What to tell overconfident PNMs

[33girl]

Originally Posted by DGTess

Quote = # women at prefs/# sororities, right?

Logically, then, no such thing as 'can't take them all'.

Even one chapter. Granted, I don't understand sorority life at chapters of 200+ members, either, but when your pledge classes are over 100 women, is it really mathematically impossible to pledge all your legacies? Has it ever happened that more legacies than the chapter could take listed that chapter as #1?

I also understand not wanting a pledge class that is all legacies. Or even a majority legacy.

Now, as a sister of a 20-woman chapter at a geeky private school in the 70s, and an alumna who recommended my daughter not rush at Texas, I recognize I'm out of the mainstream. What I fail to understand is how that changes the math.

Newbies who come to GC and make a statement like "there were too many women for the sororities to take them all" are rapidly corrected. Why is this legacy statement promulgated?

Well, right now Alabama has 2500 women registered. Divide that by the 16 sororities participating in formal and you have 156. I have absolutely no problem believing that there are (for example) 200 women whose mother, grandmother (which you have at least two of) or sister (which you can have many of) is a Pi Phi among those 2500.

[Titchou]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Well, right now Alabama has 2500 women registered. Divide that by the 16 sororities participating in formal and you have 156. I have absolutely no problem believing that there are (for example) 200 women whose mother, grandmother (which you have at least two of) or sister (which you can have many of) is a Pi Phi among those 2500.

I could see that for a couple of chapters there. Or try any school in MS for Delta Gammas. We were founded in MS and often have close to a pledge class worth at any of the 3 schools there.

[carnation]

Legacywise, the ADPis, Zetas, and Phi Mus are covered over in the Southeast. Maybe Chi Os and KDs to a lesser extent.

[IndianaSigKap]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Well, right now Alabama has 2500 women registered. Divide that by the 16 sororities participating in formal and you have 156. I have absolutely no problem believing that there are (for example) 200 women whose mother, grandmother (which you have at least two of) or sister (which you can have many of) is a Pi Phi among those 2500.

Originally Posted by Titchou

I could see that for a couple of chapters there. Or try any school in MS for Delta Gammas. We were founded in MS and often have close to a pledge class worth at any of the 3 schools there.

Or try Kappa Alpha Theta at Indiana University or Purdue University. Theta was founded at DePauw, IU is the Beta chapter. There are a ton of Theta legacies at most Indiana universities. One of the years I was a collegian, there were over 100 Theta legacies and our bed rush pledge classes ranged from 30-55. Easily more than enough Theta legacies for two or three pledge classes.

[DGTess]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Well, right now Alabama has 2500 women registered. Divide that by the 16 sororities participating in formal and you have 156. I have absolutely no problem believing that there are (for example) 200 women whose mother, grandmother (which you have at least two of) or sister (which you can have many of) is a Pi Phi among those 2500.

Originally Posted by Titchou

I could see that for a couple of chapters there. Or try any school in MS for Delta Gammas. We were founded in MS and often have close to a pledge class worth at any of the 3 schools there.

I knew I had to be missing something. I have zero experience with multi-generational greeks and, as I said, did not even try to persuade my daughter to rush at UT (though later, when I inquired via email about COB, I got what I considered to be a rude and condescending response from the chapter representative; we were approaching the question from two very different frameworks).

So I can see that sometimes this is the case. Not as often as it's seemingly presented here, but sometimes. Thank you for clearing it up. I wish it weren't presented here as being so common, but I understand better.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Well, right now Alabama has 2500 women registered. Divide that by the 16 sororities participating in formal and you have 156. I have absolutely no problem believing that there are (for example) 200 women whose mother, grandmother (which you have at least two of) or sister (which you can have many of) is a Pi Phi among those 2500.

This.

And to add to what everyone else has said:

Another reason why phone calls may eventually become obsolete: Too many legacy connections for one PNM. I'm in my early 30s, and my grandparents were born in the 1920s/1930s when NPCs were still relatively new and many women weren't attending college. My mom attended a school with no NPC sororities.

As the years go on, there will be more and more PNMs with more and more legacy connections. A much higher percentage of women are now attending college. NPCs are opening between 2-7 new chapters each year. A record number of PNMs are signing up for recruitment at schools across the country.

What happens when a PNM has two grandmothers, a mother, and two sisters who were all in different NPCs? And what about those groups that consider aunts, cousins, etc. as legacy connections? Do you really think they'll each feel that they're owed a phone call?

[Titchou]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

This.

And to add to what everyone else has said:

Another reason why phone calls may eventually become obsolete: Too many legacy connections for one PNM. I'm in my early 30s, and my grandparents were born in the 1920s/1930s when NPCs were still relatively new and many women weren't attending college. My mom attended a school with no NPC sororities.

As the years go on, there will be more and more PNMs with more and more legacy connections. A much higher percentage of women are now attending college. NPCs are opening between 2-7 new chapters each year. A record number of PNMs are signing up for recruitment at schools across the country.

What happens when a PNM has two grandmothers, a mother, and two sisters who were all in different NPCs? And what about those groups that consider aunts, cousins, etc. as legacy connections? Do you really think they'll each feel that they're owed a phone call?

The one with the closest connection to the particular group gets the call...and it's her responsibility to let the other relatives in THAT group know. And the purpose of the call is two-fold: as a courtesy to the member and so that SHE can call the PNM and let her know rather than have her hear it from her Rho Chi. Sorry, we Southerners are old school....

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by Titchou

The one with the closest connection to the particular group gets the call...and it's her responsibility to let the other relatives in THAT group know. And the purpose of the call is two-fold: as a courtesy to the member and so that SHE can call the PNM and let her know rather than have her hear it from her Rho Chi. Sorry, we Southerners are old school....

Never said you weren't. And I understand the reasons behind it. I just don't know that it will matter that much to the mom, grandmother, etc., or to the PNM in the future as much as it has in the past.

Just saying.. things might change.

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by Titchou

the purpose of the call is two-fold: as a courtesy to the member and so that SHE can call the PNM and let her know rather than have her hear it from her Rho Chi.

I understand that this is one of the perceived benefits of contacting the legacy relative, but this approach has always rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it's because my school didn't have any sororities I had a legacy connection to, but I would have been really irritated if a family member who wasn't involved in my rush experience had called me to deliver such news. I'm southern and went to a southern school, so it can't all be cultural.

It seems to me that the best person to deliver that kind of news is someone who is currently actively involved in that rush. We (NPC) go out of our way to create a vacuum-like environment for recruitment. Why do we 'break the seal' for this?