Lost...

[DubaiSis]

You don't have to wait an entire year. You have to wait until the next formal rush, which is in the fall. If you dropped now you could rush again in the fall, but do keep in mind that you may not fare so well as a sophomore who dropped a chapter who pledged her. What you have is buyer's remorse. Make sure what you are not feeling is too good for these women who liked you well enough to let you into their circle. I'm going to withhold some snarky comments because it's possible you don't know how you sound. But I would say give your new sisters a full chance before dropping out.

And as an aside, I'd like you to think about this. The small chapter can only get bigger and on even footing with the big chapters by pledging more women. I can tell you for sure that every chapter that struggled but came out of it had a group of women who decided to take a chance and risk not being in the coolest house in favor of being with a group of genuine women with ambition to succeed. But you have to be cool enough and strong enough to be part of that change. And if you're not, you better hope you are popular enough to make it in the chapters that you deem worthy.

[DaffyKD]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

And as an aside, I'd like you to think about this. The small chapter can only get bigger and on even footing with the big chapters by pledging more women. I can tell you for sure that every chapter that struggled but came out of it had a group of women who decided to take a chance and risk not being in the coolest house in favor of being with a group of genuine women with ambition to succeed. But you have to be cool enough and strong enough to be part of that change. And if you're not, you better hope you are popular enough to make it in the chapters that you deem worthy.

Once upon a time, when dinosaurs roamed college campuses and new members were pledges, there was a chapter on a large campus that went into rush with less than 10 members. They pledged NO ONE. The members sat down with the national officers and discussed their options 1) close the chapter, 2) find some way to revitalize the chapter. The members voted to revitalize. They worked and worked. That fall they more than tripled their membership. Their sisters from other chapters helped them with rush, helped them build sisterhood, were there for them the entire year. They again increased their membership during spring recruitment (can't remember if they also had a winter class as they are on tri-mesters). Within 2 years they were almost to total.

Small chapters can grow with the help of other sisters and with new members who want to do the work to help them grow. Although they were an old established chapter, but had to learn to work together in the same way a new colony has to work together.

Dropping out because a chapter is small tells me you don't want to do the work. Dropping out now gives you no guarantee you will be extended a bid by another chapter in fall-- you will be further along in school and you have proven you are not willing to take on a leadership role to assist the chapter. A new colony will most likely not consider you for membership as they need leaders to build their chapter.

DaffyKD

[TriDeltaSallie]

Originally Posted by DaffyKD

Dropping out because a chapter is small tells me you don't want to do the work. Dropping out now gives you no guarantee you will be extended a bid by another chapter in fall-- you will be further along in school and you have proven you are not willing to take on a leadership role to assist the chapter. A new colony will most likely not consider you for membership as they need leaders to build their chapter.

DaffyKD

To be fair to the OP, she never mentioned size as a factor.