Quote:
Originally posted by MTSUGURL
I don't agree that the amount of advertising put out by XYZ makes them look desperate. It makes them look more open and inviting to girls they don't already know. They may appear that way to some other chapters, but they're not trying to attract members from the other chapters, right? Speaking as a (newly) independent here, I think they've done a great job with the amount of advertising, and know of several girls who will be attending because they saw a flier or chalk.
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I disagree strongly, but I think it depends on the campus.
If you are at a small school where most students, even independents, know the reputations of the chapters, it can look really bad to look desperate.
My chapter is under total--we are the smallest chapter on campus. However, we are not way way way under, but we would love to improve our numbers as we typically have a less than perfect formal rush. But, this year we have been aggressively pursuing COB--maybe too aggressively. We got lists of all the PNMs who were not placed in formal rush. Many of them have already come to COB events. But now we are hearing word that "the XYZs keep asking me to things... don't they see that I'm not interested?" (answer: NO, because you keep accepting invitations, doofus) and that "well, ABC has a better reputation and they had girls depledge last year and then they COB'ed people, so I'll just wait til that happens" (explanation: ABC hazes, and guess what? they cut you during formal--why would you get a bid now?"
). So I think you can be too aggressive in COB. On a larger campus where people legitimately don't know your chapter--yes, go all out. For example, with us a few years ago there were a lot of members who didn't particularly like to party and go out. Now those people have mostly graduated--but everyone knows that we are not "the party house" and we "study all the time" (hey, I thought a high GPA was a GOOD thing)--if we pressure these girls who are mostly really upset that they didn't get the houses they originally wanted, they are just going to be that much more bitter. We are having better luck with the girls who didn't go through rush at all at this point.
I guess my basic advice is to be balanced and cool. Don't pressure people, but make sure they know about you.