My chapter gets so much hate on greekrank and I think it's hurting our recruitment!!!

[sisterlylove]

My chapter gets soooo much hate on greekrank. People consider the other 5 sororities to be great or at least okay, and then they separate my chapter out like it's worthless. People say that it's the chapter that no one wants to be a part of, that all the girls are weird, and that we give bids to anyone who wants one. Obviously none of those are true, but the majority of people outside our chapter seems to think so. We're the smallest on campus but we have so many fantastic, genuine girls and everyone says that we're ugly and weird on greekrank. I know not to listen to/believe what they say. I LOVE my sorority and don't think I would have fit in anywhere else. But there are multiple PNM posts that are asking for 'tiers' even though we don't have them at our smaller university. People are replying and saying horrible things about my chapter! We're the only chapter with enough spots to do informal in the fall and I feel like if girls see on greekrank that there is so much bad stuff about us, they aren't even going to give us a chance.

After our formal recruitment (which is in the spring), over 50% of the girls who went through recruitment said that they heard negative stuff about us before recruitment even started.

PLEASE help! I want my chapter to be able to grow and succeed like all the other chapters but we can't with this negative reputation and it's so frustrating. It's clearly hurting our recruitment each semester (i.e. we got 19 new members last spring and everyone else got 44). I want to be our new recruitment chair come spring so any advice would be appreciated.

[FSUZeta]

I hate GR for that reason. It seems to exist to foment the worst in people. However, there is nothing any of us can do about it. What your chapter CAN do is strive to be your best. If the status quo is not bringing the results you want, then change things up. Do you ( the chapter as a whole) always present your best selves in public? Do you require each sister be involved in at least one other campus activity ( helps people get to know the chapter), do you all promote goodwill among the other chapters and do you all support their endeavors? What do you feel is the chapters's biggest obstacle that you can overcome?

[sisterlylove]

I think we do present ourselves well in public. We are viewed VERY positively in the eyes of the Greek life office, especially compared to other chapters. For example, we were the only chapter not to receive citations during the recruitment process, and my panhellenic advisor (I'm on the council) said our chapter is the most open to change and doing activities with other sororities. We don't have the activity requirement, I don't know how you would go about that even, but every sister is involved in at least one other thing.

I feel like during recruitment we have more shy girls than the other chapters and that makes us come off as awkward. But we also have lots of girls who could talk to ANYONE. So there's definitely things like conversation I'd like to work on, I just wish we could change our reputation because every year we don't do well in recruitment just makes the next year's pnm's think, "oh, they did bad in recruitment last year, I shouldn't join them."

[DallasMom]

I dislike that site for the very reasons you mentioned. What's worse, anyone with a computer, tablet or phone can post anything regardless if it is true or not. And the PNMs will believe it until someone sets them straight. UGGGGG!

That said, projecting a positive image is similar to promoting a brand. What's your "brand"? Smart girls, fun girls, girls involved in service projects, etc? When appropriate, post on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook on your chapter's pages. Do you have a Tumblr blog? These are great ways to show off your chapter's sisters and their involvement, skills, etc. Good pictures are a must. Maybe one of your members is a photographer? Is another member a marketing major? Put those skills to good use and send out great messages about your wonderful group. Be sure to ask your members to "like" or love the posts. It shows active engagement.

And, most important, ignore the trolls. . .. . . :-)

Hugs to you!!

[33girl]

Honestly from your description, it sounds like you guys are the "good girls" every parent wants their child to hang out with, but who really aren't very fun. I'm not saying you guys should go crazy and start running a drug ring out of your house. Just little things can change people's minds about you. Do you always hang out with the same not too thrilling fraternity? Make a point to have mixers with other groups, or just go to their parties. Get involved in activities where you will have access to meeting freshmen - like RA, campus tour guide, and if your campus has any sort of freshman mentoring program, get lots of sisters in it. This way freshmen will get to know you for who you really are, not what the garbage on Greek ranks says. Honestly, if 5 out of 6 groups are having recruitment violations, I'm inclined to believe the whole campus needs to get it together and realize what Panhellenic unity means.

[clemsongirl]

It sounds like you already know that better conversations and getting shy sisters to open up more is something you need to work on in recruitment. I'll provide an anecdote because I can't think of a better way to describe what I'm talking about, but is your recruitment "polished"?

When I was watching sisterhood videos during Skit round of recruitment two years ago, one chapter had gotten a professional videographer to come in and film their video. Many girls were featured in their letters throwing glitter, horsing around and generally being adorable with a trendy song playing over it. A different chapter's video was simply a slideshow of photos and a couple girls talking to a camera, but the microphone kept picking up the wind and you could barely hear them. It was obviously done in-house and didn't look nearly as appealing as the other video did. Stuff like this is little, but makes a big impression on PNMs, as evidenced by the fact that I still remember it two years later.

I'm not saying you need to run out and throw your money at professionals to save your recruitment, but ask yourself, "If I looked at what we're presenting through the eyes of a PNM right now, would I want to join this chapter?" That's not an easy thing to do, but identifying areas to build on will help you have a plan to present when it comes time to interview for recruitment chair.

[SoCalGirl]

Written too early in the morning so I apologize if my thoughts aren't complete:

A lot of this comes down to old school PR with a dash of new school PR.

Old School: Make sure everyone wears their letters at least once a week on campus. Have a designated letters day when everyone is encouraged to wear them on the same day. As a smaller chapter (I was in one too) you want to encourage this so that the public will see that you ladies are "everywhere". Bonus is to have sisters seen in groups while wearing letters, not "that one girl" over and over.

Old School: Develop relationships/friendships with members of the other sororities and fraternities. The goal is to work the way up from "those weird girls" to "oh I know them, they're nice" to "yeah they're chill" eventually to "best girls ever". If your sisters aren't part of the greek community then they truly are the outsiders.

Old School: Send congratulations/good luck/etc notes to the other chapters. Also, if affordable, candy, flowers, etc.

Old School: Social events, with the guys and the other sororities. Based on your description I'm guessing your socials are with other "comparable" fraternities. To start, make sure your social chair is asking the "desirable" fraternities about having events. At this point that'll be a no but she should be working on developing relationships w/ the other social chairs. In time she, and the rest of the chapter, will have enough contacts that the guys will start saying yes. Start small with low key socials before moving up to larger scale events. If you're housed, maybe have some open houses for the sisters to bring their greek friends over to hang out, have snacks, and watch sports/movies/shows/etc.

The point of Old School is get out there, get noticed, have genuine interactions.


New School: Make sure your social media is on point. Chapter pages and sister pages. Pictures should be flattering and show all the awesome things you all do. Avoid too many "group of sisters standing in front of something" and more "pinterest worthy action shots".

New School: Make sure that the chapter website links to official chapter social media and is up to date.

New School: Your chapter pages (and sisters) should be following other chapters too. When a PNM is internet stalking "the cool girls" you want them to keep seeing your pages pop up too. Use these social media contacts to further your Old School PR too.


In time, people who actually know you will give you better reviews on GR and the tide will turn.


Good Luck!


eta: Some of this can be helped by some targeted recruiting. Your recruitment team should be identifying the chapter's strengths and weaknesses. It sounds like you need a boost in the "social butterfly" area but your rep scares away the classic butterfly. Find women your sisters already know who are social but "a bit weird like you" and recruit them hard! If they join it can start shifting perceptions a lot quicker. I recall we snagged a couple girls who were super social cheerleaders (butterfly) and ravers ("weird") who also had loads of friends in fraternities. They got some grief from their greek friends about "why" us but they were true sisters, not just our props, and helped recruit a lot of "traditional" girls.

[33girl]

Oh, and another note about mixers, socials, etc?

If someone votes in favor of an event, that should mean they're going to attend. If it's scheduled on a night that they can't make it, they should vote against it. Not vote for it "because the other sisters want it." Nothing ruins a chapter's reputation faster then not showing up 4 things you have committed to, especially mixers. If there are sisters who are continually not showing up, they need to go in front of the Standards Board. If the behavior continues they need to be terminated. Too many chapters get to a struggling point because they explain away someone's lack of commitment by saying she's a good person, blah blah blah. That may be true. She may be a fabulous person. It may also be that the responsibilities of sorority life just aren't for her. If as you said in your other posts, you really weren't allowed to be choosy during rush, you have to do it now. The point is that you can't afford to have deadweight who is contributing nothing to the chapter.

[WhiteRose1912]

Originally Posted by 33girl

If as you said in your other posts, you really weren't allowed to be choosy during rush, you have to do it now. The point is that you can't afford to have deadweight who is contributing nothing to the chapter.

I imagine they're as choosy as they're allowed to be. RFM ties your hands sometimes. Unless you're suggesting booting sisters who aren't contributing?

[austingammaphi]

Another great way to tweak your image is to have your leadership contact your national organization for some advice and coaching. Chances are good that they're already looking at the difference in your chapter's recruitment numbers vs. those of the other groups on campus, and if you initiate contact with a request for help in improving those numbers, they'll take a much more positive attitude toward helping you out. It may be something as simple as having you all connect with the next nearest chapter of your sorority and exchanging notes on what they have found to be successful, or they could send a regional team to help identify areas to work on--whatever the result, showing that you're proactive in recognizing and addressing the problem will win you some major respect from your national organization.

[33girl]

Also: you're the only group who can take women in informal this fall? LOOK AT THIS AS A GOOD THING.

-you get the women who have "blossomed" since coming to college and found their confidence they didn't have in hs.
-you get the women who have transferred in, not those who may be transferring out. (Yes this is a bit of a generalization)
-you get women who most likely have made friends on their own without a sorority and know how to do that.
-you get women who have grown up a little since their freshman year.
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY-
-you get women who have read all the Greek rank garbage, have heard the sniping on campus, have seen that you're smaller - AND WANT TO BE WITH YOU ANYWAY.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by WhiteRose1912

I imagine they're as choosy as they're allowed to be. RFM ties your hands sometimes. Unless you're suggesting booting sisters who aren't contributing?

This is one of those times where I don't like RFM. No chapter should be forced to invite people back and disallowed the ability to cut, especially if they are the only ones in that predicament. But yes, I am wholeheartedly advocating booting sisters who never show up for anything and contribute 0 to the chapter. They're a mental and emotional drain on the rest of the group. Letter Pimps, jacket sisters, whatever you want to call them - I don't understand the mindset of paying for something and never using it, but it's out there, and it's worst of all for small chapters. 50 girls who do everything is better than 80 girls, 40 of which do nothing. I also can't understand if there's a push back from HQ on terminating girls like this which does sometimes happen. If she can't bother to show up to things as a collegian, do you really think she's going to do anything as an alumna?

[WhiteRose1912]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Letter Pimps, jacket sisters, whatever you want to call them

Adding these phrases to my repertoire.

Originally Posted by 33girl

50 girls who do everything is better than 80 girls, 40 of which do nothing. I also can't understand if there's a push back from HQ on terminating girls like this which does sometimes happen. If she can't bother to show up to things as a collegian, do you really think she's going to do anything as an alumna?

While I also don't like dead weight, it's a poor idea to deliberately drop down to 50 women when rounds are 60+ pnms. Better to pair "less desirable" pnms with less-than-stellar sisters than to triple rush, IMHO. (Not to mention all the problems that come with being at a third of campus total.)

I don't think anyone should be forced to take people who won't uphold the organization's values, or whose presence will actively contribute to the chapter's problems (reputation etc.) instead of helping alleviate it (or at the very least maintaining the status quo). The consequences of enforcing zero cuts is awful to think about, because you do wind up shooting yourself in the foot and scaring off quality pnms. With that in mind, quantity breeds quality. It's okay to have some people who really only contribute by providing dues and some conversation during recruitment if it gets you closer to total and making quota. That will allow you the luxury of stronger cuts in the future.

[AlphaXi_Husky]

Originally Posted by WhiteRose1912

Better to pair "less desirable" pnms with less-than-stellar sisters than to triple rush, IMHO.

I agree with a lot of what's been said in this thread, but as for specifically Formal Recruitment, this is going to be your best strategy.


You need to find the women coming through that both are going to improve your chapter and that you have the best shot at pledging. These may be women your chapter members already know, or out-of-state women who aren't as familiar with your campus. These are NOT the women that every other chapter is swooning over.


Identify the top recruiters in your chapter and have them AND ONLY THEM talk to these women. In my experience, like recruits like, so you need to have good recruiters talking to the women you want.


While this will take time to work, I have seen chapters improve using this strategy.

[shadokat]

Chapters are not FORCED to invite women back. They cannot be forced to provide a "plus" list, only a minus list.

As for letter pimps, you take em to standards and get them out. Plain and simple.

Originally Posted by 33girl

This is one of those times where I don't like RFM. No chapter should be forced to invite people back and disallowed the ability to cut, especially if they are the only ones in that predicament. But yes, I am wholeheartedly advocating booting sisters who never show up for anything and contribute 0 to the chapter. They're a mental and emotional drain on the rest of the group. Letter Pimps, jacket sisters, whatever you want to call them - I don't understand the mindset of paying for something and never using it, but it's out there, and it's worst of all for small chapters. 50 girls who do everything is better than 80 girls, 40 of which do nothing. I also can't understand if there's a push back from HQ on terminating girls like this which does sometimes happen. If she can't bother to show up to things as a collegian, do you really think she's going to do anything as an alumna?