Length of Pledging for different groups?

[Kevin]

I can't imagine cramming all we do into 8 weeks. Especially with Greek Week and Spring Sing and whatnot intervening. Have your HQs elected to do this to receive preferable insurance rates? Have you seen a benefit in terms of retention? How do you deal with kids who don't make grades?

That last question, I think in the next 5 years or so will be one we won't have to really worry about as at least our campus is slowly moving towards making professors keep grades up to date and available online if students care to check them, but 6 weeks? That kind of blows my mind.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by Kevin

I can't imagine cramming all we do into 8 weeks. Especially with Greek Week and Spring Sing and whatnot intervening. Have your HQs elected to do this to receive preferable insurance rates? Have you seen a benefit in terms of retention? How do you deal with kids who don't make grades?

That last question, I think in the next 5 years or so will be one we won't have to really worry about as at least our campus is slowly moving towards making professors keep grades up to date and available online if students care to check them, but 6 weeks? That kind of blows my mind.

It's been going in for almost 20 years now and hasn't been a major problem in the grades department, IMHO. Please see AGDee's post about real statistics from Alpha Gamma Delta regarding grades post pledging change. I think we have pretty good statistics across the country, and XO is the only org that still waits an entire semester to initiate. They do not consistently have the highest grades. Waiting to initiate doesn't ensure high grades. I think from the perspective of fraternities, it's hard to imagine because academics is not the biggest aspect of pledging, and chapter GPAs rarely rival the levels produced by the sororities on most campuses. Our pool of candidates likely have higher GPAs and are more driven to keep higher GPAs from the start.