Quota Additions at Super Competitive Schools

[Low C Sharp]

gee ess, at what campus do you advise?

I am really shocked to hear that any sorority house at Ole Miss would have trouble filling up. All of them, especially the ones on Sorority Row, blew me away, and I didn't even see the insides. Shared bathrooms or not, I'll move down there and move in!
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Roxanne69

[irishpipes]

Yes like Katherine said, many parents buy the home before they know if their daughter will pledge a sorority. The nice new dorm on campus is currently charging over $7,000 for a room (not including a meal plan) so parents see that and decide the money is better spent on a mortgage.

[OleMissGlitter]

Originally Posted by irishpipes

Yes like Katherine said, many parents buy the home before they know if their daughter will pledge a sorority. The nice new dorm on campus is currently charging over $7,000 for a room (not including a meal plan) so parents see that and decide the money is better spent on a mortgage.

Wow, that is high! The newest dorms at Ole Miss charge about $4500-$5000 a school year. I do wonder if the trend to live on campus will change. Ole Miss is building 3 new dorms in the next couple of years. So I wonder if that will help to encourage more students to stay on campus longer.

Currently, most sororities (not all) do require that their sophomores live on a sorority floor in one of the dorms if they aren't living in their house. However this coming school year, because of old dorms being torn down and the new ones not built yet, those sophomore sorority women will have to live off-campus or somewhere else on campus. So, that will throw another twist in the living requirements for sororities at Ole Miss. I have always had the mentalitliy, I don't care where they live as long as the house is full and rent is paid!

Oh and keeping your sophomores on campus I think does have a huge positive! It totally helps with recruiting! When you have 80 pledge sisters occupying an entire floor in one of the women's dorms that makes a statement!

[AXOmom]

I'd be thrilled with $7000 a year. We paid slightly over $9000 at University of Oregon for a room slightly larger than my walk in closet which daughter shared with a roommate. The room had a sink (bathrooms/showers shared by the hall) and included 19 meals a week. The deluxe singles run upwards of $15,000.

By contrast we pay around $8000 (food included) for an almost new 3 floor townhouse she shares with 3 other girls about 3 blocks off campus. She's actually closer to most of her classes there.

Her sorority house runs between $5000 and $7000 (they just remodeled, so I think it is probably around $6000 something), which includes food. It's 1/2 a block from the library and most of her classes. Needless to say, given the option - there is no problem getting girls to live in.

[HQWest]

I have advised at chapters with a big house, with a floor arrangement, and with a lodge arrangement. There are big problems with the lodge or floor arrangement that the house does not have. It is harder for the girls to see where their money goes. It is hard to get the girls to take ownership (pick up after themselves). They have to pay a lot for real estate that Could be used for study hours mini meetings, etc., but often sits empty when they aren't having chapter. You have to balance access who can use the room, when, what are they responsible for - with security. T-shirts, food, etc. go missing. A few live-in officers end up doing 90% of the work both cleanin and adminstrative.

The other big problem is that there is an increase in the drama queen quotient. "If you don't do what I say - I quit." "I don't have to follow these rules - I quit." It seems to be a lot easier for someone to walk away, to not feel bad about relinquishing their membership if they can just walk away. If they have a disagreement and then have to go back to their room and thin about it - I think they are more inclined to constructive problem solving.

[carnation]

Originally Posted by HQWest

The other big problem is that there is an increase in the drama queen quotient. "If you don't do what I say - I quit." "I don't have to follow these rules - I quit." It seems to be a lot easier for someone to walk away, to not feel bad about relinquishing their membership if they can just walk away. If they have a disagreement and then have to go back to their room and thin about it - I think they are more inclined to constructive problem solving.

Boy, have I seen this lately and not just in the college sorority arena either. People of all ages are dramatically quitting various things and I have to wonder if they're seeing this on TV or in the movies.

I don't give into the blackmail; I prefer to say, "Okay," and leave.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by carnation

Boy, have I seen this lately and not just in the college sorority arena either. People of all ages are dramatically quitting various things and I have to wonder if they're seeing this on TV or in the movies.

I don't give into the blackmail; I prefer to say, "Okay," and leave.

I was thinking about my alma mater, and why even the top groups took sophomores, without any type of sophomore quota, and my working theory is that there are so many retention problems that having a sophomore for three years is about the same as having a freshman who will quit her senior year anyway.

[IndianaSigKap]

Originally Posted by carnation

Boy, have I seen this lately and not just in the college sorority arena either. People of all ages are dramatically quitting various things and I have to wonder if they're seeing this on TV or in the movies.

I don't give into the blackmail; I prefer to say, "Okay," and leave.

When I first advised a small chapter, this was the norm. Members would storm in and say they were quitting. I would simply hold out my hand. They looked at me oddly, and I would tell them that if their sorority didn't mean that much to them they were welcome to put their badge in my hand and I would start the paper work. I only had to do that about three or four times until the overly dramatic overtures stopped.

[carnation]

^^^ Like

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by IndianaSigKap

When I first advised a small chapter, this was the norm. Members would storm in and say they were quitting. I would simply hold out my hand. They looked at me oddly, and I would tell them that if their sorority didn't mean that much to them they were welcome to put their badge in my hand and I would start the paper work. I only had to do that about three or four times until the overly dramatic overtures stopped.

Like.

As a regional volunteer, I've had women reply to me baffled when they call/email with "I don't want to do x so I'm going to quit" and my response is "Okay."

I've found that the drama queens want you to get down on your hands and knees and say "noooooo don't quit, we neeeed you!!!" so when you don't, they're like a deer in headlights.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by HQWest

I have advised at chapters with a big house, with a floor arrangement, and with a lodge arrangement. There are big problems with the lodge or floor arrangement that the house does not have. It is harder for the girls to see where their money goes. It is hard to get the girls to take ownership (pick up after themselves). They have to pay a lot for real estate that Could be used for study hours mini meetings, etc., but often sits empty when they aren't having chapter. You have to balance access who can use the room, when, what are they responsible for - with security. T-shirts, food, etc. go missing. A few live-in officers end up doing 90% of the work both cleanin and adminstrative.

The other big problem is that there is an increase in the drama queen quotient. "If you don't do what I say - I quit." "I don't have to follow these rules - I quit." It seems to be a lot easier for someone to walk away, to not feel bad about relinquishing their membership if they can just walk away. If they have a disagreement and then have to go back to their room and thin about it - I think they are more inclined to constructive problem solving.

I guess I have a different concept of what a "lodge" or "floor" is than other people are talking about.

As far as a floor...you're still paying as you would pay for any other dorm room and (I'm assuming/hoping) having the cleaning crew to come in on a regular basis as they would in any other dorm room. That includes the suite which I was guessing was at the end of the hall.

And I was reading "lodge" as just set up more like a ski-lodge type place (yinzers, if you've ever been to UPJ you know what I'm talking about) with bigger bedrooms and less common space as opposed to a large house with a big chapter room and teeny bedrooms. I don't get where this type of arrangement would engender less ownership feelings. Unless, of course, we're all talking about different things.

Having experience with a group (not mine) who had a partial floor & a suite at the end, the suite had a TV and was basically their private TV room...this was respected by the other girls on the hall...it wasn't as though no one could go in the suite except during meetings. That would have defeated the purpose.

[FSUZeta]

you bring up some good points, hqwest.

[DubaiSis]

Getting back to the original thread, isn't this something the big panhellenic groups could work on? Those women are seeing a large number of PNMs prior to recruitment, and it seems they could achieve a lot for their chapters by explaining QAs, the benefits to accepting (happily/grudgingly) that smaller chapter, and what exactly to do with your pref card.

I would hope that as more PNMs are doing more internet research prior to recruitment, they will start to pick this up and maybe not be so shocked and dismayed by ending up with their last choice. Even a change in a few girls on these super competitive campuses who are willing to stick it out could make such a beneficial impact on that bottom tier chapter. Maybe not quota in a year, but improvement nonetheless.

And yes, I live in fairyland.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

Getting back to the original thread, isn't this something the big panhellenic groups could work on? Those women are seeing a large number of PNMs prior to recruitment, and it seems they could achieve a lot for their chapters by explaining QAs, the benefits to accepting (happily/grudgingly) that smaller chapter, and what exactly to do with your pref card.

I read this three times and I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "big panhellenic groups." At some schools (random examples) AST is the hugest chapter and ZTA is the smallest, at some schools it's the opposite. No NPC is the biggest chapter at every campus they're on.

Unless you just mean, umm, national headquarters.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I read this three times and I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "big panhellenic groups." At some schools (random examples) AST is the hugest chapter and ZTA is the smallest, at some schools it's the opposite. No NPC is the biggest chapter at every campus they're on.

Unless you just mean, umm, national headquarters.

I think she means the alumnae panhellenics, as she says "prior" to rush. If so, I think it makes sense, that they'd be uniquely positioned to set PNM expectations very early on in the process and to push the "sisterhood is more than just four years" angle.

Of course, it will still go in one ear and out the other, because we are still talking about 18-year-olds.