Largest Pledge Class
 

The Central Florida DU Chapter is reporting 80 new pledges this year, this is not a colonization, chapter has been active since 1995. Is this the largest pledge class ever for a fraternity.I know the Panhellenic groups in the SEC probably hit this number but I've never seen an NIC chapter this large. When I was at UT in the 80's ZBT and Sig Ep might go 60-65 (by choice I might add). What's the biggest fraternity class you've ever seen.

Haha omg that's insane. Even the biggest fraternity and sorority on my campus never have more than 20 or 25 in a pledge class.

**I fixed my grammar!**

^^^ LOL There's still time to fix the sentence!

I've heard of the Oklahoma Beta's being up in that range before.

FYI, 2 or so years ago the Delta Gamma pledge class at Ole Miss had 92.

holy baby jesus!

Lordy, Lordy

My friend's pledge class numbered somewhere in the 60s. She said it took all afternoon, since they initiated them in groups of 12.

OleMissGlitter is an Ole Miss AOII advisor and from what she has said, the sorority retention rates are excellent. They initiate close to all of the girls they pledge.

I believe DG initiated 91 of the 92 that year. The chapter had slightly over 300 members!

Last fall, San Diego State University had a large quota number for rush, like 79 or so - Gamma Phi Beta took 82!

.....Kelly :)

These numbers blow me away. The largest roster at my campus is like 70 to 75. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have 300-400 actives. That's crazy, I'm comfortable with our 30!

WOW, thats a lot! Northwestern U. pledge classes for NIC are ~20-30 depending.
Pan-Hel is usually ~36, although there are a few pledge classes that really underperformed on numbers this year (not us though with 37) ;)

We have MAYBE 3-4 chapters that have that many MEMBERS, never mind pledges! Maybe it works for them, but that's not the experience I would want. Too big. Too impersonal.

Seems like I read Sigma Nu at Ole Miss pledged 92 one fall while Eli was there. While just under 80, Sig Ep at Oklahoma pledged 77 a few years ago.

Phi Delt took 72 and initiated about 50. Usually when this happens its because the fraternity lowered their selectivity in order to raise money for a new house or, in Phi Delts case, to finish the inside of their house.
50 pledges X $900= $45,000
We did the same thing, taking 51 and finishing with 33. We're gonna be over 100-120 after this next fall because we're building a new house in the next 5-10 years.

My pledge class was the founding class, and we had 83 girls. Our first pledge class was 43.

If you're at UNF then I know one of your founders from HS.

Whoa, Fratty, you lowered your standards for money??? That's shocking!

My pledge class had 94 members. You would think that it would be hard to meet everyone in your pledge class, but it really isn't that hard. Freshman year you spend so much time together for new member period, that you start to get to know each other pretty well. Then sophmore year, most sororities here make the sophmores live in the dorms, so you really get to know everyone.

I never realized they could be that huge, but they're growing up here at Syracuse! My pledge class is around 47 members (I just got a bid from Gamma Phi Beta!), and I thought that was kind of big. Then again, it differs here from sorority to sorority...ours is on the larger size.

wow, my chapter had 19 new brothers last semester which was the largest in over 10 years here. We are usually pretty selective....:D

I've been told that the APO Chapter at UT-Austin (our largest chapter) routinely has pledge classes that number over a hundred.

Yes all of the chapters are doing a great job with retention I think. As an advisor on campus I know all of the chapters work very hard at this aspect of sorority life. One thing that helps is having lots of sisterhood events and I highly encourage all members to eat at the house. All of the houses have 3 meals a day M-Th and then on Friday there is Breakfast and Lunch. So meals are a great way to meet sisters you might not normally talk to at other events. Also, signing up for classes together is also a great way to get to know your sisters. Having sisterhood events early on in the new member period helps to get new member involved.

The past GPA results from Fall of 2007 have Chi Omega with the most members at 325 then Tri Delta at 321. Tri Delta also had the highest GPA.

Anyway, I think at Ole Miss the 9 NPC sororities are finally learning how to deal with their growing pains.

Also, I've been asked if these high numbers are because groups are "reorganizing" and the answer is no. That is what normal quota is at Ole Miss since Fall of 2000. We lost a sorority in 1999 so that increased quota. If Panhellenic votes to open up for extension I'm sure quota will go down to about 65-75 new members, but that's a whole

I couldn't imagine "meeting" a sister who you share a house with over dinner. Thats so odd to me. My sorority advisor owns a bar on campus that is a big place for greeks, and greeks from Univeristy of Michigan hold events there too. One of my sisters is a bartender there and during one of the events, she happened to be in there to get her paycheck just as the event was ending. One of the UofM girls told her to hurry up and get on the bus so she wasn't left behind. How do you not know who your sisters are?!? maybe im just crazy, but i couldnt be part of a chapter that is that big and still claim that there is sisterhood.

My sorority is pretty small with only 19 members, ( ceiling set by EMU for all sororities is 55 and right now i dont think anyone is that big) but i like that. I know every single sister and most of their families. There isnt much that i dont know about any of my sisters

I wonder where you put 300 people for a chapter meeting?

Too Much of a Good Thing
 

I have a first cousin who was in a huge sorority at UT many years ago. One of her sisters was an acquaintance of mine whom I had seen in our hometown during Spring Break. I asked Sherry if she knew my cousin and she said she thought so and would tell her I said hello when she saw her.

When Sherry saw my cousin, she gave her my regards and my cousin stared at her and asked, "Who are you?" There were 125 pledges and more than 100 actives in the chapter and few knew each others' names.

I was stunned when I heard this story. We had about 30 actives and 15 pledges in my sorority and that was considered a good size chapter at my school. At least I knew everyones' names!

It is too much of a good thing in numbers that high. Where is the closeness, the sisterhood, the knowledge that you can depend on one another in a group that large?

I wouldn't trade my chapter experiences for those large numbers. I am still in touch with most of my sisters after 42 years!

Paula M.
Sigma Delta Tau
ΣΔTPatriae Multi Spes Una One Hope of Many People

I'm sure you still get the closeness and sisterhood and longlasting friendships. You just don't get it w/ everyone in the chapter and your "group" is probably smaller. A ton of kids from my HS went to Penn State (and AFAIK none of them went Greek) and as odd as it seems, they usually knew less people at their 35,000 student school than I did at my 6,000 student school - because they tended to make a group of friends and stick with them. I'm guessing this is the same way.

That was a problem for AOII up until this past year when we finished our addition and renovations to the house. All of the houses have added on new chapter rooms or just added on in general to accomodate for everyone. Theta begins their addition this summer. Phi Mu just finished their house. Now if only the University could help with the parking problem around the sorority houses. During recruitment, chapter meetings, formal meals, the parking is awful sometimes! As an advisor I have just learned to take the first spot I see (which is usually not close to the house) and just walk.

My sorority was at campus total of 150 and my pledge class was 48. I knew the names of everyone my sophomore and junior years. I do admit that my senior year I did slack off (plus I was off campus interning at a TV Station for one quarter) but even then I knew everyone's face if not name. It wasn't hard- I just went to the events, date parties, teas, etc. in addition to chapter.

As far as depending on one another, just like any group, I was closer to some than to others. In fact the year I lived in the house, I had roommate issues, however the night I broke up with my boyfriend, guess who stayed up until 1am to make sure I was okay. My roommate. We might not have been best friends, but we were still sisters.

And I have been out of college for 11 years now, but I am still in telephone contact with my 5 closest sisters and I exchange e-mail/Christmas cards with another 10 or so. You can have sisterhood and closeness is a large or small group. You just have to work at it- Friendships aren't instant they require work no matter what the numbers.

With the big sororities here (most of them around 150 girls) they seem to form their own groups within the sorority but theyre also able to pool their resources and do some really cool stuff together.

you thought ole miss was big.....
 

The University of Arkansas in Fayetteville has actually recorded the largest number of pledges in almost all of their 8 chapters histories. Almost all 8 houses had a quota of 104-106 girls on bid day!!!! The University's Greek Life program has absolutely exploded. The campus is looking to install a new chapter but unfortunately it is rumored to cost upwards of $6.8 million to compete with this campus' Panhellenic system.

...and water is wet.

You bumped a thread that was started almost 3 years ago. We know that Arkansas pledge classes are huge.