If anyone has any suggestions!!
 

I was just elected the recruitment chair of my sorority, and although I don't officially step into my position until Spring of next year (2011), I'd really like to get started right now. As you will see, I have my work cut out for me.

Greek Life at my university has a decent presence- about 30% of girls are Greek. There are 8 NPC chapters, and about 350 girls going to recruitment every year. My chapter was founded about five year ago, and ever since then, we have been known as the one of the "bottom two" or one of the "two to avoid during rush." It's not because we're a small chapter- we have 98 members, the same as all other chapters. Over last past two years that I have been a member, our reputation has gone from "socially awkward" to the current "don't know what to think about them." I think this is because we have been getting pretty good pledge classes these past couple of years. In my honest opinion, and I know they are my sisters so I want to say this tastefully, but half girls that we have in our chapter are those that slipped through the cracks of the "better" sororities, and the other half are those that were cut from every other house.

This is my dilemma. Our quota is 100, and this means that if we hit our quota during Formal Recruitment in the spring, we don't need to do Fall COB. I'd really like to make this a goal. But, historically, we've never filled our quota and have always had to do COB. The problem with Fall COB is that, because of our reputation, not a whole lot of upperclass girls put our chapter as their first choice, and therefore would rather wait until Formal Recruitment to go through all the chapters.

I guess my question is, how do we establish ourselves as a sorority so that members actually want us as their first choice? I know that the advantage of Formal Recruitment in the spring is that we have an entire semester to scout out PNMs, but I need a more proactive and concrete plan. I'm asking the opinions of PNMs, active members, and alumni.


Thanks so much.

i think that you mean your campus total is 100. total is the total amount of members the chapters on you campus are allowed to have. quota is the total number of new members that a chapter on your campus can pledge during recruitment.

some ways to change perceived image-support all philanthrophy efforts by other campus orgs., in your letters so that they know that your chapter came out in full support. have desiginated letter/t-shirt days-masses of xyzs all over campus can really open peoples eyes. sisters should be friendly and supportive to each other. if a sister is in a campus play, the whole chapter should show up to watch her. the same support should be shown for a sister who is an athlete, a debater, a mock trial person,etc.

during chapter, hold a session (that you lead) where the chapter lists its pros and cons, and brainstorms on how to improve your image.
you could actually hold a series of these and even break the chapter up into smaller groups for some of the brainstorming. you could have themes too, so that everyone concentrates on one particular solution during each session..

it is hard being a young chapter. no matter how outstanding your members are, how accomplished they are, how much $$ you have raised for your charity, how high your chapter gpa is, you are still the new kid on the block and some will perceive this as a detriment.

This should be a given, but I'm always shocked by how many chapters don't use the next idea.

Once you do take a new member class, the very first thing you want to do after introductions is for each of them to list the parties they attended for the last two rounds, and what they liked and didn't like about each one. Coallate your lists, and with a very thick skin, see what each chapter offered that you don't, and what you offer that other chapters don't offer. This will give you a good idea of what the incoming PNMs are looking for in a sorority.

Please keep in mind that you don't want to be a cookie cutter of every other sorority on campus, because this information can be tweaked to fit your chapter. If everyone is doing the same thing, you might want to be the sorority that does a 180 and becomes more memorable.

And of course, support your sisters! Have a weekly letter day - just be a presence on campus! Do something for your philanthropy that is exciting and on campus - and smile, smile, smile when you're wearing your letters!

Yes, yes, YES!!! You have the best resource ever in your PNMs. If they feel uncomfortable attaching their names to bold faced honesty, tell them they can make them anonymous, and provide a box they can put them in rather than just handing them to the pledgemistress or whomever.

You don't have a numbers issue, and fall COB shouldn't be for girls who are coming to you cold. It should be for friends of members who would be GREAT members, but don't want to go through formal rush. Don't discount juniors or even seniors.

Are you stuck hanging out with the same fraternity all the time? Stop this ASAP. Not saying completely blow them off, but begin going to other fraternities' parties. Even if they are perfectly nice guys, you could be losing girls if there's a perception on campus that "yoursorority only hangs out with XYZ fraternity." No one wants to narrow their social options by joining a sorority.

Don't have mixers/exchanges/whatever you call them unless you know that the majority of women are going to show up, and WANT to attend. Better to not have the mixer than to have it with only half the sisterhood present and half of those girls disinterested in being there. Again, the perception trickles from the guys at that mixer, to other fraternities, to other sororities, to women rushing that yoursorority is a big dud.

thank all of you so much for all your advice! I really like the idea of talking to the new pledge class and getting their input.

In terms of our relationships with the fraternities, it is pretty much non-existent at the moment. We haven't had a mixer in the last two years, and our pledge mixers last spring were pretty much a fail, as a lot of the guys didn't show up, making the ratios about 1 to 5. We just don't have a strong and established reputation that makes the fraternities approach us. I am hoping this will change this year as we have a great public relations chair.

Please keep the advice coming, they're all really helpful!

Good threads to read:

Small chapters: how do you make PNMs feel "chosen?"

Little Chapter, Big Recruitment (Recruitment story about a smaller chapter trying to increase in size and build a better reputation.)

I don't know if it's a thing on your campus but I hate the concept of "pledge mixers." It puts the pledges on display in a way that may make them uncomfortable. Mixers should be everyone meeting everyone, not just the people showing up who are too young to go to the bar and not a "look at the fresh meat we got."

--end of lecture--

If you are friendly with any other sororities, try seeing if they will do a double mixer with you guys and two (or however many it takes to get parity numbers wise) fraternities. Hopefully, the PR/social chair will make a difference. Don't wait for the fraternities to call you - call them.

Also, don't feel that NO ONE wants your chapter. SOMEONE does put you first in recruitment. Work hard to improve b/c there is always room for improvement, but don't feel like you aren't wanted. Surely like other chapters on campus you fill a much-needed niche. There are a lot of chapters at other schools who can't get girls to join/stay and would love to be that close to total!