Joining another sorority after 2 years

[DubaiSis]

And I think puts too much emphasis on THE LETTERS and not on the meaning behind them. I have a problem in general with the unnecessary accumulation of stuff. When the gravy train stops, do the girls quit? Maybe not as a direct result, but subconsciously when Christmas is over it's time to pack it in. You definitely want the pledges to have some stuff (subtle marketing is a good thing) but do we really want such one-dimensional girls that their rooms, their bodies, their cars can only be about their sorority? It would seem to me a book bag, a t-shirt (sweatshirt, tank top, whichever is most appropriate to your campus), a teddy bear or whatever your mascot is and maybe a picture frame with your letters. How much more stuff do you need as a pledge to be given to you? You accumulate so much of that stuff over the 4 years of your membership, I think as a pledge you just really need a starter set. Again with the You're Not a Full Member Yet thing. You don't need to have the same amount of letter stuff as the seniors. That's a benefit of longevity.

[KSUViolet06]

We changed from the NM ed program to total member ed (Essential Sigma) for the same reasons you guys are talking about.

The Arc sequence (NM sequence) of the program is based more on preparing NMs for active membership.

NMs are required to attend chapter with everyone else (outside of things that are ritual based) serve on a committee, etc.

Don't get me wrong, there are some fun things, and there is still Big/Little, but the focus isn't on NM worship and thinking they're the best thing that ever happened to the chapter and having them not be responsible for anything.

It definitely cuts down on the huge letdown that comes with going from having to do NOTHING to having active membership responsibilities.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

We changed from the NM ed program to total member ed (Essential Sigma) for the same reasons you guys are talking about.

The Arc sequence (NM sequence) of the program is based more on preparing NMs for active membership.

NMs are required to attend chapter with everyone else (outside of things that are ritual based) serve on a committee, etc.

Don't get me wrong, there are some fun things, and there is still Big/Little, but the focus isn't on NM worship and thinking they're the best thing that ever happened to the chapter and having them not be responsible for anything.

It definitely cuts down on the huge letdown that comes with going from having to do NOTHING to having active membership responsibilities.

I feel like we went in the other direction. We had an entire committee devoted to "Keep Rushing Our Phis", and while there were some women who were unsure about staying, and could really make connections in those first few weeks, begging women to stay long enough to be initiated doesn't do anything except ensure they'll drop out right AFTER initiation.

[carnation]

NM worship. Good term; I swear I've seen the Keep Rushing Our Pledges of my day devolve into that. I've seen big sisters spend hundreds on their littles. One of our daughters, who would've been the best big ever, wouldn't take a little because her sisters did spend so much on their littles and she couldn't keep up. Another daughter was given incredibly expensive presents by her wealthy big and we wondered if the other bigs or littles were getting upset.

And the NM I wrote about yesterday, whose new sisters were loading her FB with compliments and invitations? I started thinking about that--I knew 2 of those older girls when they were in high school and they were about as likely to heap praise on someone as my cat is. I have to wonder if the sisters were given instructions: "Okay, we think that Poopie Mae is about to depledge so here's the schedule for telling her how great she is. You 3 take Monday, you 3 do Tuesday, etc., and here are some things you should say." I mean, it was awfully obvious and now there's nothing.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

I feel like we went in the other direction. We had an entire committee devoted to "Keep Rushing Our Phis", and while there were some women who were unsure about staying, and could really make connections in those first few weeks, begging women to stay long enough to be initiated doesn't do anything except ensure they'll drop out right AFTER initiation.

I served on a committee and found that the research done by other NPCs about terminations says that the summer after initiation (if a girl is a freshman NM, the summer before soph year) is the average termination time (meaning that most of those who terminate, do so at that point.)

It makes sense, as you are no longer a NM, you have been initiated long enough to see that being an initiated member is vastly different from being worshipped as a NM, so you quit.

So, if you want to improve retention, you don't start with the NM period. It's all about that critical sophomore year and ensuring a good transition from NM to initiated member. I think Total Member Ed does a good job of that. The sophomore sequence activities are designed to do just that. NPC groups who implement Total Member Ed type programs experienced a large increase in 4 year retention.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by jazing

Now that you bring this up, I know some fraternities have names for them, like Phi Delt has Phikeia. I only know of that one cause they are on the same campus as I'm on. I'm sure others have a similar trend as well. Some go a step further (ZBT, Sig Ep, Lambda Chi) and don't even call them pledges at all, but new members. I don't know if they know ritual stuff cause it's not my business though.

ZBT and Sig Ep (balanced man chapters) don't actually have a "New Member" period anymore.

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

I served on a committee and found that the research done by other NPCs about terminations says that the summer after initiation (if a girl is a freshman NM, the summer before soph year) is the average termination time (meaning that most of those who terminate, do so at that point.)

It makes sense, as you are no longer a NM, you have been initiated long enough to see that being an initiated member is vastly different from being worshipped as a NM, so you quit.

So, if you want to improve retention, you don't start with the NM period. It's all about that critical sophomore year and ensuring a good transition from NM to initiated member. I think Total Member Ed does a good job of that. The sophomore sequence activities are designed to do just that. NPC groups who implement Total Member Ed type programs experienced a large increase in 4 year retention.

Well, I think it's both. You need to do the NM period right, but then you need to keep women involved. It's like, there's a big gap between the NM period and the "I'm in the pledge class that is actually running sh*t" period. I think that's what you're talking about. What is a woman's role in the chapter at that point? Maybe a smaller office/chairmanship, but that alone won't do it.

[DubaiSis]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

I served on a committee and found that the research done by other NPCs about terminations says that the summer after initiation (if a girl is a freshman NM, the summer before soph year) is the average termination time (meaning that most of those who terminate, do so at that point.)

That's surprising to me. I'd have guessed the biggest loss would be in the summer between junior and senior year. What you're saying tells me that "summer rush" (stealing from another thread) should be devoted to retention of those freshmen. The Facebook contact, summer events in cities with lots of members, etc. And I can see that being a big benefit for the following fall's real rush. We used to have "summer chapter" where we'd get together to do work on the house, like painting and other projects that are hard to do while girls are living in. Most of our members were from within a few hours of campus, so getting together in July was an easy escape from home. But I never thought of that as a member retention tool. I just saw it as a way of getting crap done. On the other hand, we did have excellent member retention, so maybe it was good for both things.

[AZTheta]

^^^^^^ THANKS a LOT. *wiping coffee off the laptop screen*

have a great Saturday, 33! :-)

[FSUZeta]

Lol!

[Psi U MC Vito]

Originally Posted by Low C Sharp

The IFC doesn't have such a strong ban on resigning and joining another chapter. Some IFC groups allow it in some circumstances. Are they less committed to lifetime membership than NPC? Or does the difference in policy just reflect a more practical mindset among fraternities as compared to sororities?

Actually the stance for the NIC (NOT IFC! I always cringe when people use that term in this context.) is pretty strict. We do allow somebody to resign membership, but that usually is not granted, at least not with the IHQs sending a formal letter to each other.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by Psi U MC Vito

Actually the stance for the NIC (NOT IFC! I always cringe when people use that term in this context.) is pretty strict. We do allow somebody to resign membership, but that usually is not granted, at least not with the IHQs sending a formal letter to each other.

I think we had this conversation when you first started posting on GC lol

I don't remember NIC rules stating that the I/HQs had to communicate with each other.