[psusue]

I think even with huge chapters you can definitely give off a certain vibe during recruitment that may make a PNM feel that she wouldn't fit in. But we know as actives and alumnae that recruitment chapter persona =/= chapter persona, at least not all the time. Chapters can be selecting their recruiters for either the image they have, the image they want, or who they feel can win over the women the best (or a combination of the above).

Ex: A 200 person chapter can have 75 women recruiting. They decide to pick their cheerleaders, their sports team members, and their best recruiters to be on the floor for recruitment. PNM Annie sees them and thinks 'oh I'm not athletic, I could never fit in with this chapter' and goes about her merry way. What she doesn't know is that the other 125 women may have never seen the inside of a gym, don't care about sports, and trip over their own two feet just walking to class (think like Mia Thermopolis from Princess Diaries) but are great women and would get along well with Annie.

Another point that I think is salient is the women that reflect the chapter persona (i.e. the 'athletes' in this example) may be the ones in positions of power in the group, and not being 'in' with them might result in fewer chair positions, being on less committees, and ultimately not standing a chance at running for officer/executive board. Certainly in any group their are subgroups (I prefer this word to cliques, I hate the connotation) and some tend to hold the strings of power more than others and sometimes PNMs can see this. That is, they know that if they join ABC house, they're not going to be in with the 'in crowd' and may feel that they won't have the same experience because of it.