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  #16  
Old 03-27-2012, 09:47 PM
melindawarren melindawarren is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby View Post
Okay, I'll buy that you can give off a certain vibe during recruitment, but generally, most chapters try to pair PNM's with people who they will click with. Even if a chapter chooses its best recruiters, and a PNM is more introverted, I just don't buy that there are too many women who think "man, this chapter is too cool for me".
One right here! There were a few chapters that were definitely too cool for me. And it definitely didn't feel as though they were pairing us with girls we matched with. Then again, I have no clue what happened at pref.
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  #17  
Old 03-27-2012, 09:49 PM
psusue psusue is offline
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Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby View Post
Even for pref? Do you know why this is? I've never heard of a rule like this before.
For pref you can be paired, but by then you've either cut or been cut by a lot of chapters. And by then you've probably also formed an opinion about the chapter anyway. Although obviously pref can change that.
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  #18  
Old 03-27-2012, 10:14 PM
DeltaBetaBaby DeltaBetaBaby is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by melindawarren View Post
One right here! There were a few chapters that were definitely too cool for me. And it definitely didn't feel as though they were pairing us with girls we matched with. Then again, I have no clue what happened at pref.
I was intimidated by certain chapters as well, believe me. But I really don't think that, had you been invited to pref only by chapters that were "too cool", you would have dropped out of recruitment. I know I would not have.

ETA: I didn't mean that to sound snippy, or be directed at MW personally, I just meant that rush impressions are only rush impressions.

Last edited by DeltaBetaBaby; 03-27-2012 at 11:31 PM.
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  #19  
Old 03-28-2012, 03:52 AM
melindawarren melindawarren is offline
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Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby View Post
I was intimidated by certain chapters as well, believe me. But I really don't think that, had you been invited to pref only by chapters that were "too cool", you would have dropped out of recruitment. I know I would not have.

ETA: I didn't mean that to sound snippy, or be directed at MW personally, I just meant that rush impressions are only rush impressions.
Oh, I get it (and you definitely don't sound snippy)! But I would have probably been uncomfortable at some point--either pref, bid night or in the weeks (or months, even) after. Rush impressions are tough, but there were some chapters where I felt like I was speaking a foreign language when I mentioned how much I love Doctor Who or Hot In Cleveland or [insert off-the-wall interest]. On the flip side, these girls talked about the Weekender (big trip upstate that happens once every other year) or football games or things that just made me feel out of place. I guess "too cool" is probably the wrong phrase, but just...not on the same wavelength? Our sensibilities just didn't click.

Of course, if I'd been invited back to those chapters, there's always a chance I would have found someone who clicked with me at some point, but the chapters made the decision on this one.

[And, as an aside, I wouldn't have dropped out of rush. I wanted to make things work however possible.]
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  #20  
Old 03-28-2012, 07:41 AM
PhoenixAzul PhoenixAzul is offline
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This kinda makes me chuckle.

I am an alum of a chapter that was 25ish people at its largest during my four years. My pledge class was 9.

I remember looking at the largest sorority (our neighbors) at 75 and thinking "how the heck can they know eachother!!!"

With the perspective of age, I understand a lot more now.

But when I was working at Oklahoma, I was just SHOCKED by the size of the houses, the size of the chapters...I think our tiny little house could have been a garage to the chapter houses there. KKG's annex was about the size of our entire house. It really hit home how different the Greek experience can be across the country.
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  #21  
Old 03-28-2012, 12:02 PM
AnchorAlumna AnchorAlumna is offline
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Originally Posted by PhoenixAzul View Post
It really hit home how different the Greek experience can be across the country.
Different, yes, but there is SO much that's the same. I served as a regional officer 30 years after I pledged, but still had a great deal of common experience with the girls in the chapter at the time.

One of my chapters was down to 17 members on a campus where most of the sororities were around 50 members. Of those 17, 12 were seniors and were going to graduate in the spring. All the members were worried sick that this was the last year their chapter would be there. They spent a lot of time dreaming of what they could do "if only we had more members."

God bless her, the Greek advisor on that campus took the bull by the horns and organized a special recruitment just for them. She even ordered every sorority AND fraternity to not badmouth our group for the entire semester! (It was a very small campus!)

On pledging day, the chapter added about 40 members overnight.

Were the members thrilled? No.

Almost immediately, they were complaining about how the "new" girls did things. It's human nature - we resist change.
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  #22  
Old 03-28-2012, 12:06 PM
DrPhil DrPhil is offline
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Huge collegiate chapters suck.

That is all.

*running*
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  #23  
Old 03-28-2012, 12:12 PM
33girl 33girl is offline
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^LOL. Are you saying NPHC chapters specifically or all large chapters?

It's not an experience I would have wanted, but then again I didn't want to go to a school of 25,000 people either.
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  #24  
Old 03-28-2012, 01:55 PM
DeltaBetaBaby DeltaBetaBaby is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 33girl View Post
It's not an experience I would have wanted, but then again I didn't want to go to a school of 25,000 people either.
Are there any schools with very large chapters, but no housing? I would love to hear what THAT experience is like.
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  #25  
Old 03-28-2012, 04:13 PM
angels&angles angels&angles is offline
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Originally Posted by psusue View Post
It may be different at other schools, but we have a very strict '1st active to 1st PNM in line' rule. There is no picking and choosing PNMs. I'm sure it happens to a degree (especially with very desirable PNMs) but for us you can get major infractions for this.

And I don't know, there were certain chapters that I knew about that I was too intimidated to even go to their informal parties because of their persona. I just thought that I'd never fit in. Now having met sisters of that chapter at Panehellenic events I know differently, but I still have no idea whether they would have given me a bid.
psusue, we have that rule too. So when we line up to the door, we LINE UP IN THE ORDER OF THE PNMS. Maybe the rule you reference forbids this, but it's pretty much the way it works where I am. It can get thrown off when someone quits at the last second but generally works pretty well.
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  #26  
Old 03-28-2012, 04:31 PM
jazing jazing is offline
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Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby View Post
Are there any schools with very large chapters, but no housing? I would love to hear what THAT experience is like.
Where I'm at the top is 175, lowest is half that. I've never wondered about that though, pretty interesting considering they want housing so bad
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  #27  
Old 03-28-2012, 05:05 PM
Mevara Mevara is offline
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Originally Posted by Low C Sharp View Post
Do they have housing at FGCU? UCF has very large NPC chapters and some of those are unhoused.

How big are the chapters at UCSD and Pepperdine? No Greek housing there.
according the irishpipes thread pepperdine total is 67
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  #28  
Old 03-28-2012, 07:04 PM
AnchorAlumna AnchorAlumna is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby View Post
Are there any schools with very large chapters, but no housing? I would love to hear what THAT experience is like.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jen View Post
I think Chapman University has a total of 140 and chapters have no housing.
I'm looking at "140" and thinking "that's not that many."
LOL!
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  #29  
Old 03-28-2012, 07:42 PM
WCsweet<3 WCsweet<3 is offline
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Originally Posted by angels&angles View Post
psusue, we have that rule too. So when we line up to the door, we LINE UP IN THE ORDER OF THE PNMS. Maybe the rule you reference forbids this, but it's pretty much the way it works where I am. It can get thrown off when someone quits at the last second but generally works pretty well.
When I was recruiting for the first time, we were given PNM's names and called them out. So I would go to the door and say "Hi! I'm WCsweet<3 and I'd like to welcome Patty PNM to KD's open house day." The second year I was a rho gamma and the PNMs were lined up by number (more or less alphabetically unless you signed up late). The sisters were lined inside the house according to where the assigned PNM would be in line outside the house. So Patty PNM would be 27th from the door, I would be 27th in line inside the house. The rho gams (minimum of three at every house) would have a few by the door (to give an attendance report to the house so lines weren't messed up) and at least one near the end of the line so we could catch girls quitting at the last minute.

My senior year of college chapter average was 158 members. I loved it. The only problem was learning all the new members names and keeping them straight. While I would say that my chapter could find a niche for just about everyone going through recruitment, there were/would be some that would fit better. We had artists, athletes, leaders, and etc. However, in my chapter (and others on campus) we definitely had more members in one area than others or had interests that were similar. So yes Patty PNM could love juggling pears and we might have a sister who also loved to juggle pears, but the majority of sisters wouldn't. The sister would likely have other interests that fit the chapter (perhaps not), but if pears is the only thing the two talk about during recruitment or if that is basically the only commonality between the PNM and the chapter then it seems like she would really only have a connection to a few girls in the chapter.

Going back to recruitment and matching women for certain days. I know there were two houses (minimum just two that jump out at me) that I grew to dislike because of who they matched me with. We had almost similar interests (they were a cheerleader I was a dancer), but it just wasn't the same and it grew annoying. That chapter is a wonderful and I know many women who are my friends in it, however, I wouldn't have gotten along with the majority of the chapter.

I do think that in a large chapter there will be niches for just about any PNMs. However, it could be relatively small where as in a different chapter the niche might be bigger.
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  #30  
Old 03-28-2012, 11:18 PM
psusue psusue is offline
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Originally Posted by angels&angles View Post
psusue, we have that rule too. So when we line up to the door, we LINE UP IN THE ORDER OF THE PNMS. Maybe the rule you reference forbids this, but it's pretty much the way it works where I am. It can get thrown off when someone quits at the last second but generally works pretty well.
Hmm, maybe other chapters do this but I know we certainly don't. There just isn't enough time between rounds with MS, especially during open houses. For example, during open houses it's three nights and all 800 or so PNMs must visit every chapter (and there are 19 chapters) so it breaks down to about 10 parties the first two nights (give or take, it's all a blur) and then like 4 or 5 on the third. So about 24-25 (20 minute) parties to accommodate everyone with 10 minute breaks in between. It's pretty much madness. Sometimes we would barely all be back in line, period, as the PNMs were walking in the door. This was especially true if PNMs dawdled to leave.

Now I kind of want to ask friends in other chapters if they matched PNMs to sisters but I really thought that was verboten. Maybe I'm wrong, but like I said, it would have been insane for any night but maybe second rounds or pref. There are just so many PNMs and so many drop out (almost half) that I can't imagine it.
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