Do large pledge classes hurt a chapter's ability to establish meaningful friendships - Page 2

sugar and spice · #16 06-30-2005, 04:20 PM

Absolutely not.

It may diminish a person's ability to be friends with all or most of their pledge class, but what happens is that the pledge class divides up into various smaller groups. I think it may actually be beneficial for forming friendships because the pool to choose from is larger -- just by the law of averages you're more likely to find a good friend in a larger group than a smaller one.

PinkSigma3 · #17 06-30-2005, 04:34 PM

I went through new member period with 16 other girls. At first we had cliques, but as we went through when we would do things we would end up having to work with eachother together and in the end my whole pledge class became really tight with eachother and the rest of the sisters.

winneythepooh7 · #18 06-30-2005, 04:47 PM

Something that we did in our chapter was have "pledge pals", that was an attempt to break up the cliques. Each new member would get "paired up" with a person they didn't know at all the first week of the new member period, and throughout the process, there would be stuff you were designated to do with your "pledge pal" only!

Drunkie679 · #19 06-30-2005, 04:54 PM

I see were PhoenixAzul is coming from, because my class was only 6 and we know everything about the person, even though we were a small class, we did start of not knowing each other, but we got to know each other over the years. Now, we recent had have bigger class, on class was 28 members and they had some much drama because they all did not get along and had cliques, but with a program like "pledge pals" it helped them get along. I feel it is easier for smaller group, but i think larger groups can do it as well

ISUKappa · #20 06-30-2005, 06:04 PM

ps -

My pledge class was 23 to start. We lost 2 right away, another 2 the next year, 4 the year after, etc... to where we ended up with about 15 women our senior year. There was one group of women that always did everything together, another group of women who went around hating on everything the first group did and my friends who got along with everyone and laughed at all the drama. Now that we've been out of school 4 years, I really only constantly keep in touch with a few women.

Moral of the story: you are what you make of your situation. If you like it small, cool. If you don't mind it huge, great. Find what works for you.

STL Kappa · #21 06-30-2005, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ZTAngel
This is exactly the case. I come from a pledge class of 66 (and there have been pledge classes of over 70 at my school). I will say that it is impossible to become close with every girl in your pledge class nonetheless your chapter. You find your core group of friends in the pledge class that you become really close with. Inevitably, every class loses a few members a year so by the time you're a senior, your pledge class is smaller. The remaining girls tend to become a lot closer.

Amen. My pledge class started out with 65 girls and we've already lost some and gained some. I'll be a sophomore this fall and I can tell you that the seniors who just graduated did not have 65 girls in their pledge class. (Anymore at least!) Yet the girls that were left were best friends and were all close.

And as it was said earlier by ISUKappa, larger chapters do adapt to having more girls... and although we may have to work a little harder to get to know each face and name (my method of operation is staring at the little composite we all get, haha) it happens eventually and we're sisters and good friends just as much as a chapter of 20.

Buttonz · #22 06-30-2005, 07:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by lilsunshine214
I'm going to play devil's advocate here.

I had only one other new member in my Phi Gam new member class and we really didn't like each other. It was just the two of us and we ended up competing for the actives' attention. We just couldn't get over that initial personality clash.

Point being- sometimes smaller doesn't always equals closer.

Then again, you can have a situtation like my pledge class. There were two of us, we are totally different from each other in almost every way. However she and I wanted to make the best of it and we bonded and she is one of the few sisters that I am close with and I still talk to.

*EtaNu*ADPi* · #23 07-01-2005, 12:26 AM

My new member class was 50 girls. I agree with what was said about it being not the size of the group, but the quality of the new member program. We had a great New Member Coordinator for my class and she made sure we did plenty of activities throughout our new member period to get to know everyone. While I am not very close friends with all of the girls in my new member class, I definitely know all of them and know a few things about them. I consider all of them a friend and I know I could go to any of them if I needed something. There are girls that I have become very good friends with, and that's what makes the chapter strong. A few close friendships can really make the experience for a new member. I think the responsibility lies in the hands of the Pledge coordinator and the older members. As long as the new members are shown how important it is to get to know each other, there will not be as many petty problems. (because, let's face it, with that many women, there are always going to be petty fights.) I think large pledge classes actually help to facilitate more meaningful friendships. With more pledges, it seems to be more likely that each pledeg can find his or her "nitch" in the group as a whole.

_Lisa_ · #24 07-01-2005, 08:23 AM

My new member class about 55-60 girls in it & although I wasn't best friends with all of them I certainly made very many meaningful relationships. I got to know each of them over time but there were some girls I just clicked with better.

chideltjen · #25 07-01-2005, 01:37 PM

I guess it just depends on your preferences. We try not to take classes over the size of 15. We had a class of 30 when the active house total was about 25. They were the majority. And if they all voted the same on something but didn't know much about it, it wasn't always the best result. So we agreed never to take that many girls again.

Our campus greek life is small in comparison to bigger schools. Houses have a grand total of 70 girls rather than taking in 70 new members.

I've never been in the situation so I guess I can't knock it. But I don't understand how you can know who everyone is when you have over fifty new members AND over 100 active sisters. How do you meet everyone? And know everyone's name? I'm not saying you have to be BEST FRIENDS... but I'm talking basics... as in "I could recognize this woman as my sister withour her wearing letters."

winneythepooh7 · #26 07-01-2005, 04:25 PM

I've always wondered the same thing about the huge big chapters. I am sure that our GCers from these bigger chapters will enlighten us, but I would imagine that if sisters participate in regular sisterhood events that there are ample opportunities to get to know a great deal of the sisterhood. I think it is like anything else in life; the more you put into it, the more you will get out of it. My chapter was relatively small, I think there were 30-40 of us when I was there and our pledge classes were pretty small. There were still new members and actives who chose to exclude themselves from events and just regularly everyday sorority life and I am sure that goes on in the big chapters as well.