Quote:
Originally posted by justamom
Everyone has seen either Legally Blond, Animal House or Sorority Life (This REALLY is sarcasm!)
Those who WANT it bad enough will seek out information.
It would be nice if everyone found a spot...but they don't.
Bottom line, IF someone really DESIRES to be in a sorority, it is because they have some concept of what a sorority is, or at the very least, what they THINK it is.
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That's part of the problem.
I think a lot of those who seek it out seek it out because of what can be stereotypical portrayals. Those who "really want it" may have a totally different perception of greek life if they've only seen the above portrayals. I'm not saying that they'd make horrid sisters, not at all! But the fact that someone *wants* it because she wants to live in a house like the "Delta Nu's" in Legally Blonde is going to get a huge culture shock if she thinks that Valpo sorority life is going to be like that! (I wish we all had over a hundred members and a house to live in!)
The other thing is, stuff like MTV sorority life may actively *turn away* quality women, because they get the idea that all sororities on all campuses are like that. If I thought that I needed to look like the girls of Delta Nu to get into a sorority, I'd never go through formal rush. Why bother researching the sororities if you feel that you don't have a chance against a bunch of rich, long-haired party girls? Again, it doesn't mean that they'd be great sisters, but how can you find out if they don't get interested in rush? By the time some women realize that sorority life isn't that stereotype, and *want* to rush, it may be too late for them since all of the houses are at quota and only want freshmen.
I think that we as individual sororities, and as GLOs in general, need to think about marketing. We want to attract many different kinds of women, not just one stereotype of women.
It's kind of like me going to college. I never would have thought about Valparaiso University if they hadn't done a "Valpo Sunday" at church with alumnae speakers and displays and flyers about what Valpo had to offer. *Because* I saw that information, and heard about the good qualities of the school, I did want to know more. But I would have never "done the research" into Valpo if my church hadn't had a Valpo Sunday. Similarly, I think there are women who won't research what greek life has to offer until they are given *some* information about what NPC sororities are really like (both in general and on specific campuses).
So no, I don't think that women need to be totally spoon-fed, but if you want to have a more diverse, quality group of women to choose from, you need to market a broader and more accurate picture of sorority life to women. Again, not that that applies to every campus, but it needs to apply to some.
Valpo has seven sororities, and had less than ninety women go through recruitment. Sixty-five received and accepted bids (snap or otherwise) on bid day. That's *fewer* than some sororities take for ONE PLEDGE CLASS!
Like I said, if your campus doesn't have a problem attracting a diverse group of women, you may be fine... but GC has often had stories of women asking if they can get a bid as a sophomore. Wouldn't it be nice if they had known enough to decide whether to rush as freshmen, and decide to investigate sorority life on their campuses before it's "too late"?