Spring Pledge Class
 

what are you guys' inputs on a small spring pledge class for a fraternity. we dont do formal rush so its year long.

their pledge quarter is 3 weeks shorter than the original summer rush
they lose out on fall activities like serenades
they cant really do much of the tasks/i-week activities with 4-6 people

i think its pointless and it robs them of their true fraternity experience. i would say 70% of my experience that ill cherish the most has been when i was a pledge.

Not in an IFC fraternity so I won't comment on the spring rush, but the bold is the exact opposite of my experience. I'll hit a decade this November, and honestly, pledging was nowhere near the experience I'll cherish the most. Everything that makes me happy that I'm in my fraternity happened after pledging.

That's kind of depressing that the best part of your fraternity experience was at the beginning. Why stay?

Methinks it hasn't been very long since the OP was a pledge

Spring rush is in my opinion better for those involved as not only does it help the pledges bond easier, but it also helps possibly train a Pledgemaster to handle a bigger class next semester.

Fall class is different in that it is where you get most of your guys and can use pledges for activities like serranades and such. But there is nothing saying you cannot do this is Spring.

Who says they can't do fun stuff? Just because it's a smaller group doesn't mean it should just be a rote business transaction. For things like serenades, you may need to pepper in some actives, but there are things they can do that don't require 20 guys to be successful. Presuming you really want these guys, you should be putting in the work to make their experience as special as yours was. And if they're not worth the work by your whole membership, they shouldn't be pledged in the first place.

It also takes work from the active membership's planning. When Spring comes around, everyone is comfortable and all of the big, exciting Fall things have happened already.

What a lot of people fail to think about is that the guys that come in after Spring Rush need that same experience the Fall guys got in order to feel welcomed to the Fraternity and get the bonding experience with the rest of the Fraternity, especially since Spring classes are typically smaller than Fall classes.

And if your guys are losing out on the new member experience due to time, isn't that unfair? You need to re-evaluate your new member education process so that all new members that you intake receive the same experience.

For example, if you have a Fall retreat for your Summer new members but no retreat for your Spring ones, how do you expect them to become unified with each other and the chapter?

And like k_s stated, sure I have memories from my new member process, but the vast majority of my memories are from my active membership. If pledging is the only memorable part of your chapter's active lifetime, you have a lot more that you need to re-evaluate than just Spring pledge classes.

Big co-sign to the bolded.

Do all of the Greek Life events happen only in the Fall on your campus? I ask because most campuses I am familiar with, spread out activities and events over both the fall and spring semesters. For example, does your campus have intramurals? Normally IM football is played the fall semester while IM basketball in played the spring semester. Do any of the sororities have fundraisers or events in the spring? Any other campus wide events - Greek or otherwise? If so, emphasis those events with your spring pledge class.

Frankly, most spring fraternity pledges understand that their experience may not be the exact same as those that pledge in the fall (i.e. football in fall, basketball in spring). However, a similar experience should be expected and fairly easy to provide. If you have mixers in the fall, have them in the spring as well. If you serenade sororities in the fall, why not serenade in spring too? And as pshsx1 noted, if you have a fall pledge retreat, have one in the spring.

The bottom line is that most everything you do in the fall for your pledges, you should be able to duplicate - in some way - in the spring. The events may be somewhat different or smaller, but they should be just as rewarding for the spring pledges as well as the chapter as a whole.

Obviously I'm not in a position to comment on anything specific to fraternities. ;) But my chapter recruited, and still recruits, year-round. We've had one-person new member classes. We always tried to give even those small NM classes the full new member experience, including I-week (which also serves to bond the whole sisterhood together) and initiation - often, where a NM class consisted of one woman, her big sister would participate alongside her little as if she were a new initiate herself.

So your spring pledges miss the fall activities. They will get to experience them next year. If you want to pledge these men who come through in the spring, snap 'em up now - don't let them miss out on spring semester activities, and don't watch them go to another fraternity come next fall.

I-week should have NOTHING to do with how many people are in a pledge class. If you're asking the pledges to do "tasks" that require a dozen guys or more, either you're hazing, or you're not imaginative enough to modify it.

If it takes Homecoming or Greek Week to get guys to stay with/get interested in pledging, you have a deeper problem that needs addressed. Depending on the situation, "you" means either your chapter or the whole Greek system.

And if you elect officers to serve on a calendar year....DEFINITELY this. Our pledgemistresses would have been basket cases if they had to do the big class first.