Beating "Small Chapter" syndrome

[bets]

Originally posted by Cream
If they had a lot of graduating seniors, some of the bigger chapters which had met quota would tell the women who didn't get bids during Spring Formal Rush to wait until the Fall semester for informal rush. It wasn't really secret though. I'm not sure if there was anything wrong with that.

Maybe it's just because I'm in a small chapter, but I think that there is something SERIOUSLY wrong with that!

I have heard of our largest sororities doing that (we're talking 20+ over campus total). That is COMPLETE B.S. in my opinion, b/c
1. These chapters spend HOURS narrowing down their formal rush bid lists, which usually are comprised of 95%+ freshman women, not sophmores or juniors. By saying this they are most likely (when you run the numbers) giving these girls false hope.
2. They are just perpetuating the problems of greek disunity, b/c they are essentially saying that they are the ONLY sorority fit to be in, and they are hurting the smaller chapters, by their narrowmindedness, by suggesting that these women (or men I guess) will not be happy in another GLO.

I could probably come up with other reasons why I think that is B.S. but those are the top two.

Even by being in the smallest sorority on campus, I have told girls that they would be happy in any sorority. That has hurt us in the long run, I think, but I stick to it. All of our NPC sororities are basically the same. We all have similar ideals and lifestyles, we all participate in the same events on campus, we all enjoy the same sisterhood and friendship in our own orgs, we all have excellent alumni life post-college, but we just have different letters.

It would NOT be B.S. if these chapters who do this were to say, "hey, you didn't get a bid from us, but you know what? XYZ chapter is REALLY cool, and they are able to give out bids after formal rush. Why don't you go hang out with them for a while, see if you like it, and if you do, then perhaps you can get a bid from them, and if you don't like it, THEN you can come back around the next time we give out bids, and try again"

THAT to me, would be really cool, very mature, and very intelligent. Come on, really, who thinks their org. or chapter is SO great that no other compares? I love my chapter, I love Phi Mu, but I know a whole bunch of Chi O's, Alpha Gams, AOPi's and DZ's that think the same way.