Dying Chapter-Help!

[33girl]

Crashing, because I have a dumb question (because my sorority has a chapter there too):

Do these girls know when they join that they'll be transferring after two years? I thought the only reason chapters got chartered at Behrend in the first place by any groups was because the majority of the students were going to be there all 4 years since it had some special majors that Main Campus does not.

Do people start going there with the intention of being there for one of the aforementioned special majors and then end up changing their major? Or are people just using Behrend like it's one of the other branches? I thought that was a no-no and just hard in general (i.e. getting into Behrend is not like getting into a garden variety branch campus).

[ASTalumna06]

Hi Reesie!

I’m an AST and I attended Penn State Behrend as well (from 2002-2006). Actually.. you’re friends with a lot of my friends through Facebook.. I see your name pretty frequently on pictures and status updates (I’m not stalking you, I swear! You just have one of those names that stands out! ). We may have even met before... Sorry if I don't remember!

My chapter was actually down to about 4 girls a few semesters before I joined, and while I was active, I only saw the chapter reach 19 sisters once.. we initiated 9 in the spring, then lost 6 who were graduating. On average, I’d say my chapter had about 11-12 sisters during my active years and for a year or two before and after that. And your chapter probably hovered just a little higher than we did at that time.

It’s tough being a small chapter, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say you’re dying just yet. We do, unfortunately, have the problem of girls transferring to the main campus, and my chapter has definitely dealt with that… however, losing 11 or 12 girls because of both graduation and transfers is a lot to take in.

I worked as my chapter’s recruitment advisor after I graduated, but I left in March of 2010. I know that the recruitment structure has changed in just that short amount of time, so I have a few questions:

1) I heard fall recruitment is now more structured. How exactly is it set up?

2) Do all of the chapters still participate in the recruitment kick-off in the spring semester?

3) Is spring informal recruitment still the same – lasts for 2-3 weeks, as many events as you’d like, a set bid day but each chapter does what they want, when they want… and can bid girls after that?

4) Have you already had bid day this semester? Or by mentioning that total is at 35, are you saying that you still have room for 11 new members this semester?

5) On average, how many PNMs have come through recruitment (between all 3 chapters, if you know this information), both last semester and this one?

Before you answer any of these questions, I’ll say at least give you this piece of advice – talk to some of your alumnae. They know what it’s like to be in a smaller chapter, and what it’s like to have to build it up. The number of PNMs between all 3 chapters has grown substantially in just the couple years, so sisters who graduated fairly recently will have some idea of what it’s like to work from the ground up.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Crashing, because I have a dumb question (because my sorority has a chapter there too):

Do these girls know when they join that they'll be transferring after two years? I thought the only reason chapters got chartered at Behrend in the first place by any groups was because the majority of the students were going to be there all 4 years since it had some special majors that Main Campus does not.

Do people start going there with the intention of being there for one of the aforementioned special majors and then end up changing their major? Or are people just using Behrend like it's one of the other branches? I thought that was a no-no and just hard in general (i.e. getting into Behrend is not like getting into a garden variety branch campus).

Sorry for the double-post, but...

In my experience, I've come across many different situations when it comes to girls transferring. I started out my college career intending to go into Plastics Engineering - a major only offered at Behrend (and maybe 12 other colleges in the U.S.!).. I quickly decided to change to Aerospace Engineering - which I'd only be able to finish at the main campus. When I started going through recruitment, this was still my intention and my chapter knew this. However, I decided to change my major once again (and eventually - after a few more changes of heart - ended up in Political Science) and didn't transfer.

I don't know that I've ever really thought about the percentage of people that transfer from Behrend to the main campus vs. other campus' students transferring there, but I would have to guess that it is significantly less. However, it does still happen within the sororities.

I've seen girls join a sorority in their second semester of school and know that they're going to transfer in a year and a half... I've seen girls join the semester before they're transferring... I've known girls who thought they were going to stay at Behrend, then decide at the last minute they're going to leave.. basically, I've seen it all.

The thing to remember is that, for the most part, the chapters haven't been at, or near total, sometimes for many semesters at a time - which is a whole different discussion that we won't get into right now So when you have 15 spots, and 10 girls you want to bid, 2 of which you KNOW are planning to transfer to the main campus, you take them. It's not like at other schools where there is extreme competition for a certain number of spots.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

The thing to remember is that, for the most part, the chapters haven't been at, or near total, sometimes for many semesters at a time - which is a whole different discussion that we won't get into right now So when you have 15 spots, and 10 girls you want to bid, 2 of which you KNOW are planning to transfer to the main campus, you take them. It's not like at other schools where there is extreme competition for a certain number of spots.

Yeah, I know that's true. I just wanted to be reassured that it hadn't gotten to the point that Behrend = New Ken/Beaver/DuBois etc etc.

We have a chapter at Pitt-Johnstown and not at Pitt Main and it's kind of the same deal - although I know people from my hometown who have actually transferred from Main to UPJ. (We won't get into the semi-xenophobia of that though. )