Carrying new members over summer

[adpiucf]

Angie, unless you're coming back to school with 7 members, 3 more aren't going to make a whole heck of a dent on the recruiting floor. Especially in consideration that they haven't had more than a few weeks to experience the organization. This doesn't mean they can't be good recruiters, but they need more time to experience the sorority before they can sell the sorority experience to PNM's.

In the fall, there will be a flurry of activity to get ready for recruitment and a pre-recruitment initation will just stress everyone out.

Check with your Greek adviser and regional sorority adviser to make sure that all your cards are in order if you want to extend the bids now. I wouldn't waste the effort on a CR this late in the school year-- if you have three women who would love to join, extend the bids now and have them over to the house to socialize, wear letters, learn about the responsibilities, pay the new member fee, and let them come to sisterhood events.

You can utilize them in pre-recruitment week to assist with preparations and have them at recruitment to help with duties outside of actual recruiting and membership selection (ie: run projector, serve refreshments, etc.)

Hope this helps. I empathize with wanting to feed their interest while its hot, but I think you're going to be stuck between a rock and a hard place-- being held over for 3 months may cause interest to wane and you'll lose them before the fall begins, and shortening the new member period to initiate before summer break may rob the new members time to evaluate if this is the right sorority for them, leaving you where you started plus more former members running around with knowledge of rituals.

If you're hard pressed for returning members in the fall, I'd opt to speed up the new member process so you have more initiated members on the floor and can utilize the new ones in other recruitment activities. But also consider the best scenario for keeping these 3 new girls around and motivated-- will it be worth the effort to keep courting them over the summer as NM's?

[AngieWashU]

After meeting with the membership adviser and appropriate chapter officers, we've decided to focus our energy this semester on preparing for fall recruitment/COB.

Thanks to everybody for sharing your experiences and opinions.

[Dkk5685]

I'm just curious after reading this post, about this '8 week new member period", I'm unfamiliar with this for some reason. I was just initiated this past thursday, and we did not have an 8 week new member period, in fact, we felt so rushed into everything that many members (myself including) were so overwhelmed that half of our 14-member 'pledge class' almost dropped.

Some girls signed their bids very late (or just started recruitment towards the end) and literally had 1 week to pick their bigs, then big lil week, then a week later initiation, so all in all, they've been in the sorority for less than 4 weeks and are now initiated. I was lucky enough to have about 4 weeks until big picks. It hasn't even been 8 weeks yet since I signed my bid and I'm initiated.

I was just a bit confused by this 8 week new member period because we obviously didnt follow it.

[SoCalGirl]

Most of the NPC sororities have a 6-8 week new member program. A school may require an even shorter program, to avoid hazing. Some chapters may hold over members longer to get grades.

When a chapter is having Continuous Open Recruitment they may decide, with permission from the appropriate National officer, to have a shorter new member period. This is so that the members can be initiated before the end of the quarter/semester or so that all members of the same class are initiated at the same time. It's a way to avoid "hold overs" and avoid losing girls over winter/spring/summer break.

Your experience is not common, but not it's not that uncommon either. The important thing is you're an initiated sister. Whether you new member period was 4 weeks or 4 months (like in the 1940s/1950s) you still have the same privileges.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally posted by Dkk5685


I was just a bit confused by this 8 week new member period because we obviously didnt follow it.

Many national sororities have NM periods that are anywhere from 6 to 8 to even 10 weeks long. Depending on the sorority, the chapter has the option of shortening the NM period to fit their schedule. So if there are only 4 weeks left of school, a chapter may be able to shorten the NM period to fit that, even if that means the NM period feels a little "rushed" to the new members.

On the other hand, some chapters don't really like to rush the NM period. So if there aren't enough weeks for the girls to complete the average length period, they will consult with the NM class and ask if they would rather be held over the break (summer or winter) rather than rushed through in 4 weeks. Holding over summer has its own set of pros and cons though.

I'm sorry you feel like your NM period was rushed, but don't let your NM period determine whether you'll be active as an active!

[33girl]

Originally posted by Dkk5685
I'm just curious after reading this post, about this '8 week new member period", I'm unfamiliar with this for some reason. I was just initiated this past thursday, and we did not have an 8 week new member period, in fact, we felt so rushed into everything that many members (myself including) were so overwhelmed that half of our 14-member 'pledge class' almost dropped.

Some girls signed their bids very late (or just started recruitment towards the end) and literally had 1 week to pick their bigs, then big lil week, then a week later initiation, so all in all, they've been in the sorority for less than 4 weeks and are now initiated. I was lucky enough to have about 4 weeks until big picks. It hasn't even been 8 weeks yet since I signed my bid and I'm initiated.

I was just a bit confused by this 8 week new member period because we obviously didnt follow it.

Different sororities have pledge programs of different lengths. However, if the shortened pledge period isn't working and it isn't a national directive, I would definitely get together as a pledge class and let the sisters know that it wasn't an enjoyable experience and many of you were close to quitting. Something that makes half of the pledge class unhappy is not a good thing to have in practice.

[Dkk5685]

Yeah, a lot of the girls in my class let people know how upset we were. In fact, the night our big lists were due, I almost quit and had a one on one with the president about why I was upset and she and I talked for a while and she made me feel better about everything and how things get better and slow down.

I think a lot of our problem too was that our NM 'mom' was terrible. She ruined our big/lil by lil hunting herself, although she spouted nothing except how bad it was herself. She was so unorganized, scatterbrained, unprepared and everything else that goes along with it that we were constantly hanging on by a thread and we got to the point that she would email us at 5pm telling us we had a mandatory meeting at 6:30pm, which would mean half the girls had class or other commitments and most wouldn't even get the email in time anyway....oh well, that part of it is over now though.

[lyrica9]

we've done it in the past where we give a girl a bid towards the end of the semester, and girls hang out with her over the summer, but she becomes part of the pledge class we get through formal recruitment. that way, instead of being rushed through a new member period, she just gets to ease into a relationship with the sorority. if time permits, we invite them to the events we have at the end of the semester so they can meet more of the girls, and so they can see what fun they'll have the next semester.

[kchaptergphib]

I'm sure how well "holdovers" work depends on the school and the situation.
I was a holdover, signing my bid card in April, I think, and I wasn't initiated until December with the rest of the fall pledge class.
Aside from having girls who signed their bid cards after me being ahead of me in pin order (alphabetical), I loved it. I did not go home the summer after freshman year, but stayed in Minneapolis where I was going to school. I hung out with some of the girls from the sorority over the summer and got to know them better, so I was much more comfortable when fall came around. And, I got to help recruit my pledge class! There was another sister with me who had not been initiated in the spring, so at least there was someone else who was in the same situation.
So in my case, I loved being a holdover.

[dgdramadawg]

I knew a girl who held over her bid because she wanted to pledge with the large fall pledge class, and the sorority she was pledging had members invite her out during the summer (basically, so she wouldn't forget how much she liked it). Before formal recruitment, they asked her to help decorate, and during recruitment, they asked her to hold water/refreshments (since she could not vote and therefore could not rush people). This made her feel as much a part of the sorority as she could be before pledging. If you don't have time for the whole new member period, I would suggest doing something like what this chapter did.