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Originally Posted by AEcutiePhi
I come from a very large "urban" commuter school. Back story - We had 200 girls sign up for information about recruitment last fall, 82 sign-up, 72 show-up, and 32 actually stick it through the process and get matched. We have 4 panhellenic sororities and our chapter total is at 45. This year we had 1 fully structured day, 2 open house days, and the last day was pref and bid day. We are discussing different recruitment styles right now because obviously what we are doing right now is not working. Please let me know what how your formal recruitment is set up and any suggestions you may have for next years recruitment.
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I agree with 33girl, go to the source.
I did want to add that a lot of students at commuter schools, because they usually live at home or off-campus, may not be looking for a "place" on campus, as much as students at a school where most people live on campus. Some may come to campus just for class, and may not have time to do a lot of socializing or organized activities. A lot may work part/full time outside of school.
Pledging takes up a lot of time, during the day and at night, and in my experience, at odd times. People living off campus may not be as readily available as on-campus students for impromptu meetings, same-day scheduling of activities, etc., or because many live at home, have other obligations to meet before something "extra" like a sorority.
That's not to say that off-campus members are lacking or any less worthy or committed. But in an atmosphere where school is a destination and not a home, you might have to look at your recruitment structure/new member schedule/etc. If commuters don't have a class on a particular day, are they really going to come to campus for, say 3 or 4 consecutive nights for recruitment? Or a few nights a week for meetings/mixers/events?
I would look to other "commuter schools" with thriving Greek populations and perhaps see what you can learn from them You might need to highlight the benefits to that particular population to change the mindsets (if I am correct in my musings).
ETA: Do some research first versus telling people to solve the problem for you:
"Please let me know what how your formal recruitment is set up and any suggestions you may have for next years recruitment".
