What’s it like to be in a Huge Chapter?

[chi-o_cat]

I received my sorority’s national alumnae magazine, and they always feature of list of the chapters that made quota at the most recent recruitment, and it lists what quota was at each chapter’s campus. The range of quotas is incredibly broad- from some in the low teens to others in the triple digits. When I was in college, I don’t think our whole chapter even had 100 members.

What’s it like to be in a sorority that large- with a pledge/new member class of around hundred? I would imagine this makes the total number of members somewhere around 400? What are the advantages and disadvantages to having a chapter that big?

[IUHoosiergirl88]

I have the unique position of being in a chapter that went from small to large over my time in the house, and it was an interesting transition. My PC was <30, and the PC the following year was 60 and then up to an average around 70-80 for the past 2 years.

Advantages: helps make events more successful, always have volunteers for things, always have people to cheer you on at events, easier for you to find a personality that matches yours, always have lots of ideas to choose from, recruitment is less stressful, etc.

Disadvantages: events can be like herding cats, sometimes there can be too many ideas, can be hard to get to know everyone, drama is more likely

[AnchorAlumna]

Good thing IUHoosiergirl88 answered. For most people, it would be like when I interviewed identical twins.

"What's it like to be identical twins?"
"I dunno, I don't know what it's like to be a single kid."

I was in a small chapter as an undergrad, but our recolonized version has more than quadruple the number we had and will grow even more this fall.
One problem - no place big enough in town to host a sit-down banquet.

[DubaiSis]

I do think there must be a point of diminishing return. I can definitely see the benefits of large chapters, but once you practically have to rent the football stadium to hold chapter every week, I think you're going to have trouble with member retention, and I can picture having trouble getting girls to step up because there's always someone else who will.

It would be interesting to know what the chapters at the 100+ pledge class schools wish their quotas were. I feel like much over 50 and you've got a jump in issues that the 30-50 member pledge classes don't have, like being able to hold meetings without a microphone, being at least in the ballpark of similar size with fraternities, having a reasonable percentage get to live in the house, etc.

[KSUViolet06]

I too came from a smallish chapter (like 50 to 60) in 2006ish that is now very close to 100 (total.)

The chapter doubled in size last year (lots of hard work) bringing it to such a high number. Going back for Homecoming was so interesting and exciting because there are just SO many new members! I know that there are growing pains with being small and becoming larger (especially with the Essential Sigma program and keeping people involved so that retention stays great) but they seem to be handling it quite well.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by chi-o_cat

What’s it like to be in a sorority that large- with a pledge/new member class of around hundred? I would imagine this makes the total number of members somewhere around 400?

I don't think that the second follows from the first. When I was at Illinois, quota was usually around 50, but total was only 145, and the biggest chapters were in the 160's. I would be interested to hear from some of the SEC folks, but I think that retention may be a little more trouble in such big chapters.

[DGTess]

Originally Posted by chi-o_cat

I received my sorority’s national alumnae magazine, and they always feature of list of the chapters that made quota at the most recent recruitment, and it lists what quota was at each chapter’s campus. The range of quotas is incredibly broad- from some in the low teens to others in the triple digits. When I was in college, I don’t think our whole chapter even had 100 members.

What’s it like to be in a sorority that large- with a pledge/new member class of around hundred? I would imagine this makes the total number of members somewhere around 400? What are the advantages and disadvantages to having a chapter that big?

My chapter was around 25 at its largest while I was there! My pledge class was 7; we initiated 6.

I've often wondered how one gets to know all one's sisters in a huge chapter - and if you don't get to know them, then what makes the chapter different from any other club. I'm sure there are plenty of things, and different things to worry about (ever try to hold a social when only 20 people are playing dues?!).

I do know that I would not have gone Greek at a school with a larger Greek system. It's just not me. So I would have missed a lot.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by DGTess

I've often wondered how one gets to know all one's sisters in a huge chapter - and if you don't get to know them, then what makes the chapter different from any other club. I'm sure there are plenty of things, and different things to worry about (ever try to hold a social when only 20 people are playing dues?!).

I think that, in a large chapter, living in the house/dorm is a much bigger part of the experience. I felt closest, in college, to the women who lived in the house at the same time I did, and further, who lived on my floor.

[psusue]

I think even with huge chapters you can definitely give off a certain vibe during recruitment that may make a PNM feel that she wouldn't fit in. But we know as actives and alumnae that recruitment chapter persona =/= chapter persona, at least not all the time. Chapters can be selecting their recruiters for either the image they have, the image they want, or who they feel can win over the women the best (or a combination of the above).

Ex: A 200 person chapter can have 75 women recruiting. They decide to pick their cheerleaders, their sports team members, and their best recruiters to be on the floor for recruitment. PNM Annie sees them and thinks 'oh I'm not athletic, I could never fit in with this chapter' and goes about her merry way. What she doesn't know is that the other 125 women may have never seen the inside of a gym, don't care about sports, and trip over their own two feet just walking to class (think like Mia Thermopolis from Princess Diaries) but are great women and would get along well with Annie.

Another point that I think is salient is the women that reflect the chapter persona (i.e. the 'athletes' in this example) may be the ones in positions of power in the group, and not being 'in' with them might result in fewer chair positions, being on less committees, and ultimately not standing a chance at running for officer/executive board. Certainly in any group their are subgroups (I prefer this word to cliques, I hate the connotation) and some tend to hold the strings of power more than others and sometimes PNMs can see this. That is, they know that if they join ABC house, they're not going to be in with the 'in crowd' and may feel that they won't have the same experience because of it.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by psusue

I think even with huge chapters you can definitely give off a certain vibe during recruitment that may make a PNM feel that she wouldn't fit in. But we know as actives and alumnae that recruitment chapter persona =/= chapter persona, at least not all the time. Chapters can be selecting their recruiters for either the image they have, the image they want, or who they feel can win over the women the best (or a combination of the above).

Okay, I'll buy that you can give off a certain vibe during recruitment, but generally, most chapters try to pair PNM's with people who they will click with. Even if a chapter chooses its best recruiters, and a PNM is more introverted, I just don't buy that there are too many women who think "man, this chapter is too cool for me".

[psusue]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Okay, I'll buy that you can give off a certain vibe during recruitment, but generally, most chapters try to pair PNM's with people who they will click with. Even if a chapter chooses its best recruiters, and a PNM is more introverted, I just don't buy that there are too many women who think "man, this chapter is too cool for me".

It may be different at other schools, but we have a very strict '1st active to 1st PNM in line' rule. There is no picking and choosing PNMs. I'm sure it happens to a degree (especially with very desirable PNMs) but for us you can get major infractions for this.

And I don't know, there were certain chapters that I knew about that I was too intimidated to even go to their informal parties because of their persona. I just thought that I'd never fit in. Now having met sisters of that chapter at Panehellenic events I know differently, but I still have no idea whether they would have given me a bid.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by psusue

It may be different at other schools, but we have a very strict '1st active to 1st PNM in line' rule. There is no picking and choosing PNMs. I'm sure it happens to a degree (especially with very desirable PNMs) but for us you can get major infractions for this.

Even for pref? Do you know why this is? I've never heard of a rule like this before.

[psusue]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Even for pref? Do you know why this is? I've never heard of a rule like this before.

For pref you can be paired, but by then you've either cut or been cut by a lot of chapters. And by then you've probably also formed an opinion about the chapter anyway. Although obviously pref can change that.

[angels&angles]

Originally Posted by psusue

It may be different at other schools, but we have a very strict '1st active to 1st PNM in line' rule. There is no picking and choosing PNMs. I'm sure it happens to a degree (especially with very desirable PNMs) but for us you can get major infractions for this.

And I don't know, there were certain chapters that I knew about that I was too intimidated to even go to their informal parties because of their persona. I just thought that I'd never fit in. Now having met sisters of that chapter at Panehellenic events I know differently, but I still have no idea whether they would have given me a bid.

psusue, we have that rule too. So when we line up to the door, we LINE UP IN THE ORDER OF THE PNMS. Maybe the rule you reference forbids this, but it's pretty much the way it works where I am. It can get thrown off when someone quits at the last second but generally works pretty well.

[WCsweet<3]

Originally Posted by angels&angles

psusue, we have that rule too. So when we line up to the door, we LINE UP IN THE ORDER OF THE PNMS. Maybe the rule you reference forbids this, but it's pretty much the way it works where I am. It can get thrown off when someone quits at the last second but generally works pretty well.

When I was recruiting for the first time, we were given PNM's names and called them out. So I would go to the door and say "Hi! I'm WCsweet<3 and I'd like to welcome Patty PNM to KD's open house day." The second year I was a rho gamma and the PNMs were lined up by number (more or less alphabetically unless you signed up late). The sisters were lined inside the house according to where the assigned PNM would be in line outside the house. So Patty PNM would be 27th from the door, I would be 27th in line inside the house. The rho gams (minimum of three at every house) would have a few by the door (to give an attendance report to the house so lines weren't messed up) and at least one near the end of the line so we could catch girls quitting at the last minute.

My senior year of college chapter average was 158 members. I loved it. The only problem was learning all the new members names and keeping them straight. While I would say that my chapter could find a niche for just about everyone going through recruitment, there were/would be some that would fit better. We had artists, athletes, leaders, and etc. However, in my chapter (and others on campus) we definitely had more members in one area than others or had interests that were similar. So yes Patty PNM could love juggling pears and we might have a sister who also loved to juggle pears, but the majority of sisters wouldn't. The sister would likely have other interests that fit the chapter (perhaps not), but if pears is the only thing the two talk about during recruitment or if that is basically the only commonality between the PNM and the chapter then it seems like she would really only have a connection to a few girls in the chapter.

Going back to recruitment and matching women for certain days. I know there were two houses (minimum just two that jump out at me) that I grew to dislike because of who they matched me with. We had almost similar interests (they were a cheerleader I was a dancer), but it just wasn't the same and it grew annoying. That chapter is a wonderful and I know many women who are my friends in it, however, I wouldn't have gotten along with the majority of the chapter.

I do think that in a large chapter there will be niches for just about any PNMs. However, it could be relatively small where as in a different chapter the niche might be bigger.