question

[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.

[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. "

[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?

[pinksequins]

ASTAlumna -- excellent suggestions.

[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.

[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.

[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..

[pbxtilldeath]

Originally Posted by 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..

I hope your daughter has had a wonderful recruitment and I wish her all the best with pref tonight and bid day tomorrow! I am hoping for good news for you and TarHeelMom's daughters!

[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

[LAblondeGPhi]

Originally Posted by 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..

One of the few drawbacks of RFM for small chapters is that the smaller/weaker chapters often have far more PNMs in their invitational rounds than the strong recruiting chapters.

The strong chapters know that they'll have a majority of PNMs choose to return for subsequent rounds, so they might only need to have a total of 80 PNMs in their first invitational round, where the smaller chapter may need 120 in order for both chapters to hit quota of 20 on bid day. This really exacerbates the problem.

Originally Posted by 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

The extra parties really have the ability to help out, but it seems that usually this is geared to making party sizes more manageable for all of the chapters, with no special consideration for a small chapter. What smaller chapters need is often a couple of extra parties that the rest of the chapters don't have (i.e. - 15 party time slots for PNMs to visit a max of 8 chapters, strong chapters use 12 time slots with 3 breaks, smaller chapters use all 15). Do any campuses do that?

[clemsongirl]

Originally Posted by LAblondeGPhi

One of the cruelest twists in RFM for small chapters is that the smaller/weaker chapters often have far more PNMs in their invitational rounds than the strong recruiting chapters.

The strong chapters know that they'll have a majority of PNMs choose to return for subsequent rounds, so they might only need to have a total of 80 PNMs in their first invitational round, where the smaller chapter may need 120 in order for both chapters to hit quota of 20 on bid day. This really exacerbates the problem.

The extra parties really have the ability to help out, but it seems that usually this is geared to making party sizes more manageable for all of the chapters, with no special consideration for a small chapter. What smaller chapters need is often a couple of extra parties that the rest of the chapters don't have (i.e. - 15 party time slots for PNMs to visit a max of 8 chapters, strong chapters use 12 time slots with 3 breaks, smaller chapters use all 15). Do any campuses do that?

At Clemson we are only allowed to have as many sisters as the smallest chapter can provide on the floor for the first round, in order to even the playing field somewhat. I actually didn't even attend recruitment one of the nights because my bump group wasn't on the floor for that night. I don't think this extends past first round, but it's better than nothing.

I also know that we normally only hold three Preference parties when there are four time slots, which I believe gives smaller chapters the chance to hold four parties if they want to or need to.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by clemsongirl

At Clemson we are only allowed to have as many sisters as the smallest chapter can provide on the floor for the first round, in order to even the playing field somewhat. I actually didn't even attend recruitment one of the nights because my bump group wasn't on the floor for that night. I don't think this extends past first round, but it's better than nothing.

This is an extremely nice idea. It helps with that first impression that is so important. Bravo to your Panhellenic for their kindness.

[TriDeltaSallie]

Originally Posted by clemsongirl

At Clemson we are only allowed to have as many sisters as the smallest chapter can provide on the floor for the first round, in order to even the playing field somewhat. I actually didn't even attend recruitment one of the nights because my bump group wasn't on the floor for that night. I don't think this extends past first round, but it's better than nothing.

I have never heard of this, but that is an amazingly Panhellenic approach.