not on quality of men or chapter strength."

Sigma Chi and SAE are definately near the top but when it comes to number of active chapters to number colonized and are now silent i am not sure the exact for them. Though i am sure they are similar just like most of the large National fraternities.

In terms of overall number of initiates aren't TKE and SAE at the top?

Largest Fraternities
 

I've seen several fraternities claiming they are "the biggest." My assumptions for their claims are in parenthesis:

TKE (most chapters)
Sig Ep (most undergrads, largest avg. chapter size of "nat'l" fraternities)
Pike (largest avg. chapter size of "int'l" fraternities)
SAE (most initiated members)

Oh yeah, then you have the fastest growing fraternities. By what measurement, I have no idea.

What fraternities have reached 250,000 initiates? I know SAE and Sig Ep have, and there are several that should be close.

I think TKE has over 280,000, Sigma Chi around 270,000, and Lambda Chi Alpha is right around 250,000.

If I'm way off on any of those numbers someone please jump in and correct me on them.

Re: Largest Fraternities
 

As of 2003, Phi Psi has the largest average chapter size of any men's fraternity.

Largest average chapter size
 

I would love to see where you got the info saying phi psi has the largest average chapter size? Pike has had it almost every year since the 80's. I think Sigep might have gotten it one year.

Re: Largest average chapter size
 

From my Executive Director, who announced it at our last convention. He got that information from the NIC.

ETA I just checked the Pike website, and the page that boasts acheivements doesn't mention "largest average chapter size." http://www.pka.org/wfacts.html