Does size necessarily equate quality?

[ChaosDST]

Originally posted by hoosier
Show me a campus where the largest chapter, over a five-year period, isn't the most successful?

A great fraternity leader said "there's no problem a good rush can't solve." If you have ten good rushes (fall and spring, for five years), you'll rule.

There are many chapters that have the size, but don't have the quality, or success. But, I'm coming from an NPHC reference.

Do you all equate success with "good rushes?" There are so many things beyond that, but maybe that's my NPHC frame of reference penetrating, again

[KSUViolet06]

Originally posted by ChaosDST
There are many chapters that have the size, but don't have the quality, or success. But, I'm coming from an NPHC reference.

Do you all equate success with "good rushes?" There are so many things beyond that, but maybe that's my NPHC frame of reference penetrating, again

I'm not NPHC, and I don't equate a "good rush" with a successful chapter.

What good is a pledge class of 90 girls if 20-30 of them drop????
What good are they if HALF of them become "letter wearers" after initiation?

I'd rather take 10 that stick around, than 30 who wear letters, but don't contribute anything to the chapter.

[phamason2003]

Your doing something right----when you have more people wanting a piece of your org. than someone else's.

[starang21]

Originally posted by ChaosDST
Size doesn't equate quality of a chapter or an organization (I know this thread is really about chapter size).

I come from a tiny chapter (where we ran the campus with as little as 3 members) within a large sorority, so I have an interesting frame of reference on both chapter and organization size.

well...you are a Delta after all, you probably just can't help it.

too bad you're a deuce, you might be cool

[ChaosDST]

Originally posted by starang21
well...you are a Delta after all, you probably just can't help it.

too bad you're a deuce, you might be cool

** my stalker has returned **

SECURITY!!!!!!!!!

[Dedicated2Delta]

Originally posted by ChaosDST

I come from a tiny chapter (where we ran the campus with as little as 3 members) within a large sorority, so I have an interesting frame of reference on both chapter and organization size. [/B]

I come from a small chapter as well, where the most members at one time has only been 8. But even so, we were the most active sorority on a campus where there were 50-60 members of everything else. There were even occasions where other sororities wanted to co-sponsor programs with us because they knew we were about business.

So no, quantity does not equal quality.....at least in my experience.

[OleMissGlitter]

I'm the Chapter Adviser for AOII at Ole Miss and if have read any other posts about Ole Miss Greeks you know it is a very big system. We only have 9 sororities as of right now.

Anyway, I think that size can matter and I can think of one example where it did matter. A few years ago some sororities at Ole Miss had to "double rush" meaning, one actives sister would pick up more than one rushee for a round of rush and talk to her. Some rushees (PNMs) look at this as a weakness. Therefore, I think at Ole Miss it does matter what size you are. However, with the large New Member classes this past year, all of the chapters are pretty close in numbers, therefore it doesn't matter as of right now. However, I can remember when on sorority who is no longer at Ole Miss, only had about 60-75 members, when the rest of the houses were rushing that year with 125-150 members. That difference affected that house in a big way because they were seen as not doing something right because they were smaller than the majority of the houses. However, they still had the same quality girls that all of the other houses had, they just didn't have the numbers.

Size also matters in the aspect of events on campus. For Sigma Chi Derby Day there are points given to the sorority with the most members attending points, if your chapter only had 100 members and the others have 200, of course you cannot possible win. Derby Day also has the sororities dance in a dance off, where everyone in the chapter dances, you don't want to get out there and dance with only 100 girls when everyone else has 200. That would not be a good thing because Potential New Members come to Derby Day to visit their friends in sororities. It is a big Recruiting weekend before all contact with sororities ends at the end of the Spring semester. Anyway, I think it does matter. And I think it can matter whether or not you have a house to fill with 60 beds. I mean if you don't have the numbers then your house won't be filled and then you will have to spend more money on a house and not on swaps, socials, sisterhoods, etc.


That's my thoughts.

[moe.ron]

Why not be the biggest and the best?

[shadokat]

I think size does sometimes equate quality, if your size is based upon the recruitment of contributing, well-rounded members of your chapter and the greek community. If during recruitment, you're the chapter that has high return rates, makes quota, and retains those NMs, you probably are quality. And likewise, you probably are larger.

[sageofages]

Originally posted by OleMissGlitter
matters in the aspect of events on campus. For Sigma Chi Derby Day there are points given to the sorority with the most members attending points, if your chapter only had 100 members and the others have 200, of course you cannot possible win. Derby Day also has the sororities dance in a dance off, where everyone in the chapter dances, you don't want to get out there and dance with only 100 girls when everyone else has 200. That's my thoughts.

If that is the case, why not award points based on PERCENTAGE of participation. In your example, of chapters with 100 and 200 members. Say the whole 100 chapter shows up, but only 125 of the 200 chapter shows up. 100 chapter has 100% participation but 125 chapter only has 62.5% participation. Looks to me like 100 chaper is more motivated and involved .

There are always ways to help level the playing field....

[CarolinaDG]

Originally posted by sageofages
If that is the case, why not award points based on PERCENTAGE of participation. In your example, of chapters with 100 and 200 members. Say the whole 100 chapter shows up, but only 125 of the 200 chapter shows up. 100 chapter has 100% participation but 125 chapter only has 62.5% participation. Looks to me like 100 chaper is more motivated and involved .

There are always ways to help level the playing field....

Last year during derby days, I begged the guys to do it based on percentage. At that point, we were down to about 60 members, and competing with chapters with almost 200. We ended up tying for 4th place with ADPi, one of the largest chapters on campus, and beating KD, also one of the largest chapters on campus. This never would have happened if they hadn't done it based on percentage. It causes a little more stress for them, though, so sometimes they don't want to mess with it. In my case, I had just broken up with one of the brothers, so I was still friends with a lot of them, and they knew how much I was busting my butt to be competitive. They wanted to see us do well since they knew how much work we put into it. Still, it's always good to ask them to do it based on percentage.

As far as size in rush rooms... there are ways to trick the rushees. Sure, I noticed that tri-delt was by far the biggest, but they were in this huge room that made them look smaller than they actually were, and DZ was in a room that made them look bigger than they were. It's always best to get a room that actually fits the size of your chapter.

[WCUgirl]

I think that PNMs (who aren't on the other side yet and may not know) perceive size to equal quality.

It kind of does work that way though, if you really think about it. WHY are the large chapters constantly meeting or exceeding quota, when the small chapters aren't? In my experience, most of the chapters that I have seen closed are because they are small and struggle to get numbers where they should be.

For example, if you are on a campus where the largest chapters have 60+ girls, and the smallest chapters have 15-20 girls, the PNMs may see it as "well, these large chapters are where it's at - that's the group I want to join." The larger chapters tend to be the ones that DO have the quality girls, so everyone wants to join that chapter, hence making them the largest group.

But again, it's not a question of what REALLY is a "quality" group, but what do the PNMs perceive to be as quality?

Just my $0.02.

[chideltjen]

Originally posted by JocelynC
What good is a pledge class of 90 girls if 20-30 of them drop????
What good are they if HALF of them become "letter wearers" after initiation?

I'd rather take 10 that stick around, than 30 who wear letters, but don't contribute anything to the chapter.

Amen.
When I joined my house in '99, there were maybe 25 active members and that semester, my class had 17. It was hard to keep girls interested and often we had participation issues. After some tweeking, in Fall 2002, we took a class of 30. The house was at about 24 active members. Most of those 30 have stuck around. But we have had people drop. But participation is up and the girls seem generally happy with being in the sorority. Morale is a lot higher than when the house was smaller.
It is a little strange saying my house is almost at 60 members, considering what it was when I started. But I always say, if the house is bigger, you get more options for leadership, more people cheering you on, etc. And the girls that aren't into it as much usually drop within a semester anyway.
But at rush, we do stress quality over quantity. And we have not extended bids to girls before because we just didn't want that big of a pledge class. (This was post Fall 2002.)
I come from a campus where house total is around 65. However I have been at philanthropies where we will have almost our whole house supporting where a chapter with 70-80 girls can fit all of their supporters on a small blanket.
So what good is having a huge chapter if no one will know it?

[ChaosDST]

Originally posted by Dedicated2Delta
I come from a small chapter as well, where the most members at one time has only been 8. But even so, we were the most active sorority on a campus where there were 50-60 members of everything else. There were even occasions where other sororities wanted to co-sponsor programs with us because they knew we were about business.

So no, quantity does not equal quality.....at least in my experience.

co-sign!

[norcalchick]

Size matters in different ways. It's definitely a good thing to have a lot of girls. It helps when there's stuff to do like rushing, and doing philanthrapy, and stuff like that so that there is a big turnout and it looks good. I know that it is damn hard to do things with a small org because of conflicting schedules and not that many girls at events. We want our girls to go to their classes first before trying to attend an event. And being in a school where it's not greek friendly, there's not that many girls that are interested in greek life, but the ones who are see the large orgs and would want to be with them. I'm not knocking down the large orgs at all so please don't take it the wrong way, i'm just curious to know how strong their sisterhood is because i don't know how they operate or what they do to make it strong? does everyone know eachother? do they all get along? i just know how some girls are (catty) and if other orgs have problematic ones like that, especially with a large group? i guess it just depends on the person that's interested, whether they want to be in a small org or a very large one. but in the end, it's what they like about the org and what it stands for and whether it's right for them.