Reversing the numbers snowball
I'm sure many of you SEC'ers and those from other schools with highly competitive rush know what I mean. One year, a usually successful (in terms of numbers) chapter fails to make quota for whatever reason. The next year, because of the smaller pledge class, they are smaller than the other sororities. Rushees pick up on this, assume there is something wrong with the chapter if they can't get as many girls as the others, and drop the chapter in fear that they are joining a house that is "dying out." As a result, the chapter fails to make quota again. As the larger pledge classes graduate, the chapter gets smaller and smaller, and therefore falls lower and lower on the totem pole in the eyes of rushees. It's like a snowball.
My chapter is currently dealing with this. This year was the first year in recent memory that we did not make quota. We will be graduating lots of seniors this year, and have lost about 5 to deactivation over the course of the year, due to financial issues unrelated to rush. During next fall's rush, we will have fewer members than any other sorority, save for one other chapter that's further along in the "snowball" than we are.
My question is: how can this effect be reversed? The immediate solution, to me, is to be less selective during rush next year (one of our pitfalls this year was that we cut too many girls, in my opinion.) But, do we really want to go for quantity over quality? How can we get numbers back up?
I want to clarify that I don't judge my sorority by its size. I would love my chapter whether there were 150, 70, or 20 of us. But, financially, if we want to exist five years from now, we need more members. Our dues are already high and our house has a low capacity, preventing us from taking in a lot of money in room and board.
Let's face it: rushees can be and often are shallow when it comes to picking houses. I know that when I rushed, my greatest fear was getting a bid from the "small" house on campus. We will be facing a disadvantage during rush due to our size. I guess my question is: have any of you entered into the "snowball" with your chapter, and if so, how do you get out of it?
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