A Different Kind of Live Recruitment Story

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by OPhiAGinger

Your new members pick their big sister? That seems so backwards to me! We always did it the other way around, where the older sister picks her little.

Different chapters match bigs/littles differently. For example my collegiate chapter had each potential Big Sis list their top 5 choices for Little Sisters, and each of the New Members do the same. Then the VP matches them up. It depends on what works for the chapter..

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by OPhiAGinger

Your new members pick their big sister? That seems so backwards to me! We always did it the other way around, where the older sister picks her little.

We used to always do it this way. The new members would be told which sisters were eligible/who wanted a little, they would decide amongst themselves who wanted who, and then they would have a week to ask the sister to be their big. We always had smaller new member classes, so it was really easy to do it this way. And it was fun. New members would get really creative with the way they asked their bigs, and it was such a nice surprise for the active sister.

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Different chapters match bigs/littles differently. For example my collegiate chapter had each potential Big Sis list their top 5 choices for Little Sisters, and each of the New Members do the same. Then the VP matches them up. It depends on what works for the chapter..

Starting last semester, it's now done this way. The sisters and new members list their top 3, and they are matched accordingly. This is basically because of the potential for larger new member classes and, for example, to have 10 girls deciding who has who as their big with only 13 sisters to choose from (subtracting the two New Member Directors), the situation could become complicated... and/or start a war.

[CougarGrad]

I'm eager to read the next installment! I recently visited one of our smaller chapters on their first night of informal spring rush, and I'm excited for all of y'all!

[true_blue]

Hope bid day goes well!!

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

Starting last semester, it's now done this way. The sisters and new members list their top 3, and they are matched accordingly. This is basically because of the potential for larger new member classes and, for example, to have 10 girls deciding who has who as their big with only 13 sisters to choose from (subtracting the two New Member Directors), the situation could become complicated... and/or start a war.

Out of curiousity, do you allow the active sisters to take Twins? I know we had situations where 2 NMs listed the same active sister as #1 choice, and we always let that person take both girls as Twins (if she could do so financially. It's something to think about just because all of your new girls will rarely all want someone different lol.

[ASTalumna06]

Once when we did it the other way (having the new members pick their bigs without ranking) we allowed 2 girls to have the same big... only because we had 10 active sisters, 9 new members, and the new member meeting in which they picked bigs took forever! 2 girls wanted one sister as their big and neither of them were backing down. Hence the reason I said that to continue doing it this way now might start a war.

Last semester when this system was started, the new members and sisters matched up very closely in who they picked, and there weren't really two new members who desperately wanted the same big and/or two sisters who wanted the same little. I'm not sure how it will go this semester, but the sisters have talked about the possibility of someone having twins, and there are a lot of girls who would be ok with doing so. Yet the only reason they discussed this a few weeks ago was on the off chance that they'd have more new members than active sisters, or if some sisters didn't want to take a little at all. Because if a sister does not feel comfortable taking two littles, or doesn't want one that semester, we have never forced them to take one.

I'm not sure how it's going to work for them this semester. They're probably going to have to see who accepts their bids, play it by ear, and figure it all out when the time comes.

[ASTalumna06]

So the decisions have been made and all of the bids are out. And this semester, the number of bids the chapter is giving out is.....

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Oh, sorry... can't tell! It's a secret!

While the chapter gave out bids today, the potential members can't start signing them until tomorrow. In the past, they've had 24 hours to sign them. Starting this semester, they're doing things a little differently. The potential members have certain times when they can go to Student Activities to sign them, and an active sister is assigned to be there at those times. Therefore... they're giving the girls who received bids until Friday to sign and accept them.

So you might just have to wait that long to find out how many new members there are!

[SWTXBelle]

Cruel - you are cruel!

[agzg]

Srsly - that was not nice - especially since you KNOW how interested I am in your chapter's recruitment!

[AlphaXi_Husky]

oh MAN! I was so looking forward to the answer and then...nothing! I agree with SWTXBelle - so so cruel.

[fantASTic]

SERIOUSLY???? I'm gonna be out of town Thurs morning through next week too! You suck! :P

[ASTalumna06]

Haha. Sorry everyone! It drives me crazy when other people do this.. but I just figured I should get to do it once!

And if they all sign their bids before Friday, then you'll get to find out sooner than that!

[CougarGrad]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrggghh

[PsychTau]

I haven't been posting on this thread really, but I've been reading it!

And I do believe that it's Friday, so I'm waiting for the update sister!

PsychTau

[ASTalumna06]

Ok everyone. I’m sorry to have kept you waiting. But I’ve been keeping in touch with the sisters all week, and up until yesterday, they were still waiting on one more girl to accept her bid. But now I’m finally able to tell you that we got...
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9 new members! ... bringing the chapter to 24 sisters, which is the most I’ve ever seen it at!

The chapter had originally voted on many PNMs, and they distributed 13 bids. 4 of the girls joined other chapters, but all of them were back and forth between us and another one, and made that known to the sisters, so it wasn’t that surprising. Still disappointing, but at least they weren’t completely blindsided.

But the sisters are all really excited and the new girls are already very involved with the chapter. One of the new members (the nice one that I met at the fraternity house a couple weeks ago) is very artistically talented, and she drew a picture of our letters with yellow roses around it for one of the sisters that she’s become close with. Everyone seems to talk on Facebook, congratulating the girls on receiving bids, and they try hang out together whenever possible. I’m happy to see the sisters are so welcoming and making the new girls comfortable with the sometimes uncomfortable situation that is the first week of being a new member.

One of the new members is a senior, but she’s already been talking about getting involved after she graduates. Myself and another alumna are attempting to start an alumnae chapter here in Erie, and she has already expressed interest in helping us to get it off the ground. Anyway, in addition to her leaving, there are only 2 other seniors this year. Which means the chapter will start with 21 active sisters in the fall. I’ve only seen the chapter at 19 members once, and that was in spring after a new member class was initiated. With 6 seniors graduating, that left 13 sisters starting the next semester. So they're definitely in good shape!

The chapter has clearly worked very hard over the past few weeks. With about 10 sisters graduating in spring of 2010, they are trying very hard to build the chapter numbers up, and I’m very proud of everything they’ve done.

I’ll be sure to post pictures when I get some!

(p.s. From what I’ve heard, ASA has 9 new members also, and Theta Phi gave out 8 bids, but I’m not sure if all of them accepted. Either way, it was a very successful recruitment period for all of the chapters, and I hope that the trend continues here!)