Does early initiation=early boredom and attrition?

[FSUZeta]

I agree Katmandu. It was the start of the PC trend when pledges were no longer called pledges and learning the name, home town, and major, as well as getting to know each initiated member aka actives.

[BraveMaroon]

Originally Posted by carnation

So ten years later, I would love to know how everybody feels about this!

How did your niece do? Did becoming an officer so early burn her out?

[TLLK]

Originally Posted by IndianaSigKap

I truly believe organization retention suffers from rushing through the new member period. When the new member period is longer, the new members (both sorority and fraternity) have time to really decide if they want to make the commitment and they actually understand exactly they are committing to (their individual organizations).

Agree with you and those who believe that a new member period should be longer as it was in the past. IMHO the adjustment to a new school, housing, and a GLO warrants a longer period. I'm not comfortable with the idea of people being initiated before they have a semester of school completed when combined with their Greek activities. I've heard from alumni that the new members are often in mid-terms when being initiated.

[KSUViolet06]

Hear me on this.

Know that this is coming from someone who had to wait from April to September to get initiated, so I was by no means "rushed through."

I have worked in volunteer roles with people who studied retention at length.

Length of NM program is not the only factor here.

A bigger factor in my eyes is the stake/sense of responsibility factor.

Your NMs are only going to be as involved/invested as you communicate that you expect them to be.

Your NM program could seriously be a year long, but if in that year, you communicate to Suzy that your attendance responsibilities don't apply to her yet, that there is no accountability for her participation yet because she is new, once she gets initiated, she is going to experience the Sophomore Omg "I Never Had to Attend Events and Now I Do Or I'll Get Fined WHAT" Slump.

It could seriously be 8 weeks. But if in that 8 weeks, Suzy is doing exactly what she'll be expected to do as an active (making attendance points, participating, being held accountable, etc.) the transition won't be so tough.

So having the super long NM program from the 70s is not always the answer, the content of your program itself may be.

(Sidenote: If you're reading this and thinking that I said we need to institute a bunch of inane and borderline hazing practices such as pledge books/required servitude at the house/etc.= to engender a sense of responsibility, go back and read again.)

[carnation]

Originally Posted by BraveMaroon

How did your niece do? Did becoming an officer so early burn her out?

She was only minimally active her senior year but it could've been due to burnout, her heavy course load, or that wonk she was dating that year.

[carnation]

I still think that early initiation=early boredom and attrition.

[*winter*]

Originally Posted by FSUZeta

I agree Katmandu. It was the start of the PC trend when pledges were no longer called pledges and learning the name, home town, and major, as well as getting to know each initiated member aka actives.

Basically taking any type of innocuous get to know you activity and calling it hazing.

I know there are always people who take it too far, but do we ban all drivers because some people endanger others on the road? Why join an organization if you don’t want to learn about it and your sisters? I have a sinking suspicion that a lot of the “should I drop? I haven’t connected with anyone in my sorority yet” posts come from this sort of thing…

[FSUZeta]

Hear,hear, Kelsey. My opinion has not changed. The sororities did a disservice to their new members when they quit calling them pledges, shortened the pledge periods, required that the brief pledgeships be all unicorns pooping rainbows, and allowed pledges to attend chapter ( which can be a little too real for pledges or brand new initiates).

[Cheerio]

Originally Posted by carnation

What do you think? Could early initiation and getting early offices result in burnout?

Originally Posted by KSigkid

It completely depends on the chapter and the person involved...I don't think you can make a hard and fast rule to cover everyone.

How a modern sorority chooses to train, treat and inculcate their NM will affect retention and burnout rates. A recent GC post noted a NM who "wanted out" of her sorority when said NM had only spent one semester of non-pandemic time with her chapter. Rightly or wrongly, and I won't judge, she felt the sorority wasn't serving and never would serve her sorority needs.

Not every NM will have a similar sorority experience, but it was obvious from her posts that at the very least her chapter had not prepared her for a good sorority experience.

[33girl]

I don’t think that anything about the last 2 years can be considered normal, and I don’t think conclusions should be reached or changes should be made.

[*winter*]

Agreed about 2020-2022 (I saw a meme that said every decade is ten years except 2020-2022!) I don’t blame girls for not feeling connected to their sorority if everything has been a hodgepodge of Zoom. I hate Zoom so much. I’m tempted to drive an hour to our staff meeting tomorrow just to avoid having to do it on Zoom. Honestly I cannot imagine trying to do interactive activities as a chapter on Zoom. These kids really got screwed.

[JonInKC]

In the early 2000s, I remember talking to an undergrad sorority member and asking her what pledging was like for her. She didn't do anything, from the sound of it. They didn't even learn the Greek alphabet. So I asked her, "what DID you do?" She smiled sheepishly and said they gave her gifts...


I'm 26 years since my initiation and I can still recite the Greek alphabet, can say the triple obligations of every brother in the bond (I may not get it word for word) and still remember all the tasteless songs we used to sing (which I'll never teach my kids or any younger members).

[Iota_JWH]

I am not sure if early initiation = early boredom, but am I am sure that early initiation = not totally understanding the commitment.

I have been the "internal harmony" for a couple of chapters. What I found is members initiating first semester of freshman year, then wanting to drop the next semester because then had crappy grades, etc. from not really understanding that 1) college isn't high school 2) needing to rely on yourself for motivation instead of a guardian 3) managing time / money takes effort. not to mention the lack of connection with other members.

[JonInKC]

How do you bond with your pledge class without some kind of crucible?

[AGDee]

Originally Posted by JonInKC

How do you bond with your pledge class without some kind of crucible?

I hear this a lot, but honestly, I've never had a bond with anybody solely because of a crucible. I have bonded with family, friends, Kiwanians, co-workers and sorority sisters without a crucible. Unless you count child birth as a crucible, because that could have been part of the bond with my kids, but I think giving birth was a crucible only for me, not for them. It is the bonds with these people that have helped me get through a lot of difficult situations, but the bonds were there first. The bonds are because they are people I enjoy, who share my values, with whom I work toward common goals.