A Different Kind of Live Recruitment Story
 

A different kind of recruitment story.

As many of you know, I am the recruitment advisor for my chapter of AST. Our chapter, and all of the sororities in general, on my campus, usually find it a struggle to recruit a large number of girls, but our sorority has always seemed to have the largest problem. We only do COB, but in the past 3 years, Panhellenic has slowly attempted to become removed from the thought, “please join our sorority,” and more toward, “please join a sorority”. Deferred recruitment is something that the Greek community is attempting to do away with, as it is well-known that the fraternities “work around” this rule anyway, and the sororities, who follow this guideline, tend to lose out on a good portion of girls, because while we can bid girls who are sophomores, juniors, and seniors, we can’t bid freshmen (first semester freshmen, anyway). The “’01 rule” as we like to call it, calls dirty rushing into question more frequently, and people are extremely paranoid about it (even if it isn’t occurring at all). It also creates difficulty for all of the sorority chapters in gaining large new member classes during the fall.

This story is about recruitment from the other side of the fence, and the hope of drawing more attention to our chapter, and to Greek life in general.

Some background stats:

Current chapter size: 12
Total: 40
Most girls in the chapter in the past 7 years (and possibly longer): 18
Number of New Members per semester in the past 5 years:
Spring 04: 5
Fall 04: 4
Spring 05: 9
Fall 05: 0
Spring 06: 2
Fall 06: 2
Spring 07: 5
Fall 07: 3
Spring 08: 4
Average for Spring semesters: 5
Average for Fall semesters: 2


Now on to the story.

On Sunday, August 24, the day before classes started, the Greeks held an event to celebrate the school’s 60th anniversary. The event was extremely successful (free food always draws a crowd), and I was happy to see my girls talking to a lot of PNMs.

One of the sisters actually took it upon herself to stand by the long table of food being served, and handed out plates to people as they approached. She said hi and made small talk while they waited in line. Two or three of the sisters sat down at a table with a few PNMs and started up a conversation. A few others offered to get refills of drinks for people sitting down.

One of the sisters was on top of her game, and somehow managed to get (and remember) the first and last names, and contact info for three or four different PNMs.

Needless to say, I was extremely thrilled to see them interacting with other people, and not just amongst themselves (as has been the case in the past).

The following day, classes started. None of the sororities were to have recruitment events during the first week of class, and I almost think that this was better. At no time in the past few years had recruitment parties in the first week produced large results for any of the three chapters.

The girls had a Facebook event set up to provide advertising their recruitment parties, in which they had a few confirmed guests, and some “maybes”. They also had recruitment posters all around campus. But instead of the usual “join AST” and silly little quotes and lists of recruitment dates, they made some that were really cute and functional. They had them printed (and they looked professional) with “Alpha Sigma Tau” written out, a picture of all of the sisters (different pictures on each poster), and a short, typed saying underneath. Things like, “Alpha Sigma Tau provides thousands of dollars in donations each year to projects such as Habitat for Humanity, Pine Mountain Settlement School, and the Junior Diabetes Research Foundation,” were written on them. In the past two weeks, I have heard several compliments from other Greeks, as well as PNMs, about the posters. Always a good thing.

This past Tuesday, Sept 2, the girls had their first recruitment party. The first one is always a little rough, and it is expected that the numbers of PNMs will be low. While we tell PNMs to meet a couple sisters at a certain location in our student union before the party (a location even new freshmen would be familiar with), some girls came directly to the room we were having the event in. It started with one girl, and then three more. Two of those three were girls that the sisters were talking to at the Greek event the week before.

So then another girl walks in. She looked a little lost, but we all said hi to her, and before long she was talking to everyone. The sisters who met people in that central location in the student union then came in with five or six more girls. While I was having a conversation with two PNMs, I suddenly realized that the room was filling with them… and fast.

The Recruitment Director had a few things planned, but at one point she turned to me and said “should we even do the activities we were going to do?” I told her I didn’t think so. There were just so many people, and we weren’t really ready for it! But the girls were so involved in their conversations that it didn’t much matter. Questions were being asked by both the active sisters and the PNMs, packets of information were handed out, and an information board along with paddles, t-shirts, and tons of items with “AST” on them provided PNMs with things to look at.

The other two sororities had events at the same time we did, in two adjacent rooms. This only occurred due to scheduling conflicts and confusion because of the now limited time (compared to previous years) for recruitment events before bid day. But while the other two sorority’s events ended, ours was still going on, and as the other chapters walked by they looked into our room surprised that we had so many people. I’ll be honest, it kind of felt good… because we’ve been the ones struggling and looking at their larger numbers in amazement for so long.

At the end of the event (2 hours later!), with only 2 PNMs left talking to sisters, the Recruitment Director and I looked at the list of names that all of the PNMs signed with their email addresses.

There were 16 names! For people who went to larger schools with much larger chapters, that must seem like a really small number to you, but we were outnumbered at our own party, and it was pretty sweet. (And yes, I did just say ‘pretty sweet’). I’ve honestly never even seen half that amount of PNMs at a recruitment event. And while a good portion of them were first semester freshmen, I'm predicting large new member classes for this semester and next.

Keep your fingers crossed!

The girls had a second event on Wednesday, but I’ll tell you about that later.

Tonight the sisters are going to see “The House Bunny” and they’ve invited all of the PNMs to go with them. Hopefully a lot of them go!

:)

Wow! Sounds like your chapter is making a huge effort. Hope it is a success for the girls!

What a fabulous idea for a Recruitment Story thread! Thank you ASTalumna06! I can't wait to hear more.

Wow, you all clearly put a lot of work into that! My school always had smaller numbers and chapters, so I definitely understand the excitement of having 16 girls attend a COB event. I hope everything works out well for you!

Good luck to you!!

What great news - keep us posted!:)

Truly inspiring, and how wonderful to be outnumbered by PNMs. Please do let us know how it continues to go throught the year! Good luck!

Good luck, sister! :D

Exciting!

First of all, thank you for all of the warm words and encouraging statements. I am very excited about this recruitment period.

So as I mentioned, the girls had a second recruitment party on Wednesday. This is a popular day for late classes, and a lot of the PNMs from Tuesday’s party indicated to us that they would not be able to attend that night. But there were still 6 PNMs that attended. All but one of them had been there the night before. I think it was almost better that there were only 6 girls, because it allowed all of the sisters to get to know them a little better.

At that event, the girls decorated and ate cookies. It was nice and relaxing, gave them something to do, and something to eat! These 6 PNMs seemed really interested, and everyone seemed to get along really well. That night I could overhear conversations a little better than the night before and they were talking about everything from how their day went, to the professors they like, to what made them come to the recruitment parties, etc., etc.

I actually talked to one girl a little more than the others, and she was really cute and fun. We talked about the most random stuff, but it was a good conversation, and it was rather interesting.

Overall, the PNMs who are attending their recruitment events seem to be interested for all of the right reasons, and they are asking A LOT of questions. The funny thing is, quite a few of them have asked about hazing. Understanding that it’s probably a concern among most PNMs, we’ve answered their questions and clearly stated that we don’t haze at all. Some of them still seem a little worried about it, but I don’t think it will turn them away entirely. And the PNMs who have really been getting to know the sisters have seemed to completely put it out of their minds. But I think the fact that they’re speaking up and voicing their concerns is a good thing.

On Friday night, the girls went to the movies. Once again, 6 PNMs showed up. A few of them were the ones who attended the event on Wednesday night, and then there were a few new girls. (I still don’t know where they’re all coming from!) But I’ve heard it was successful, and the sisters told me that they all really enjoyed themselves… and the movie!

Afterward, they decided to go back to one of the sisters’ apartments, and they ate, talked, and played charades, I believe. All of the PNMs from that night said they planned to attend the next recruitment event.

…Which is tonight! So I’ll be sure to update you all on what happens!

:)

So when will bids be extended?

Bid day is Tuesday, September 16th. So you still have to wait another week!

Oh, and a few more girls confirmed invitations to their events on Facebook, so hopefully we'll see some more new faces tonight!

How many PNMs is your max?
 

I was a founding mother of an OPA chapter and we were in your same situation when we held our first recruitment event. We were delighted, but overwhelmed, to discover the interested PNMs outnumbered the active members.

So, if that continues to be the case (and it looks likely so far), how will you decide how many new members to take? Theoretically you could accept 28 to get your chapter up to total, right? But do you think you could integrate that many into your chapter all at once?

Well, that's what we were thinking. How many is too many? With so few sisters, and each one already holding at least 2 positions (on top of school, work, and any other activities), it would be hard for everyone to constantly be involved in new member education and activities. And when new members outnumber actives, the learning process after initiation becomes difficult also. And while it would be great to have a large number of girls come in, to alleviate some of the work put on the shoulders of the sisters, there's also only so much you can do as a small chapter. Handing things off isn't that easy when there's so much to teach to such a large number of people. But... in a little while, I will update my story, and you'll see how things are panning out for us this semester...

So last night I showed up at the recruitment event a half hour early to help the Recruitment Director set up. We talked as we worked, and she told me that she had a random girl email her earlier that day, asking questions about the sorority. So she gave the girl some information and invited her to come to the event that night. She did. And she brought a friend!

There were a lot of girls there that night. Some familiar faces, some new ones. And one girl had to work a half hour after the party started, so she just stopped in to say hi, and then left. I thought it was nice, and showed that she cared enough to make an appearance. Even if it was only for 30 seconds.

So it was game night, but we kind of left it up to the girls as to what they wanted to do, as we probably had at least 10 PNMs who attended, and everyone already seemed to be involved in conversations from the very beginning. We received the names and semester standing from the new girls that showed up.

As the Recruitment Director and I looked down our list, we counted. We realized that we now have… 22 names!!! And all but 4 of those girls attended at least 2 recruitment parties. Those 4 were the new ones who showed up last night for the first time.

Now… of those 22 PNMs, 8 of them are second semester freshmen or older, so because of deferred recruitment, those 8 are the ones who would be eligible to receive a bid. It’s kind of frustrating, because for the rest, they will have to stick it out until next semester to see if they can receive one. But at the same time, there won’t be so many new members this semester that the sisters can’t handle it, and that’s 14 people who could potentially become new sisters in the spring. Not a bad place to start.

The sisters are still trying to get a few more PNMs to come to an event, as they have said they would, but some people you literally have to drag to a recruitment party before they realize they want to get involved. I know that was my experience. Before I joined, one of the sisters, after I said, “yea, I’ll be there,” called me and said she’d be at my dorm to pick me up. Sometimes, that’s just what you have to do.

So they’re trying, and the hope (if they can get these few more girls to come) is to have between 8 and 10 new members for this semester. And if you read my first post with all of our stats, the most new members we’ve had for a Fall semester in the past 5 years is 4. So things are definitely looking up.

I’ll be back to update you on Thursday’s recruitment event.

(Bid day is in 1 week!)

:)

Sounds like things are going really well so far! Good luck to your chapter!

Then that means 8 pledges would double your usual class of 4 which is awesome!

But also, I'm a little confused... first semester freshmen can attend informal fall recruitment parties before deferred formal recruitment (obviously before they have gone through any recruitment at all)? How is this possible--is there a special rule about specific freshmen women who can go or is it just a really lax recruitment in general?

This.

We had the same setup - rush was deferred but 1st sem freshmen women could attend parties. There was no fee so it really wasn't a big deal. I think that Panhel in general believed it helped kindle women's interest (and maybe kept them from pledging little sister groups, but that's a long-ago no longer relevant issue).

Right. We have COB year-round. Anyone can come to any event they like, just as long as they're not business meetings or ritual ceremonies. There's talk that deferred recruitment might be going away within the next year, because it really is confusing for the first semester freshmen. It's one thing when no one can be bid one semester, and it's a completely different thing when just the freshmen can't. They're able to attend recruitment events, but then you have to tell them, "It's a school rule that you're not eligible to receive a bid until next semester." Panhellenic is basically waiting on IFC to get their act together regarding this so that they can collectively present the idea to the school.

At the same time, the Greek advisor is trying to (slowly) implement a more formal recruitment structure, but I don't think it will really materialize very soon. Unless of course all of the chapters are coming close to total, in which case total could be raised and then they'd have to re-evaluate the entire situation.

But hey, hopefully after next semester the chapter will be close to that :-D

Is it considered dirty rushing to keep inviting the girls who are ineligible to events to keep them interested? I'm not familiar with the type of set up you have, so I'm unsure of the rules.

^^^I would imagine these early events are not illegal for ineligible girls similar to the way a hs junior can hang out with 14 members of XYZ but a hs senior cannot...

But I am just guessing...

ASTAlumna- this has been a truly interesting point of view to read, and not being familiar with this type of recruitment, I am learning tons! Thank you for sharing!

Actually, this long-term COB system makes sense to me, as long as the potential new members use the time to get to know all the sororities. That way when they go through formal recruitment, they can base their decisions on their own long-term observations and experiences rather than tent talk.

Again, we have COB all year long, with no formal recruitment. Quite frankly, I read and learn A LOT about formal from coming on here, and I find it extremely interesting. Both systems have their ups and downs.

Like I've said, Panhellenic makes its best attempts to make sure that all of the sororities have their recruitment parties at different times. All of them are in the same 3 conference rooms in the same part of the student union, so it makes it easy for girls to find them. As to whether or not PNMs visit all three, that's up to them.

The only thing that we have right now that is considered a "formal" type of recruitment party is our kick-off recruitment party in the spring. It is the first event, and all of the PNMs are required to attend all three sororities' parties, almost like a first round in formal.

The Greek advisor is pushing toward a more formal recruitment system, but like I said, it probably won't happen very soon. There is still generally a small interest in Greek life on campus, and until all of the chapters start gaining larger numbers, the system will most likely stay the same.

Now... PNMs can attend ANY events that they like (besides meetings and ritual), even if they aren't eligible to receive a bid. This makes things difficult with dirty rushing. I know that my chapter personally doesn't do it, and it's kind of hard to tell if the others do. When you can talk to PNMs, even as first semester freshmen in the halls, at parties, on Facebook, and invite them to recruitment parties, how can you tell if someone is saying to them in secret, "stick around until next semester and we'll give you a bid." That's where it gets confusing.

My girls even had a retreat this past summer and went camping. It was their second time doing this, so it wasn't anything too formal or involved. But they did a bunch of sorority stuff during the day, and then they invited one or two PNMs to join them that night for a cook-out that night. A couple of the sisters posted pictures on Facebook, and they had the PNMs in them. One of the albums was called "AST retreat", a few sisters from the other two chapters saw this, and then started questioning whether my girls were dirty rushing, because it looked like they had PNMs at an official (or secret?) AST event. So the situation can get sticky, but most of the time the suspicions are just sisters being paranoid. But it's usually hard for any chapter to get a large number of girls, so we do anything we can to keep them around when we find them.

It's my experience that year-round COB makes it REALLY hard to tell who's a little less than pristine when it comes to what they are and are not saying to PNMs. Dirty rushing pretty much only exists when chapters are guaranteeing bids. But, by generating interest in sororities in general, and saying "stick around for next semester when you're eligible and check out all the houses" they're not guaranteeing bids.

I'm surprised that your campus is thinking of getting rid of deferred recruitment. IMHO, that might hurt you guys, given chapter size.

Hear me out on this. The real reason for deferred recruitment (my campus had it too and I'm sure investigative work on your part would reveal that your campus and mine are really close to one another) is to give incoming freshmen a classic college experience before going greek, allow them to get their schedules and time management sorted out, and allow them to be a little more mature when they join (no offense, first semester freshmen).

By getting rid of deferred recruitment, your chapter could be taking relatively huge pledge classes, of first semester freshmen. Really large classes, especially of younger women with less experience in life in general, tend to take chapters in a 180 direction. On my campus when I was an active there was a chapter that took one class through formal recruitment and one class through COB in the same semester, and the chapter changed drastically in the time of that one semester. So much so, in fact, that almost all of the former exec board members ended up feeling ostracized by their own chapter, and by the girls that they had worked so hard to recruit. One of my best friends was in that situation and she doesn't even talk to her chapter anymore - nor does she like to even talk about her senior year in the chapter because it was so uncomfortable for her.

I would say what you're looking at right now with 8 in the fall, more in the spring, is a great way to do it. You're probably going to want to prorate your class sizes so that no single class can completely take over the chapter and take it in a direction that doesn't work for ALL the members. By the time you guys get to total (there was a chapter who had 7 members when I joined my chapter and now they're at total consistently, 5 years later), that problem will go away.

I agree with you... except for the fact that up until this year, there was little to no interest in Greek life at all (and this success by our chapter could taper off next year). And even the girls that have come to the events this semester, for the most part, were already acquainted with at least one of the sisters.

So, when freshmen, who know nothing about Greek life, and don't know any of the sisters show up, come to all of our events, and then hear, "Sorry, but you can't join this semester," it completely turns them off. Following that, trying to get them to come to anything is a challenge. They generally turn toward other organizations on campus... because they're hard-working, motivated girls who want to get involved. And that's what they've heard all through high school. At least I know I did. When I was graduating, all I heard was "get involved in college".

The thing is, the reason that the campus always gives for having deferred recruitment is that the freshmen don't yet have a college GPA. I understand this, but at the same time, they don't have a GPA to join any other organization, and other organizations don't have a minimum GPA to join. If we hold our members to a higher standard (and AST on the national level just changed their minimum from 2.3 to 2.5), why is it that freshmen can join other organizations but not ours?

And the same goes for them being new to college. It's a new environment, and yes, time management is something that needs to be worked on. But again, if they can't join a Greek organization, why can they join any other organizations? Especially when we offer programs that teach time management (my chapter is actually having an event based on that in a couple of weeks, where the sisters will bring their class and work schedules, a syllabus for each class, and analyze how and when their work should be done).

Let's be honest... Greek organizations, for the most part, offer more scholarship, leadership, and philanthropic opportunities than the entertainment board, the basketball team, and the multicultural club. So why can freshmen join any of those, but not a Greek organization?

And I don't necessarily agree with the "classic college experience" argument. It's not as if these freshmen are being forced into Greek life. It's a choice. If someone chooses to have a semester or two without being involved in Greek life, then that's fine. But if they get to school, meet a bunch of girls that they have fun with, and want to be involved on campus, why are they not allowed?

I know I said this in your other thread, but blaming deferred rush for girls not getting involved in Greek life is a copout. Ask Bucknell or any of the schools in the eastern half of the state...they have deferred rush and no problems getting large pledge classes. If those are too rich for your blood, the last I looked West Chester had quota of around 15 and I think they have deferred.

It almost seems like you're saying the girls get mad at YOU - the Greek orgs - because of a college imposed rule. If they are that dense, do you really want them to join? If they lose interest that quickly, do you really want them to join? If they think they have to choose between Greek life and something else, do you really want them to join? Most Greeks are involved in other extracurriculars.

Why can they join the newspaper staff, university events board, you name the extracurricular but not Greek life? The newspaper staff et al is not a lifetime commitment. If someone flunks out her first semester and leaves the newspaper staff it's not like she's taking their rituals with her.

We don't have larger numbers so we won't change the form of rush, but once we get larger numbers we will? This is crazy. It's not working now, but once it works, we will change it.

Oh and I agree w/ alphagamzetagam's whole post.

I'm sorry if this sounds like yelling, but it's just frustrating to me to read stuff like this.

I would agree with you ASTalumna06 that the trick with deferred recruitment is generating interest and then keeping it until second semester when they can join. The nice thing, however, is you know you like those girls that stick around the whole time because they're already committed to greek life in general, even if they are hanging out with several chapters (which I would actually prefer anyway).


Also, as far as the not having interest in the greek system there - that's just part of campus culture. Some years you'll have it and some years you won't. Don't bank on the fact that you won't have the interest next year, though. I'd rather have little interest and smaller chapters than chapters that have been fundamentally changed by one or two pledge classes. I'd say, yes, numbers are important, but chapters that are operationally sound and can find ways to keep going will.

ETA: As far as keeping interest - sometimes you generate new interest. I joined when I was a sophomore, and in fact, almost half of the members of my chapter joined in the fall through informal or COB recruitment, as sophomores. The size of our fall classes often rivaled and sometimes eclipsed the size of our spring classes which were brought in through formal recruitment. Most of those girls had no interest in joining a sorority their first year of college.

West Chester's formal recruitment qouta was around 25 last year. Only 2 chapters made qouta, but others caught up via COB. They have fall formal, spring informal.

But these schools that you're using as examples also have formal recruitment. We don't. There's no signing up, there's no "i have a general interest in going Greek." How can you have a formal recruitment when, for the most part, the only people who are going Greek are those people who already know sisters?

And the one event that we have resembling formal recruitment has generated, at the most, 10 names (obviously to be split among 3 different chapters)

Alphagam said that there was one chapter on her campus that she knew of that only had 7 members. But all three sorority chapters on my campus have pretty much been close to that in the past 5 years. We're not one chapter struggling... we're all struggling.

33girl, you give Bucknell as an example. How many GLOs does that school have? Compared to our 3 sororities and 3 fraternities (one of which doesn't really participate in anything, and another one that's rebuilding itself with 6 members)?

And we can't just change from informal recruitment straight to formal overnight. It's not going to happen.

As for having deferred recruitment... it sucks. It just plain sucks. I'm not going to explain it any further than that. Some schools have it, some schools don't. And we'd probably be better if we didn't. Now.. if we did away with deferred recruitment for a little while, I think we'd be able to gain more members, and in turn, maybe make a change over to formal recruitment when we're more prominent on campus. At that time, we might consider re-instating deferred again if it seems to be beneficial.

But I just talked to our chapter advisor the other night, and she said that they used to have formal recruitment. But as the chapters got smaller, and interest in Greek life dwindled, they switched to informal because no one was signing up for recruitment.

Besides all of that, the girls know the importance of not taking pledge classes that they can't handle. With 12 current members, and a possible 8 coming in this semester, that would be 20 (more than I've ever seen the chapter at). So even if they took in 10 more the next semester (which is a likely possibility as long as they keep girls around), then they'll be in VERY good shape next year, with only 2 girls graduating in the spring.

But either way, I'm not going to attempt to argue this point, because I've been on my campus for too long to not know how things work. Deferred recruitment might work on some campuses, but I don't think it's working here right now, and neither does anyone else.

I didn't say it was the only chapter I knew of that only had 7 members - it was the one I brought up because they were the chapter that took two classes in 1 semester and had a whole mess of problems because of that. There are others that have been that low in the "numbers game," even in the 4 years I was in undergrad alone.

My post wasn't to be snarky about anything - just to express surprise at the fact that your campus was thinking of getting rid of deferred recruitment. I know a little about your campus - it was just surprise, really. Sorry if I offended you.

No, I'm sorry. I guess my "anger" (if you even want to call it that) was geared more toward 33girl, in that she thinks I'm crazy in saying that we can't change to formal recruitment without having more girls, and more prominence on campus. To me, that's the only setting that formal really works in. Again, if no one signs up for recruitment, how do you have formal?

The other problem with deferred recruitment... on a good portion of campuses that have it, it applies to all girls. At our school, only first semester freshmen can't receive bids in the fall. So while some girls are celebrating, other girls are wishing that they could. And yes, it is difficult to keep girls around. I can completely understand the thinking of, "well, if I can't join this semester, why not just wait until next semester to show up?" Because again, there is very little interest in joining a sorority. If you ask any of the girls in my chapter they'll say they never thought they would and/or they were completely against it. And now they love it. It takes convincing. So yea, if I was asked to attend events during my first semester, and I couldn't join, there's a very good chance that I wouldn't go.

And that doesn't mean that I wouldn't be a good member, and that I wouldn't dedicate myself completely to the sorority the following semester. That just means that I have the same reaction as most people: If I can't join, why go?

And again, if, as a whole, the sororities continue to have problems recruiting a large number of girls each year, I think it would be beneficial (for the time being), to get rid of deferred recruitment. Unless of course it applied to all students, but that would make things extremely difficult right now with so little interest.

It's a difficult situation that, right now, has no easy answers. I realize more and more after visiting this website that we have a more complicated system than most others. But I have been in the sorority for almost 5 years, and I've seen how the system works and doesn't work.

Now I'M not trying to be snarky... just trying to give my opinion about the direction Greek life should be headed. Hopefully the other two chapters have as much success this year as my girls are having, and the entire system can be changed. But we'll just have to see.

And I'll be back soon to update the story!

The main reason I think deferred is good (BTW, I am the biggest deferred rush cheerleader for everyone, it's not just your campus) is because the women have time to know what they're getting into or warm up to the idea. On a campus where the majority of people do not have a Greek background, this is even more important. Sure you would have people join first semester if they could. You'd probably also have an increase in losing members with people who drop out or flunk out or transfer. Ole Miss and Bama and places like that can handle that happening w/ no problem. Smaller chapters can't.

I just feel like a lot of what you are saying is a self fulfilling prophecy.

My chapter had the exact same deferred recruitment as you, except we had COR in the fall and formal recruitment in the spring. When I was graduating, they were thinking of changing formal recruitment to partially-structured or COR year round. I'm not sure what happened (whether they changed it or not, because I know my chapter has taken two classes per school year since and is still at or wavering around total, as well as many other chapters at or wavering around total), but believe me, our campuses are fairly similar. And it doesn't hurt that they're less than 20 miles from each other.

Like I've said, if our situation improves number-wise, it might not even be a problem.

Quite frankly, a large problem with it is that the fraternities tend to ignore it the rule, hide the fact that they have first semester freshmen, and still only have classes of maybe 5 in the fall semester. Funny thing is, in the one fraternity that I know very well, the guys they take as first semesters are the ones who succeed more so than any others. One of the first semester freshmen they took last year had the highest GPA in the chapter.

On the other hand... my chapter has followed the rules, and in the past 2 years they've had one girl fail out of school (after having a very good GPA when she first joined), another girl who left school for a little while and came back, only to do absolutely nothing and party all the time, and get herself kicked out, and another girl, who, while she seemed fine at first, started to not attend new member events and activities, then HAD to be initiated because it was so late in the new member process, and then lied and transferred schools without even telling anyone.

We've had our fair share of problems in that regard, we've dealt with them, and obviously none of them were a result of deferred recruitment.

Now, if we had a system such as yours alphagam, that might work in our favor. In that respect, during the fall semester, we could COB those girls that we know are second semester freshmen and up, and at the same time, attempt to have first semester freshmen, along with anyone else interested, sign-up for spring formal recruitment.

Again, with COB all year, it makes things difficult. But strictly having formal right now would be difficult, too. But as you've been able to see from my first post, there's a trend of having smaller new member classes in the fall and having larger ones in the spring.

It's hard deduct which systems would work best, as formal had failed, and COB hasn't produced large results for all 3 chapters, either. But maybe an in-between, let's try both, kind of approach might work.

No, they were probably a result of this.

And I don't think I ever said anything about having strictly formal recruitment...formal in the spring, COB or minimally structured in the fall.

No, they were probably a result of them being perfectly fine throughout their new member period, as we have numerous meetings with them to see how they're progressing in the sorority and in school, and then once they become sisters, they change. Each one of these girls were perfect angels during recruitment, and throughout most, if not all, of their new member period. After that, what can you do? They're initiated. Because of the issues they were having, we met with them, and presented issues to them, and the behavior continued, so they're not here anymore. Some people screw up, refuse to admit it, and don't learn from their mistakes. That's not any fault of our own.

Is there some room for improvement within the new member selection process? Yes, of course, and there probably always will be. But that doesn't mean that we're bidding people just because we need numbers.

On Wednesday night, some of the sisters invited the PNMs to join them in the student union to watch ‘Sex and the City’. The school was playing a few episodes of the show in one of the lecture halls, and the sisters thought it would be fun if they went. From what I understand, 4 or 5 PNMs showed up, and everyone had a great time.

Last night the sisters had their final recruitment party of the semester. There were about 9 or 10 PNMs who attended, two of which were new. One of the PNMs is friends with one of the sisters, and she had reservations about coming to recruitment parties. This one sister also indicated that the PNM wasn’t sure if she wanted to join because she was transferring to Penn State Main the following year. But obviously none of the sisters saw that as a problem.

The other PNM just showed up on her own. She is a junior, and she seemed relatively interested. One of the things the girls did at this last event was to have each of the sisters give their name, nickname (describe it if they liked), and then talk about what the sorority means to them. This one PNM asked a bunch of questions after this occurred, and she really wanted to know more about the sorority.

After the party was over, the girls briefly discussed the PNMs so that they have some idea of what to expect from the membership selection process on Sunday.

The Recruitment Director should be receiving the grade release form back from the Greek Advisor today, so the sisters will know how many PNMs are eligible to receive a bid.

The big day is quickly approaching…

:)

Glad to hear about another couple of successful recruitment events for you guys!

I go to Delaware - we have deferred rush and no informal in the fall, and our pledge classes are around 50 girls.

The OP is at Penn State Behrend. Delaware is just a tad-bit bigger. :)