Little Chapter, Big Recruitment: Spring 2009 - Page 12

silverpearls · #1 02-13-2009, 01:38 PM

Thanks everybody for the advice in terms of size! I think a lot of you are correct in saying that we've gotten so "attached" to being small and promoting small = close-knit that we're automatically assuming big = distant. I'm sure we'll put in the work necessary to keep our chapter great and our sisters connected!

I'm so nervous for tonight. It's technically "invite-only", but all that means is that we invite back all the girls who have attended any of our COB events all week. We only have one round of voting, which is tonight. I'm very interested to see who comes back! There are a few COBing who went through Formal and dropped out/probably didn't accept our bid (they only Preffed us), so I'm very curious to see if they'll be back tonight. It's really commendable that they gave us a second chance after Formal but if they still weren't feeling it after trying one of the COB events, it's understandable if they don't come back to COB "Pref".

One of these girls is actually signed up for a rush event for a local, which I found very strange considering the group she's friends with. Her friends all went to the "top" chapter on campus while she only Preffed Venus. Now she's looking at a Local with a very, very bad rep on campus - and I say that coming from a sorority with a poor reputation here, too. The local is very small and is known for being "Panhel rejects" and losers. I have a lot of friends in the group and I really feel for them - trust me, I know how it feels to be in that situation! But they're honestly the polar opposite of the group this girl's friends joined - this group of freshmen consists of mostly big party girls, and this local is definitely not like that. So I'm interested to see where she ends up.

Another intriguing thing I found out today is that one of the "top" chapters on our campus barely made quota this Recruitment. They didn't match enough but were luckily able to snap bid up to quota. This was a huge shock for me - when I was a freshmen this group was THE sorority everyone wanted. They've since been surpassed by another group but are generally assumed to be just as good, so when I heard they almost didn't make quota it was very surprising. Their New Member class is still a strong group of women, but hopefully this will shock them into pulling their act together. They were barely a presence on campus this fall - they did almost no PR with the freshmen (every other sorority had booths or activities several times a month to try to get freshmen interested for Spring Recruitment) and were practically nonexistent at Greek Week. The general consensus is that they were resting on their reputation as being one of the best groups on campus and didn't feel it was necessary to put in the effort. Obviously, this wasn't the case... and it hurt them in Recruitment.

Anyway, enough Greek Gossip. I'm just dying to know how things will go tonight! I'll be back with an update, probably pretty late... after voting we have to call each PNM individually to extend an oral bid and wait for her to accept or decline (usually they decide on the spot, but not always). Fingers crossed!

AOII Angel · #2 02-13-2009, 01:52 PM

Good luck! Can't wait to hear how things go tonight!!!

aggieadpi_01 · #3 02-13-2009, 04:22 PM

Good luck!!!!

littleowl33 · #4 02-13-2009, 04:45 PM

Good luck tonight! Let us know how it goes!

CougarGrad · #5 02-13-2009, 05:52 PM

Woot woot! Good luck!

silverpearls · #6 02-13-2009, 11:20 PM

The final night of COB went really well!! We ended up voting on 23 PNMs (two came tonight that had been unable to make it to the other events) and honestly, we have a great group to consider. Almost all of them would be amazing new Venuses! Hopefully they actually will be - I'll find out late tonight how many we got. Technically the girls have until tomorrow night to think about it, but most accept or decline on the spot. I mean, they were only COBing one sorority, so they should probably already have decided whether or not they'd accept a bid from us... it's not like there are going to be any surprises!

All the PNMs seemed to be having a good time. Almost everyone was back for the final night, and there are only 2 or 3 that sisters said were no longer interested in taking a bid. One of them was a girl we really loved, but sadly she can't pledge because of a cultural issue - her family is foreign and doesn't really understand or approve of sororities, so they're forbidding her to pledge.

The two girls who were new tonight were great! Even though they only came to one party, everyone loved them. They were brought by one of our current New Members, and apparently they're really interested. They're in a very prestigious dance group on campus and are really friendly, pretty girls.

The only PNMs we had trouble with were the predictable ones... namely, the few who have rushed us a few times and are the perennial PNMs who won't take no for an answer. One of them was being really aggressive with the sisters about whether or not she would get a bid, which was a little scary.

Voting went pretty well. It wa a little more controversial than I thought, but we got done rather quickly. The only part that I worry about is that some of our New Members were present. Apparently we're not allowed to exclude them from discussion and voting even though they can't actually cast a vote, but I think it was a mistake to let them sit in. Voting is always kind of tough and a few of them were really upset by it - they thought it was "mean" and kept asking the New Member Educator what was said about them during Recruitment. Hopefully they'll understand that it's just the way the process works.

I'll be back later to let everyone know how it went!! As I'm typing this our Recruitment Chair is calling girls to extend bids...

KSUViolet06 · #7 02-14-2009, 12:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silverpearls

The only PNMs we had trouble with were the predictable ones... namely, the few who have rushed us a few times and are the perennial PNMs who won't take no for an answer. One of them was being really aggressive with the sisters about whether or not she would get a bid, which was a little scary.

Gotta love "perennials." I swear, every chapter has one. Do you know if "aggressive girl" gets one?

Quote:

Originally Posted by silverpearls

The only part that I worry about is that some of our New Members were present. Apparently we're not allowed to exclude them from discussion and voting even though they can't actually cast a vote, but I think it was a mistake to let them sit in. Voting is always kind of tough and a few of them were really upset by it - they thought it was "mean" and kept asking the New Member Educator what was said about them during Recruitment. Hopefully they'll understand that it's just the way the process works.

Wow. I always assumed that every sorority prohibited NMs from being present during any membership selection activities (like mine does). I think this is part of the reason why we don't. They're just so new, and it freaks them out that it can be so intense and that you don't always agree.

fantASTic · #8 02-13-2009, 11:38 PM

OMG PLEASE COME BACK AND LET US KNOW! I'm so excited for you

AlphaXi_Husky · #9 02-13-2009, 11:52 PM

That's tough having your new members in on the voting when they're barely out of Recruitment. That seems a little funny to me, but I don't know how other organizations do things so who knows.

I can't wait to hear about the newest additions to your chapter - hopefully it's soon!

silverpearls · #10 02-14-2009, 02:13 AM

Still waiting... I'm going to explode!! It's been hours since finished voting!!!

cali_gossip · #11 02-14-2009, 03:17 AM

Aaahhh I'm dying to know!!!

CougarGrad · #12 02-14-2009, 09:13 AM

Good morning! Wake up and tell us some news! *lol*

FSUZeta · #13 02-14-2009, 10:07 AM

yes, yes...those of us on the east coast have been up for hours and waiting with baited breath!!

agzg · #14 02-14-2009, 11:23 AM

And I guess it's time for the midwest to join in!

silverpearls · #15 02-14-2009, 11:55 AM

Good morning! Happy Valentine's Day!

I wish I had a full report... but right now we still haven't heard back from a lot of the girls. Calls were made really late last night, coupled with the fact that I think a lot of the PNMs weren't told to expect the call last night, so we had to leave a lot of voicemails. So far, though, we have 8 new Venuses... bringing our total pledge class to 34! I don't know how many we're waiting on, but I'll have the final list by tonight. I'll definitely keep you updated!!

So nervous!!!