question

[pinksequins]

ASTAlumna -- excellent suggestions.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AZTheta

How is a "smaller" or "weak recruiting chapter" (loathe that term) supposed to grow?

They need to learn how to cultivate friendships with women outside formal rush. If they seem like a good fit, ask them to join. If they aren't a good fit, maintain the friendships even so. Those women will tell their friends that XYZ is an awesome sorority even if it wasn't for them.

Take a second pledge class in the "off season" through open bidding and look at upperclassmen, transfers etc. Once these girls are in the chapter, get help from HQ and teach them how to formal rush. It's no good getting these girls if they're going to be clueless bumps on a log at formal.

And most importantly - even though this sounds counterproductive - CUT THE DEAD WEIGHT! Get rid of the girls who are just there for letters or mixers, those who continually complain about their lower-tier social status and do nothing to try and remedy it, those who don't want to work. They will only drag the mood of the whole chapter down.

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by AZTheta

How is a "smaller" or "weak recruiting chapter" (loathe that term) supposed to grow?

I think the answers to that will be different depending on the type of school. At a very large recruitment, I think bringing in another chapter to help is necessary just due to numbers. Also, at many large recruitments, the chapter needs to pick up as many new members as possible during formal because COB is stigmatized and unlikely to pick up enough new members. I hope that the RFM requirement that adjusts total to average chapter size will reduce/eliminate the COB stigma since so many chapters will have open spots. But, WRCs at large schools aren't talking about filling 10-20 spots - they might be 50-100 members smaller than the other chapters. I don't think COB is conducive to picking up those kinds of numbers.

[DubaiSis]

There are a few chapters I can think of that did a great job of doing a revamp, half way to a full recolonization. I don't know them first hand so I don't want to name names in case my perception is off. But I would only recommend this method if you're off by a lot and headquarters is on board to go all in. Doing it that way but half-assed is a guarantee to destroy your reputation and put you years off schedule, if at all.

In more cases, I'd say a 5 year plan of very selective growth and accepting smaller numbers of improving quality is the way to go.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by pinksequins

ASTAlumna -- excellent suggestions.

Thanks

Originally Posted by irishpipes

I think the answers to that will be different depending on the type of school. At a very large recruitment, I think bringing in another chapter to help is necessary just due to numbers. Also, at many large recruitments, the chapter needs to pick up as many new members as possible during formal because COB is stigmatized and unlikely to pick up enough new members.

To me, this is the perfect reason to COB. And you know who these chapters should be targeting? The girls who don't know that COB is stigmatized. In other words, the girls who don't even know yet that they want to be Greek. Smaller chapters have to take advantage of the fact that no other chapters are recruiting and befriend any girl they can that isn't already Greek. COB doesnt have to come in the form of recruitment parties; it can just be asking a classmate to grab coffee. Active "recruitment" (i.e. making friends) should be a full-time job for all of the members of that chapter. That may sound exhausting, but I've known chapters that have turned things around over the course of a year by kicking it into high gear and actively getting to know as many people as possible.

I hope that the RFM requirement that adjusts total to average chapter size will reduce/eliminate the COB stigma since so many chapters will have open spots. But, WRCs at large schools aren't talking about filling 10-20 spots - they might be 50-100 members smaller than the other chapters. I don't think COB is conducive to picking up those kinds of numbers.

It is if you're doing it right.

[33girl]

Better to have a springtime pledge class of 40 carefully chosen (I.e. you've been getting to know them over a semester) girls who can be showered with attention and feel special, rather than have a formal rush class that is too large for the chapter to the handle, to the point where members have to take 2 and 3 littles at once and new members feel lost in the shuffle.

And re COB stigma, if NPC really wants chapters to grow and achieve parity, they need to not make stupid rules that effectively say "all bids are not created equal. "

[SoCalGirl]

When I was in school my chapter always had some women from a neighboring school in the room during formal to fill space. They didn't rush anyone.

We were constantly reminded to "always be rushing" and that "it only takes one". As in, if every sister can bring one girl to COB events you can manage to make huge impacts to your numbers.


If your chapter is small enough that you know you'll still have plenty of room even if you hit quota, there becomes an incentive to start targeting amazing women who have zero intent to go through formal.

As in, "Don't sign up for rush, we're having COB immediately after. You won't have to deal with the stress." If it's girls that your chapter literally already knows they're going to bid....well it's still technically against the rules.

[DubaiSis]

Originally Posted by 33girl

And re COB stigma, if NPC really wants chapters to grow and achieve parity, they need to not make stupid rules that effectively say "all bids are not created equal. "

Which rules are those?

[33girl]

That whole if you sign a bid, you are only bound until the next formal rush period bs. A bid should bind you for a year, no matter when it is issued.

[UNCalum]

I was curious about chapter numbers, and looked at the Spring 2014 grade report. This chapter had anywhere from 40 - 70 fewer members than the other houses. The average size is about 170. This was also before the Senior class graduated. Hopefully today (Round Two) will be more manageable for them with fewer girls attending parties. (I assume there are fewer girls....my daughter has 8 parties but there were 10 time slots to accommodate everyone.) I'm not quite sure how it works..

[Griffins&Quills]

Chapters usually have more time slots than the number of parties so that the number of PNMs at each party is less, and therefore more manageable

[TarheelMom]

My daughter is rushing right now also...so nervous for her! She called me with her schedule this AM and the house that she ranked last wasn't on her schedule for today. Will it potentially show up again? Or once it's off, it's off for good?

[DubaiSis]

Once it's gone, it's gone.

[Titchou]

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

Once it's gone, it's gone.

Probably so. But it is possible, in rare situations, that it could show up on someone's. But since she has a full schedule today, it's highly unlikely.

[Titchou]

Originally Posted by 33girl

That whole if you sign a bid, you are only bound until the next formal rush period bs. A bid should bind you for a year, no matter when it is issued.

Formal recruitments are normally about a year apart. The only time a bid would expire before a year is up is a COB one that was issued a good time after FR. And since bids can't be issued in the summer, you aren't talking about that many instances. Say FR is in Aug/Sept. Those bids don't expire till the next Aug/Sept. If a chapter does COB in November or January, those people could drop out and then do FR again in Aug/Sept.

What's wrong with that? Do you want someone to be eligible to accept a bid elsewhere at any time? Like if FR is over today and tomorrow I decide to drop my group, I could accept a bid from another one on Tuesday? Is that what you are advocating? Even the NCAA doesn't allow that with athletic scholarship recipients. You ahve to sit out a year at the new school. At least with NPC, if you transfer, you are good to go with another group.