Should I stay or go?

[KyleMcGuire1983]

see that's why with Fraternities you don't get that measure of acceptance until AFTER the pledge period....which is why our retention rates seem to be higher!

Pledging in NIC Fraternities is a challenge where the reward comes with membership.

It seems like the New Member programs of most sororities includes showering the girls with gifts and attention.....at my campus they don't even have house duties. Once they get initiated they get stuck with house duties, increased dues, rent, fines for not attending events, etc etc.

To me it seems like the slope is a bit backward.....

I mean all too often I hear sorority women saying "blah blah blah I wish I could pledge Sigma Nu blah blah blah I wish I was in a fraternity!" Why on Earth am I hearing this from multiple sorority women in various chapter?!

I'm also hearing girls telling me they want to go through hazing and hell weeks and stuff. Totally nuts!

To most fraternities the pledge is a probationary non-member who has to earn his letters via dedication to the chapter (project management, house duties, etc etc) and I think the work expected of pledges prepares them for the work expected of actives when they cross. Personally my Fraternal work-load increased as I went active and took on Exec jobs buuuuuut I was more prepared by having a serious pledge semester where my big bro didn't get me pillows and stuffed animals while not making me have house duties such as moping our first floor or cleaning up the TV room. (and yes every Sigma Nu is expected to complete house duties....not just the pledges)

[REE1993]

Kyle, that's the way things were until the early- to mid-90s. For various reasons, things have changed a lot.

At my first college, I pledged an NPC sorority (spring) but had to depledge the week before summer break because I had to leave school for medical reasons. Pledging was 14 weeks during that semester, with initations happening the first week of the following semester. Let's just say that pledging was VERY VERY different back then.

When I later transferred to the school where I pledged and initiated Gamma Sig, things were also very different than they are now.

At both schools, there was the philosophy that you had to "earn" your letters. For discretion's sake, that is all I will say about it.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by KyleMcGuire1983

It seems like the New Member programs of most sororities includes showering the girls with gifts and attention.....at my campus they don't even have house duties. Once they get initiated they get stuck with house duties, increased dues, rent, fines for not attending events, etc etc.

To me it seems like the slope is a bit backward.....

exactly. We were having this same discussion in another thread. search under honeychile's name & the word "retention."

I don't think that's the issue in the OP's case though, I think she's going through a post initiation letdown which I and many others can relate to, no matter how "hard' or "easy" your pledging was. Even if you're working your butt off - you're a pledge and so there's extra attention paid to you (even if it's negative). It makes you special. Once you intiate and you're just another brother/sister, you have to find a way to cope with not being special because of your status anymore.

REE1993, I'm confused - did your GSS chapter give out bids in the same way as an NPC?? If not, then yes, obviously you would have to show you were fit for membership in some way.

[KyleMcGuire1983]

Originally Posted by 33girl

exactly. We were having this same discussion in another thread. search under honeychile's name & the word "retention."

I don't think that's the issue in the OP's case though, I think she's going through a post initiation letdown which I and many others can relate to, no matter how "hard' or "easy" your pledging was. Even if you're working your butt off - you're a pledge and so there's extra attention paid to you (even if it's negative). It makes you special. Once you intiate and you're just another brother/sister, you have to find a way to cope with not being special because of your status anymore.

REE1993, I'm confused - did your GSS chapter give out bids in the same way as an NPC?? If not, then yes, obviously you would have to show you were fit for membership in some way.

You have a good point, we put on serenades and our formal mostly just for the pledges. They really are the focus of everybody's attention. The way I avoided the whole "not special" thing was by diving right into leadership. My first active semester I was Alumni Relations and Risk Reduction, my second active semester (and first eligible for an exec position) I was Vice President, then I was Secretary, and now I'm Vice President again...by far the easiest way to stand out is by taking on a leadership role.

[AKA_Monet]

/hijack

When I read the thread title, I immediately thought of the '80 punk band, The Clash, and the song:

"Should I stay or should I go..."

And we just won't say, but in school we changed the song to:

"Is that woman just a ho"...

/end hijack

[REE1993]

Originally Posted by 33girl

REE1993, I'm confused - did your GSS chapter give out bids in the same way as an NPC?? If not, then yes, obviously you would have to show you were fit for membership in some way.

Yes, although we arre non-discriminatory, you could not just walk in and get letters. We had an 8-week long pledge period, pledge projects, service hours, quizzes, minimum grades. There were some girls who "didn't make it" all the way.