After Several Years: What Do You Think of the New Release Figures?

[Just interested]

All I know is I applaud Chi O for sticking to their guns and waiting until after the semester and grades are made to initiate. I feel it makes membership much more special and moms I've talked to like it as well. I don't know about retention and all that but I think the way it is now girls feel they are just joining a club and not a life long affiliation. Change is good but at what cost, numbers or lifelong members. Just random thoughts

[fantASTic]

Originally Posted by carnation

FantASTic: WHAT??!!! You're kidding! Is PH making these calls? What would they do if you ignored them? You should, you know.

Yes, it is PH and also the Greek Life Staff.

For a few years, we actually did it...then my big became Recruitment Chair and, after consecutive phone calls saying that if we didn't take a particular girl [who was cut by ALL houses on Day 1, which should say enough considering we are very noncompetitive] we would "never make total or quota, ever again" [wrong - we did both that year, by the way] she told her to stop calling and threw her phone across the room.

That stopped it for THAT year...but we've gotten the calls for the past two years straight still. We have refused to take any girl we have cut - we do not want her if we have cut her. It's highly offensive, considering we are NOT a struggling chapter.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by Just interested

All I know is I applaud Chi O for sticking to their guns and waiting until after the semester and grades are made to initiate. I feel it makes it that it makes membership much more special and moms I've talked to like it as well. I don't know about retention and all that but I think the way it is now girls feel they are just joining a club and not a life long affiliation. Change is good but at what cost, mumbers or lifelong members. Just random thoughts

I have my moments of appreciating the wait, also. I can honestly see both sides of the matter, but the bottom line is that women go to college for an education.

[AGDee]

In my 20 years as a volunteer, I actually see more women making grades these days than in the past. We have also raised our minimum requirements for good standing for both individuals and chapters in those years. Our national average GPA increased with the birth of our Strive for Pi program (an incentive program with awards for members/chapters that achieve a GPA of Pi .. 3.14). I don't see huge numbers of new initiates not making grades. In fact, it seems like it's usually sophomores who have trouble with grades. In fact, overall GPAs have increased so much that I really wonder about grade inflation on the schools' parts. Almost always, a change in major improves a woman's grades a lot. Sometimes they are just in a major that doesn't fit their skill set and when they change to something that fits them better, their grades improve tremendously.

As for release figures, it does seem to be working to help more chapters get quota/total. I agree that no chapter should ever be pressured by PH to invite a woman that they cut just so that they meet their release figures. We are, by nature, supposed to be selective organizations so it's only natural that some women will get dropped by all chapters or not receive a bid. It does seem to me that the disappointment of being dropped from the 'dream' chapter early on would be less than going through the whole process to find out you don't have a bid because your favorite three chapters invited 5 times quota to pref, knowing full well that most of those women wouldn't get a bid.

[kddani]

Though I don't have a ton of knowledge on the subject, the new release figures seems to have greatly helped my alma matter- Pitt. I graduated in 02, and since then, the membership among sororities has evened out and actually gone up- before, there would be as many as 5 out of the 11 sororities not at total. Now, there's only 1 that's consistently under total (by their own choice, I might add). It's really evened the playing field.

[ZTA72]

Originally Posted by Just interested

All I know is I applaud Chi O for sticking to their guns and waiting until after the semester and grades are made to initiate. I feel it makes membership much more special and moms I've talked to like it as well. I don't know about retention and all that but I think the way it is now girls feel they are just joining a club and not a life long affiliation. Change is good but at what cost, numbers or lifelong members. Just random thoughts

Back in the day, 70s, we (ZTA) waited until January for initiation. Our grades determined whether or not we could be initiated. Our pledge period was the entire quarter. I don't remember if other groups waited or initiated earlier in the quarter. At the risk of sounding " old school", I totally agree that it is worth the wait.

[Kansas City]

Question: About PH making the "phone call" ... are we talking about flex numbers here? From the chapter I advise at smaller Greek system, a "popular" chapter might be flexed 6-12 PNMs per day but that chapter would have a say in which PNMs they were flexed on or off. Any thoughts from GC?

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by fantASTic

That stopped it for THAT year...but we've gotten the calls for the past two years straight still. We have refused to take any girl we have cut - we do not want her if we have cut her. It's highly offensive, considering we are NOT a struggling chapter.

Since your not a struggling chapter, don't take offense. Maybe PH is just trying their best to work it out for one heart broken girl. You have the right to say no, and you did. I don't think PH calling a struggling chapter is any less offensive...you have the right, no matter how strong of a chapter you are, to choose your own members. Next time, inform them that you aren't interested and let it go. For all you know, they may have called the other chapters, too!

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by Just interested

All I know is I applaud Chi O for sticking to their guns and waiting until after the semester and grades are made to initiate. I feel it makes membership much more special and moms I've talked to like it as well. I don't know about retention and all that but I think the way it is now girls feel they are just joining a club and not a life long affiliation. Change is good but at what cost, numbers or lifelong members. Just random thoughts

Are their any studies or numbers that support this? How does an extra month of waiting for initiation improve the odds that a girl will take the lifelong membership seriously? Have you seen more people intiated then have to be dropped for grades? There is a relatively small difference in time of the new member period in both situations...I fail to see how it can make that big of a difference. I don't think AOII has seen a change in grades over the years, which is the only thing that I can see would actually be different between the two options.

[SWTXBelle]

I too wondered how waiting a few extra weeks = taking membership more seriously. We had to wait until the next semester to initiate - and still had those who did not take their membership seriously. Not making grades hasn't been a big issue in the chapters with which I was involved. If anything, I can think of a case where the fact that a member was already initiated but on scholastic probation made her study that much harder to get her grades up and remain on campus and an unfettered active. It all depends on the individual.

I am sure each NPC group has carefully considered the pros and cons of a shortened pledge period and continues to monitor its success. I personally think the most important determining factor is the new member education program itself, whether it is 6 weeks or 6 months. Also, don't discount the examples set by actives and alumnae. New members are more likely to believe in lifetime membership if that's what they see around them.

[Thetagirl218]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

pro:rfm seems to be working. it's not perfect, but it is much better than the previous system.

Being someone who was initiated in the last ten years...what was the previous system?

[ree-Xi]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Just interested
All I know is I applaud Chi O for sticking to their guns and waiting until after the semester and grades are made to initiate. I feel it makes membership much more special and moms I've talked to like it as well. I don't know about retention and all that but I think the way it is now girls feel they are just joining a club and not a life long affiliation. Change is good but at what cost, numbers or lifelong members. Just random thoughts

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

Are their any studies or numbers that support this? How does an extra month of waiting for initiation improve the odds that a girl will take the lifelong membership seriously? Have you seen more people intiated then have to be dropped for grades? There is a relatively small difference in time of the new member period in both situations...I fail to see how it can make that big of a difference. I don't think AOII has seen a change in grades over the years, which is the only thing that I can see would actually be different between the two options.

My thoughts: I read this more as suggesting that the mystery of "will I or won't I be initiated" gives NM more incentive to keep going, consistently improving, because only by achieveing something (here, it's grades, but if you look at old school pledge programs, where everything was covered in mystery) would you get to initiation.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by ree-Xi

Quote:
Originally Posted by Just interested
All I know is I applaud Chi O for sticking to their guns and waiting until after the semester and grades are made to initiate. I feel it makes membership much more special and moms I've talked to like it as well. I don't know about retention and all that but I think the way it is now girls feel they are just joining a club and not a life long affiliation. Change is good but at what cost, numbers or lifelong members. Just random thoughts



I read this more as suggesting that the mystery of "will I or won't I be initiated" gives NM more incentive to keep going, consistently improving, because only by achieveing something (here, it's grades, but if you look at old school pledge programs, where everything was covered in mystery) would you get to initiation.

So the extra month of wondering really makes them more eager to be a true lifelong member? I don't buy it! Also, if you think about it, many of our organizations immediately initiated new members in the early days. Our first "pledge" was initiated almost immediately. This long pledging period evolved over time and was not an original ideal of at least the AOII founders. If it was good enough for them, it's good enough for me!

[FSUZeta]

chapters set their own numbers-they could invite back every last pnm if they wanted to all the way thru prefs. there was a set quota, the same number for all groups. there was a lot of "stringing along" as you can imagine.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Just interested

All I know is I applaud Chi O for sticking to their guns and waiting until after the semester and grades are made to initiate. I feel it makes membership much more special and moms I've talked to like it as well. I don't know about retention and all that but I think the way it is now girls feel they are just joining a club and not a life long affiliation. Change is good but at what cost, numbers or lifelong members. Just random thoughts

Well, if everyone would just wait and have rush second semester like they should, this would be a moot point.

I mean, is there anything showing that Chi Omega has lower disaffiliation figures than other groups because of this?