What’s it like to be in a Huge Chapter?
 

I received my sorority’s national alumnae magazine, and they always feature of list of the chapters that made quota at the most recent recruitment, and it lists what quota was at each chapter’s campus. The range of quotas is incredibly broad- from some in the low teens to others in the triple digits. When I was in college, I don’t think our whole chapter even had 100 members.

What’s it like to be in a sorority that large- with a pledge/new member class of around hundred? I would imagine this makes the total number of members somewhere around 400? What are the advantages and disadvantages to having a chapter that big?

I have the unique position of being in a chapter that went from small to large over my time in the house, and it was an interesting transition. My PC was <30, and the PC the following year was 60 and then up to an average around 70-80 for the past 2 years.

Advantages: helps make events more successful, always have volunteers for things, always have people to cheer you on at events, easier for you to find a personality that matches yours, always have lots of ideas to choose from, recruitment is less stressful, etc.

Disadvantages: events can be like herding cats, sometimes there can be too many ideas, can be hard to get to know everyone, drama is more likely

Good thing IUHoosiergirl88 answered. For most people, it would be like when I interviewed identical twins.

"What's it like to be identical twins?"
"I dunno, I don't know what it's like to be a single kid."

I was in a small chapter as an undergrad, but our recolonized version has more than quadruple the number we had and will grow even more this fall.
One problem - no place big enough in town to host a sit-down banquet.:(

I do think there must be a point of diminishing return. I can definitely see the benefits of large chapters, but once you practically have to rent the football stadium to hold chapter every week, I think you're going to have trouble with member retention, and I can picture having trouble getting girls to step up because there's always someone else who will.

It would be interesting to know what the chapters at the 100+ pledge class schools wish their quotas were. I feel like much over 50 and you've got a jump in issues that the 30-50 member pledge classes don't have, like being able to hold meetings without a microphone, being at least in the ballpark of similar size with fraternities, having a reasonable percentage get to live in the house, etc.

I don't think that the second follows from the first. When I was at Illinois, quota was usually around 50, but total was only 145, and the biggest chapters were in the 160's. I would be interested to hear from some of the SEC folks, but I think that retention may be a little more trouble in such big chapters.

My chapter was around 25 at its largest while I was there! My pledge class was 7; we initiated 6.

I've often wondered how one gets to know all one's sisters in a huge chapter - and if you don't get to know them, then what makes the chapter different from any other club. I'm sure there are plenty of things, and different things to worry about (ever try to hold a social when only 20 people are playing dues?!).

I do know that I would not have gone Greek at a school with a larger Greek system. It's just not me. So I would have missed a lot.

I think that, in a large chapter, living in the house/dorm is a much bigger part of the experience. I felt closest, in college, to the women who lived in the house at the same time I did, and further, who lived on my floor.

I think I disagree with this - to a degree.

Chapters have personalities. If you have a chapter of 200, and 40-50 of them are involved in athletics, and most are fans of/cheerleaders for a nearby team, it stands to reason the chapter will do things to support their sisters, and the programming is going to be slanted toward sports/athletics. Likewise with other endeavors; it needn't be sports.

Will you find friends? Of course. Will the symbols and ritual be meaningful? Of course. But chapter personalities may not fit, though the sorority certainly would.

These things are certainly more pronounced with a smaller group, but they exist in all organizations. Like begets like - that's how humans associate.

Which is why I have problems with those who castigate women who say a chapter "just isn't a fit". It may not be as common as using that phrase for "it's not one I wanted", and I can certainly be convinced by those who have experienced it significantly more than I that it happens, but I cannot make myself jump to that conclusion.

There is no way that, in a chapter of 200 women, enough are going to be cheerleaders, or in athletics, or band members, or campus crusade, or any single activity to pull the entire chapter in that direction. Sure, women involved in an activity may attract other women in that activity, but often the hardcore members of X activity are too busy to be part of the chapter's leadership as well.

Now, obviously the historically Jewish chapters attract mostly Jewish women at certain schools, but that has a) a long history of discrimination behind it and b) a lot to do with Jewish social networks in high school. That said, I think a non-Jewish woman could be perfectly happy in most of those chapters anyway.

I think even with huge chapters you can definitely give off a certain vibe during recruitment that may make a PNM feel that she wouldn't fit in. But we know as actives and alumnae that recruitment chapter persona =/= chapter persona, at least not all the time. Chapters can be selecting their recruiters for either the image they have, the image they want, or who they feel can win over the women the best (or a combination of the above).

Ex: A 200 person chapter can have 75 women recruiting. They decide to pick their cheerleaders, their sports team members, and their best recruiters to be on the floor for recruitment. PNM Annie sees them and thinks 'oh I'm not athletic, I could never fit in with this chapter' and goes about her merry way. What she doesn't know is that the other 125 women may have never seen the inside of a gym, don't care about sports, and trip over their own two feet just walking to class (think like Mia Thermopolis from Princess Diaries) but are great women and would get along well with Annie.

Another point that I think is salient is the women that reflect the chapter persona (i.e. the 'athletes' in this example) may be the ones in positions of power in the group, and not being 'in' with them might result in fewer chair positions, being on less committees, and ultimately not standing a chance at running for officer/executive board. Certainly in any group their are subgroups (I prefer this word to cliques, I hate the connotation) and some tend to hold the strings of power more than others and sometimes PNMs can see this. That is, they know that if they join ABC house, they're not going to be in with the 'in crowd' and may feel that they won't have the same experience because of it.

Okay, I'll buy that you can give off a certain vibe during recruitment, but generally, most chapters try to pair PNM's with people who they will click with. Even if a chapter chooses its best recruiters, and a PNM is more introverted, I just don't buy that there are too many women who think "man, this chapter is too cool for me".

It may be different at other schools, but we have a very strict '1st active to 1st PNM in line' rule. There is no picking and choosing PNMs. I'm sure it happens to a degree (especially with very desirable PNMs) but for us you can get major infractions for this.

And I don't know, there were certain chapters that I knew about that I was too intimidated to even go to their informal parties because of their persona. I just thought that I'd never fit in. Now having met sisters of that chapter at Panehellenic events I know differently, but I still have no idea whether they would have given me a bid.

Even for pref? Do you know why this is? I've never heard of a rule like this before.