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

[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.