Beating "Small Chapter" syndrome

bets · #1 07-22-2002, 05:21 AM

I was just wondering if anyone had any brillant ideas for how to overcome "small chapter syndrome" (definition: a good, strong chapter who, because of their diminuitive size, has trouble reaching quota, COBing, etc.)

I swear, it would be so great just to stand up during Recruitment and say, DAMNIT! if you and your friend will just pledge, and the chapter gets quota, then the small chapter will no longer be small!! 1 + 1 + 1. . . =TOTAL

Just to clarify, I am trying to get opinions on chapters that are strong already in chapter operations, scholarship, philanthropic, etc. You know the chapters I'm talking about, the only thing that seems to hurt them is numbers.

I am the president of the smallest NPC chapter on my campus, and I am trying to figure out a way to best describe my "MIGHTYMOUSE" chapter to PNM's during my introductions.

Kevin · #2 07-22-2002, 09:03 AM

When we were a 12 man colony, we signed some of our best people because we offered nearly instant leadership opportunities. For small chapters I'd assume things are similar.

pandarose18 · #3 07-22-2002, 09:45 AM

The leadership opportunities and strong sisterhood is what makes us an attractive choice even though we are smaller than the other two groups on campus (for now!) GOOD LUCK, I know how recruitment can be tough when you are up against larger chapters but remember if you keep the quality of members strong, the quantity will rise along with it!

good luck,
Sarah

aephi alum · #4 07-22-2002, 09:46 AM

My chapter was, and still is, what you describe. Most sororities returned for rush with about 70 sisters; one year we returned with 10. (!) The good news is that my chapter has slowly been growing - they're now up to around 35.

We always made sure to display prominently all the awards that the chapter had won, and to talk about them, as in "We have a very strong academic program, and we actually had the highest GPA of any sorority last semester." We also played up the opportunities to move into a leadership role more quickly.

To make us "look" larger, we held our formal rush parties in the smallest room available, and positioned balloons, decorations, and tables so as to take up more space. This cut down on the glaring size difference.

We also held informal rush throughout the year, and we were not afraid to take one-person new member classes... like you said, 1+1+1+... = total.

bets · #5 07-22-2002, 03:54 PM

We do all those things

*make the room smaller to appear bigger (did that make sense?)
*boast leadership opps.
*display awards prominently (to be the smallest chapter and win the biggest school spirit award is no easy task)
*show excellent sisterhood year round
*COB with small pledge classes year round,
*competitive grades (we have a 3.012, which is something we are proud of, but all the npc sororities are STILL higher--top is 3.34 with 100+ members!)

you name it, we do it.

I was on the panhellenic side of recruitment last year, and I continuously heard girls saying "gosh they seem so sweet and fun, but I feel bad that I'm going to cut them b/c they are the smallest on campus and I don't want to be in the smallest group." OVER and OVER I heard that!

The major drawback to being in a small chapter is you have to WORK! I mean if 5 people miss an event, it can be a big deal. SO you have to schedule things carefully so you don't have burnout or overprogramming.

OnePlus69Is70 · #6 07-22-2002, 10:18 PM

I hate to say it, but the magic pill here was our house. You can't be a "real" fraternity around here unless you all live in a big old house. Stupid, but unfortunately, sometimes perception is reality.

CarolinaDG · #7 07-22-2002, 11:34 PM

We have a small chapter here, too (well, we're huge compared to some sororities at other schools, but when you're competing with sororities around 150 members... well, you get the point) and it's a struggle sometimes, but part of why we stay so small is because we refuse to "settle" on girls, and we're finally getting rewarded for it. We had girls preffing the large sororities and choosing us. And I mean actually CHOOSING, not just being cut by the other sorority. It's a real thrill, sometimes, to hear about people doing that. And, yeah, our rho chi from last year said that she heard from several girls things like, "they're nice, and they'd be my first choice, except with the big sororities noone cares if you miss an event." Now, maybe it's just me, but it's kind of nice to be cared about! I went through as a sophomore, so I knew the other sororities' reputations, and it was kind of neat to hear about people saying good things about DG... and our rho chi said that she honestly didn't hear about anyone trashing us... ahh... the rewards for picking quality over quantity! And, we do ultimately want to grow. Noone wants to stay at 85 members when total's 100, but we want both quantity and quality, b/c that's what's most important.

DWAlphaGam · #8 07-23-2002, 10:33 AM

I come from the same type of chapter, as well. We are usually in the top 3 in scholarship (#1 last year!

), we won the greek spirit award and the award for most improved chapter, and we're always in the top 2 or 3 in intramurals.
I think that CarolinaDG made an excellent point about quality over quantity. One thing that we changed while I was in college was that we stopped doing things that made us look desperate. For example, we started to cut more people than we had in the past so that we looked more selective and not like we were inviting back everyone so that we could have higher numbers at the next round of parties (yes, recruitment guests really do notice if everyone is invited back).
I have another question for members of small chapters. I came from a small chapter at a small school (about 2000-2500 students) and one of the biggest problems that we face is reputation and rumors. This is compounded by the fact that we have sophomore recruitment, and the women have a full year to make up their minds about the chapters. We do everything we can to extoll our virtues, like leadership and awards, but no one wants to join a chapter that everyone thinks is struggling. Also, because we're so small, many recruitment guests have not had contact with us to know what type of people we are (I got some really crazy questions/comments ranging from "I heard that all of you have boyfriends, and I don't. Does that make a difference?" to "I heard that you guys do nothing but study.") What kinds of things do you tell recruitment guests that have a preconceived opinion about your chapter?

bets · #9 07-23-2002, 02:03 PM

Quote:

We do everything we can to extoll our virtues, like leadership and awards, but no one wants to join a chapter that everyone thinks is struggling.

EXACTLY! I just wish girls would understand that just because you are small, does not mean that you are struggling. That is why I started this thread. I am trying to find the best way to explain that to our PNM's. I know how to tell someone one on one, but like I said before, I want to shout it from the roof top to all of the PNMs.

Quote:

Also, because we're so small, many recruitment guests have not had contact with us to know what type of people we are (I got some really crazy questions/comments ranging from "I heard that all of you have boyfriends, and I don't. Does that make a difference?" to "I heard that you guys do nothing but study.") What kinds of things do you tell recruitment guests that have a preconceived opinion about your chapter?

That is one of the biggest problems we have faced in the past, because of our normal social contact rules. My chapter of 30 cannot possibly know as many PNM's as a chapter of 100. Nor can we GET to know all of our PNMs during the summer. (even though we aren't supposed to contact them, many larger sororities know the girls coming through before our summer recruitment rules begin, allowing them to have normal social contact with them in the summer.) So by the time we get to meet them at summer panhellenic events, or sometimes even during rush, they already have formed opinions about us, which they have learned (most of the time) through other Greeks (Greek unity is good, but not THAT good on our campus.)

What does that leave us? 30 minutes (at the MOST) during Recruitment events talking to 3 or 4 girls at a time trying to convince them that we are cool, intelligent, respectful women. Sometimes it's like deprogramming a bug. Which is, obviously, something that is hard to do.

33girl · #10 07-23-2002, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bets

[(even though we aren't supposed to contact them, many larger sororities know the girls coming through before our summer recruitment rules begin, allowing them to have normal social contact with them in the summer.)

Do you mean that just because of the sheer size of the other chapters, there is more of a statistical probability that they will know the incoming freshmen (I assume this is freshman rush). Do a lot of people from the same high schools attend your college?

shadokat · #11 07-23-2002, 03:11 PM

If sororities on your campus are in contact with PNMs when they aren't supposed to be, why aren't you reporting them to Panhellenic?

I don't mean any disrespect to you or your sorority, but if this frustration is what PNMs see when they go through recruitment, they aren't going to want to belong to your sorority. I advise one chapter who was down to 26 girls (total is 60). The chapter was in danger of losing their house and didn't have a lot or respect. Instead of thinking that this was it, they did recruitment as if they were just as big as the other sororities!! And they went out and SOLD their sorority. Their confidence and energy was infectious, and they went from 26 girls in the Fall to 63 by the end of the spring!

I would advise that you take a different approach to talking with the PNMs and getting your message across if your current methd isn't working. Make sure your first round of parties is a real attention grabber, and don't be afraid to be different from the other chapters. It's what can set you apart from the rest of the sororities and make you the chapter that shines through.

bets · #12 07-23-2002, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by shadokat
If sororities on your campus are in contact with PNMs when they aren't supposed to be, why aren't you reporting them to Panhellenic?

I don't mean any disrespect to you or your sorority, but if this frustration is what PNMs see when they go through recruitment, they aren't going to want to belong to your sorority. I advise one chapter who was down to 26 girls (total is 60). The chapter was in danger of losing their house and didn't have a lot or respect. Instead of thinking that this was it, they did recruitment as if they were just as big as the other sororities!! And they went out and SOLD their sorority. Their confidence and energy was infectious, and they went from 26 girls in the Fall to 63 by the end of the spring!

I don't think that is what is happening with our chapter at all. We are not in danger of losing our charter or anything. We are not frustrated with being small. We kindof like it (but we aren't limiting ourselves by wanting to stay small... we'll be happy to accept anyone that exemplifies our ideals) What we don't like is being known as the "small sorority" like thats a bad thing. Because when the campus perceives it as a bad thing, that is when things actually start to go bad.

My girls really have insane pride for our chapter, as well as the spirit and vivaciousness (sp?) that a lot of girls respond to, but then only half of them (roundabout) have the guts (faith?) to take a chance on "the small sorority". I guess that's where the SELL comes in: we're selling us, but we only close the deal half the time.

Does that make sense?

ivysis · #13 07-23-2002, 05:32 PM

Alot has already been said, but my chapter went from the smallest to one of the larger houses in the 3 years I was there. When I joined we were small (90 in our house, other houses average 120-150). We did tons of COBing. Real recruitment parties for COB girls so they knew what recruitment was all about. We also used the small room options. We also had a system where we would have at least 3 girls talk to each PNM at each party for formal recruitment. This made us look bigger.
THIS WORKS! Last formal recruitment we came in with the most girls (and first time at quota in a while). We went from smallest to top recruitment house quick. We managed to COB a few girls after that and initiate around 50-60 girls.
If you need any specific tips PM me.

SoCalGirl · #14 07-23-2002, 09:14 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ivysis
We also had a system where we would have at least 3 girls talk to each PNM at each party for formal recruitment.

Do you mean the rush groups rotated enough so that each sister talked to three rushees or did ya'll "hotbox", 3 sisters talking to 1 rushee at a time?

CarolinaDG · #15 07-23-2002, 11:48 PM

I'm not absolutely certain that this happens, because I'm not in one of the sororities that does this, but rumor has it that some sororities just build into their dues the rush fines... For example, they invite girls out to eat dinner with them before rush, get caught, and hand over the $500 or whatever it is for a fine. Like I said, I don't know for sure that this happens, but it wouldn't surprise me... one of my friends already had her sign made up by one of the girls in a larger sorority... back in JUNE!