Advice on bringing a new sorority (colony?) to my Midwesten university campus

[DubaiSis]

Rainbows pooping unicorns. You are thinking sorority membership is the magical union where everything is perfect and the girls in YOUR sorority are completely in sync with you at all times in all issues. They are not so much friends as mythical creatures who are perfect in all ways.

You were in a sorority where you had and still have friends. They were not good enough (being mid-tier), so you want to start another sorority chapter that meets these mythical standards. Let me tell you how colonies work, almost every time. A colony comes on campus and girls go bonkers trying to get in. Somewhere between, oh, half and most of the girls get in and they're elated. Then they get down to business and a good chunk of the girls drop out because it turns out being a colony member is hard AND there is none of that unicorn poop ANYWHERE. So then some of these girls who were very carefully selected are gone and the ones left have a sense of reality. But they probably aren't the prettiest or most "fun." And the reputation of the new chapter starts to suffer at least a smidge. So this new chapter that so many girls were just desperate to get in? Now they are mid-tier at best, and probably solidly in last place. And when next year's rush comes around, the new girls who didn't hear anything about how AWESOME it would be in the colony only see "that new house" that doesn't rush quite right and they come off as a little needy. And I heard that they take everyone in colony rush. And they take half of quota.

Now to be clear, being part of a colony can be highly rewarding. But those girls have to have a pretty thick skin because probably for the rest of their collegiate experience they are not going to be in the cool sorority on campus. The successful ones don't care, appreciate their friends and enjoy the great times that they absolutely do have. But if they are focused on being the top of the heap, they are not going to be happy. Or if you expect your friends (because let's remember, it's friendship at the basis of sorority membership) to be perfect and sing and clap every time you approach, then there is no way sorority membership and colony membership in particular is going to make you happy.