Scary Quota Numbers

[carnation]

You know what has played into the large pledge classes we're seeing in the NPC? The fairly recent difficulty of getting into UGa as a freshman or UT because of the 10% rule. A lot of kids who would've easily gotten into either back in the day still want the huge university experience so they leave their home states for Arkansas, Auburn, Bama, and Ole Miss. I write most of my recs for those 4 schools.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by Xidelt

What if Panhellenic did away with guaranteed bids? Would that reduce the size of pledge classes to make it manageable?

I'm guessing that the "guaranteed bids" concept is kind of a moot point since from what people have said, very hard and very big cuts happen early on anyway. In other words, the girls getting to the pref round are girls that the groups truly do want. There just happen to be a whole lot of them.

[arrowlady]

Originally Posted by carnation

You know what has played into the large pledge classes we're seeing in the NPC? The fairly recent difficulty of getting into UGa as a freshman or UT because of the 10% rule. A lot of kids who would've easily gotten into either back in the day still want the huge university experience so they leave their home states for Arkansas, Auburn, Bama, and Ole Miss. I write most of my recs for those 4 schools.

I think the out of state tuition waver that Arkansas has for gpa, is really growing the numbers of kids attending there as well. Great school and reasonable tuition is pulling lots of kids from Texas for sure.

[UGAalum94]

I understand and agree with the "you reap what you sow" comment, but it's probably a little unfair to hold the folks there today responsible for a campus culture that probably took generations to build.

Other than facilitating housing, which probably involves a lot of money that would be hard to defend to the campus community at large, what can the University or Greek life really do to fix things?

[gee_ess]

Is is crazy that I get a little thrill whenever Arkansas is discussed on Greekchat even though we are talking about a dire situation?? (I'll answer: yes)

Arkansas has created a monster, and not just for Greek Life. Housing at the university is at a premium and the rumor is that next year they will not be able to guarantee housing for anyone other than freshmen.

I think all of these groups had better think 'outside the box' about how to reach and connect with their pledges. I believe the kappas are setting up small groups with individual leaders (similar to what the KDs are doing) and then the groups will shuffle every week so the girls can get to know each other. Also,let's not forget how first semester initiation negatively impacts this!

I just pray that the UA can also 'think outside the box' about ways to help with housing a new group(s) who want to come to campus...please!!

PS Also heard a rumor that head of Greek Life resigned a week or so ago. Has anyone else heard that?

[arrowlady]

Originally Posted by gee_ess

Is is crazy that I get a little thrill whenever Arkansas is discussed on Greekchat even though we are talking about a dire situation?? (I'll answer: yes)

Arkansas has created a monster, and not just for Greek Life. Housing at the university is at a premium and the rumor is that next year they will not be able to guarantee housing for anyone other than freshmen.

I think all of these groups had better think 'outside the box' about how to reach and connect with their pledges. I believe the kappas are setting up small groups with individual leaders (similar to what the KDs are doing) and then the groups will shuffle every week so the girls can get to know each other. Also,let's not forget how first semester initiation negatively impacts this!

I just pray that the UA can also 'think outside the box' about ways to help with housing a new group(s) who want to come to campus...please!!

PS Also heard a rumor that head of Greek Life resigned a week or so ago. Has anyone else heard that?

I am glad to hear that groups are trying to find ways to better get to know such large groups.
Hopefully in the future some brave group will colonize and get support from the other groups on campus.

[carnation]

Originally Posted by gee_ess

PS Also heard a rumor that head of Greek Life resigned a week or so ago. Has anyone else heard that?

I think this might be a good thing, lol.

[hootyhoo]

Originally Posted by gee_ess

PS Also heard a rumor that head of Greek Life resigned a week or so ago. Has anyone else heard that?

As far as I know, no. Our assistant director of Greek Life left earlier this summer for a job promotion at Arkansas State.

Also, I know several of the chapters have struggled in the past, and one still doesn't make quota today, but we're desperate for more chapters. AOII has done AMAZING thing since being becoming a part of the U of A and took quota last year. During expansion last year we had 6-7 national organizations take exploratory visits, but the cost is just too high to secure a colony.

Thank you guys for the small group ideas. I'm pretty sure it's ZTA at Arkansas that has done something like this in the past. We talked about grouping of girls of 5-6 each week and just having them do something together on their own like study, go to coffee, eat lunch, etc. At this point I think anything can help.

Also, while out-of-state students do add to the population and pull to Arkansas (myself included), our huge jump last year was due to the lottery scholarship. It is only offered to Arkansas residents, so we expect this to be a big factor this year as well. But, on that same note, when I went through rush I was one of 2 girls from my very large district that went to Arkansas. I know of 20 girls already from that same district signed up, so out-of-state and in-state students are both increasing.

[IndianaSigKap]

Is Arkansas one of those campuses where it's actually cheaper to live in a sorority house than to live in the dorms or off campus housing?

[KSUViolet06]

^^^I remember reading somewhere that most if not all of the chapters have renovated their chapter rooms to be able to accomodate the increased numbers so all 300ish of the girls fit.

[carnation]

I'm trying to figure out how the Pi Phis did that. Maybe they incorporated the whole bottom floor?

Same for the others, though.

[DrPhil]

This definitely violates brothel laws.

/kidding

Since GC is a caring and sharing place, one thing I respectfully wonder is whether larger quotas/larger chapters have a negative connotation as far as some NPC chapters and some NPC members are concerned. Different opinions of larger NPHC lines and larger NPHC chapters have been discussed numerous times on GC over the years.

If answering my question is going to cause a shitstorm or hijack, please feel free to PM an answer. (ETA: Or tell me to stay in my lane and go to hell.)

[Low C Sharp]

Pledge classes of this scale put the sororities in the same range as the residential colleges at schools like Rice, Yale, and Harvard, as well as some of the Oxford/Cambridge colleges that inspired them. That model works very well and can inspire tremendous spirit, loyalty, intimacy, etc. within the group. That said, the residential space is usually designed to hold everyone, or close to it, and there isn't necessarily an aspiration for everyone to know 100% of their collegemates personally.

This calls to mind the early years of Sigma Kappa, with multiple SK chapters operating on the same campus. I wonder if the chapters could unofficially divide into teams or shifts for various activities.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

This definitely violates brothel laws.

/kidding

Since GC is a caring and sharing place, one thing I respectfully wonder is whether larger quotas/larger chapters have a negative connotation as far as some NPC chapters and some NPC members are concerned. Different opinions of larger NPHC lines and larger NPHC chapters have been discussed numerous times on GC over the years.

If answering my question is going to cause a shitstorm or hijack, please feel free to PM an answer.

No, not really. At least not from what I've experienced.

I have seen on GC where someone from a school where quota = 10 might view larger chapters negatively and think that they're too large and impersonal. But I haven't seen/heard much of that in real life.

[HannahXO]

Has anyone ever read Blink by Malcolm Gladwell? It talks a lot about how group dynamics change drastically at around 150 members. He makes some very good points for keeping groups to this size if they are to function as a unified whole.