Large vs Small chapters

[DubaiSis]

There are a few schools where they're going to have to start begging some of the NPHC or other non-NPC sororities to get involved because they are just maxed out. Obviously IU is in that category, but really Alabama is pretty close to maxed out. I am surprised that there hasn't been a taker at Bama yet. While it would be VERY expensive to colonize there, it seems like you could amortize out those costs pretty quickly. My guess is Arkansas will give the 2 new chapters 2 years to settle in and they'll add 2 more. They have enough interest to probably take on all of the NPC (not that I'm advocating that). And I don't think the trend toward interest in sororities is going away any time soon. I'm in the camp that it's a direct result of kids having every moment of their lives planned and organized.

[AnchorAlumna]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

And I don't think the trend toward interest in sororities is going away any time soon.

See, I'm the opposite. I was in school at a time when it was NOT cool to be Greek, when we had people "depledging" and "deactivating" left and right. We had far fewer members my senior year than my freshman. Our chapter ultimately closed because of it...and because of our inability to support the physical house with those numbers.
So I keep thinking that it's all going to swing the other way any minute.

[DubaiSis]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

See, I'm the opposite. I was in school at a time when it was NOT cool to be Greek, when we had people "depledging" and "deactivating" left and right. We had far fewer members my senior year than my freshman. Our chapter ultimately closed because of it...and because of our inability to support the physical house with those numbers.
So I keep thinking that it's all going to swing the other way any minute.

Because of this concern, if I were to colonize, at, say, Bama, I would NOT recommend building the biggest house on campus. Average house size max. Nicest? Maybe, but not the biggest. But with the way some of these schools are going, they have a LONG way to go before the membership can't maintain the structure.

When I was in school (in the 80's) my school was in a colony blitz. All of the chapters that extended failed within 10 years. But the numbers were not there, and pre-RFM the success of chapters was very lopsided. At least 5 of 15 chapters were not at (or even near) total, and yet they brought on a 16th. I don't think any school would do something like that now. And I think that's another reason to hold out hope for continued growth. RFM makes the whole process fair and my guess is chapter failure is down considerably. I don't know the numbers, however.

But I do agree that that's probably why some schools have allowed their chapters to become freakishly large - fear that it's the high point of the bell curve.