Extremely Small NM Classes
 

Sort of on the flipside to "what's it like to be in a huge chapter"...

I'm wondering, what's it like to be in an extremely small new member class? OR How did your chapter handle an extremely small new member class?

I am talking 3, 2 or 1 in a semester, not a growing COB effort throughout. I am not asking so much for curiosity, nor do I intend to start a thread along the lines of big/small "which is better". I am asking because it is likely that the chapter I advise will be just barely under total (103) in the fall. By just barely, I mean if there are no withdrawals, we will have exactly one space to fill.

They don't seem particularly keen on taking a new member class of one. From a National perspective, you want to maximize your membership, especially since they worked so hard to get quota this spring (40). However, I can also understand the "but how can you have a NM class of one?" perspective.

I guess all I'm looking for is personal experiences, especially when such a tiny NM class is out of the norm for your chapter and/or your school's Greek Community. I'd like to be able to communicate perspectives the chapter may not have thought of so they might consider taking a NM class in the fall, no matter how small.

I come from a chapter that was always small when I was active (the largest new member class we had being 9), so I'm used to small new member classes. They weren't "out of the ordinary" for me. However, we never had a class of just one new member. I would think that would be awkward and difficult for them to be the "odd man out".

One semester, one of the fraternities on my campus had given bids to a handful of guys, and many didn't accept for time/money reasons, and only one accepted his bid. They said to him that he could pledge that semester, or wait until the following semester when he could pledge with an actual class. He chose to wait. They realized it might be a strange situation, and they didn't want him to feel like he had to do it on his own.

We had a number of very small NM classes. When I was an active, we participated in FR in the fall, sometimes did a COB rush a couple of weeks into the fall semester, and did COB in the spring. FR yielded mixed results - one year we had 11 NMs, and the next we had one (hey, not my fault - I was a rho chi that year :p ). COB usually yielded one or two NMs. Small NM classes were the norm for us, but of the four other NPC chapters on campus at the time, usually 3 made quota (which was usually 30ish) and one missed quota by a small number and had a small word-of-mouth-only COB rush in the spring. (The chapter that missed quota wasn't the same chapter every year.)

If you're looking at possibly having a NM class of one because you only have one spot to fill, probably the best thing to do is to identify a very small number of women who are already friends with people in the chapter, invite them over to hang out at the house or invite them for coffee or lunch or whatever, and then choose from among them (or choose not to extend a bid, if none of them is the right fit). No need to advertise and hold a bunch of parties to fill just one spot.

Then, the trick is to make that one NM feel just as special, just as wanted, as if she'd been part of the NM class you took in formal recruitment. We always had a full I-week, and a full initiation that the entire chapter was required to attend (as opposed to "Suzy's getting initiated on the 12th, whoever's available should come to room 2-203 at 8pm" - missing ritual was serious stuff whether the NM class was one person or twenty) - and at initiation the NM's big sister usually went through alongside as if she herself were a new initiate.

There are several arguments for bringing in that one NM. Rushing, educating, and initiating just one woman may seem like a hassle. But if you think about it, you are giving a woman a chance to experience greek life, and specifically, to be a part of your sisterhood. And from a business perspective, you're getting dues money out of her ;) .

My Spring Pledge Class was only 3. I honestly didn't feel very close to my pledge class sisters but I will say that I had the opportunity to really get to know the active sisters. If a chapter is that close to total, I can understand the hesitation of holding all the NM Classes and initiation. With a class that small, it'll take more time to practice and set up than it will to hold the ceremony. I would encourage the chapter to go through with it unless the NM requests to be held over to the next class.

The chapter I advise just initiated one NM (pledged in November). I think it depends on the attitude of the chapter and also the NM. In this case, the NM is very spirited and confident. Usually when you have a lot of NM's they tend to bond with each other, their big, and then the chapter. In this case, the only option is to bond with the members of the chapter. During meetings the NM Educator shared what was learned that week in her class in more detail then what is normally explained. The chapter would sing the song that she had recently learned, etc. And most important, her opinion for events and such were listened to from the beginning. I can't say a large NM class gets that much one-on-one. She is probably a much better prepared new sister then some of the others were last semester, simply because she was so ingrained in the whole group.

Another thing too, my NM Ed now knows exactly what to teach and what works in meetings because she got to "practice" on one NM. So when she gets the larger class in fall she will be more confident.

My chapter has had very small NM classes in years past. The past two years quota has been around 17, and last year we had four women join through FMR and four CR additions. We've grown a lot this year, taking in a total of 15 new members! :D We'll have 26 sisters after our Spring additions initiate in a few weeks.

There were eleven active sisters for FMR this year and my NM class started at eight. I didn't notice a whole lot of separation between the initated and new sisters, mostly because my chapter allows NM's to participate in almost everything. Chapter meetings are open to all NM's unless we're voting on certain things or having a Ritual workshop. Almost all of our chapter members were present at NM Education meetings because six sisters live in the chapter apartment and all the Bigs came for their Littles.

There have been some growing pains this year, but they're good pains. Our new recruitment chair is absolutely amazing and I absolutely can't wait to see how FMR goes this fall.

I guess I think if it's an anomaly that you have a single vacancy, I wouldn't fill it. You will have the opportunity for quota additions during formal rush to make up the difference. If you have a couple girls drop out for whatever reason and it's suddenly 3 or 4, even that would be ok for some of the above reasons. Informal rush is expensive, time consuming, stressful for everyone involved, initiation is time consuming, etc. But then if you have a girl in mind who you can invite to dinner and CALL it rush and she's cool with being in a pledge class of 1, then sure.

At the chapter where I advise, we currently have a NM class of 4, and it has been working out. Formal recruitment is in the fall, and all chapters have been making quota, but all chapters have also been losing just a few NMs, mostly due to financial issues. Also, total went up 2 years ago, but that was probably premature. So, we've gotten into a trend of all chapters doing informal recruitment in the winter and taking really small NM classes to make up the difference. To offset this trend, clear financial info. is going to be made more public for this coming year and total has been lowered.

We're going overboard to make the NMs feel welcome and not overwhelmed or left out...temporary big sisters; making sure someone is coming with them to events, meetings, etc.; having a few rotating initiated sisters at the NM meetings, etc. They're having a sleepover with their big sisters the night before initiation. It is working out. It is just quite time and labor intensive for such a few women, so we're hoping that the campus can avoid widespread informal recruitment in the future.

I will agree that this has been a positive aspect in our situation, too.

Would NPC rules allow the chapter to bid a woman one semester with the understanding that she will join the next semester's class, or is the chapter obligated to allow her to begin pledging immediately?

If the chapter COBed a chapter friend and explained the situation, it might be better than trying to do a NM period of one.

You really think that the chapter will have no one transferring, dropping out of school for any number of reasons, and only 1 senior graduating this spring? Or am I totally misunderstanding?

Hard to imagine virtually every single member returning in the fall. SO much can happen...

We thought we were only going to have 1 space to fill, too, but then someone didn't make grades, someone transferred, etc. Very quickly we were at 4 spaces.

I know of chapters in the area that would have really small classes as you explain because they are just under total and only take 1-2. As far as I know it is business as usual. The only difference is that they will find another nearby chapter to combine initiation with because it is a lot of work to do for just 1 NM.

No no no no! Total is 103. We will be at 102 in the fall AFTER the seniors graduate. We have 30-some seniors graduating.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding quota/total rules. Sorry if I am and I'm not trying to turn this into another thread about it!

Since you were over total before, wouldn't you be able to go over again? Or did they just lower it? What about quota? Is that not at the school?