Recruitment Question

[leiaamiedala]

33girl, chapters are between 140-180 at this school, and pledge classes are around 50-60. It is not a "highly" competitive school (e.g., chapters receive very few reference letters and it is only about 25% of the student body), but she did treat the process seriously, as greek life is growing. She did make friends in all the houses over the last year. As a freshman, she went through the week 10 -> 7 -> 3 -> 2, and withdraw after pref despite advice to stay with one of the two she had left.

At this point, she has reached out to the colony consultant, to another alumna of the colony sorority for a reference, and has signed up for the colony recruitment. She is still excited about the possibility and understands that it will be competitive, but is very hopeful that the option is a good one for her (in particular, if there was any reputation issue during formal recruitment, hopefully that can be overcome with the colony).

If there is anything else that would be helpful for her as she begins the colony recruitment process, please share!

[NoDak]

This is advice I usually give to PNMs when I write references for them but I feel that it still holds true for a colony opportunity.

When it comes to recruitment you must make your thoughts and intentions known and reiterate it. The women recruiting you are not able to read your mind and while they recruit you, you also have to recruit them. Two way street.

Make sure the chapter member you are speaking with knows: 1) what you appreciate most about their organization or what about their mission or principles inspires you. Let's them know you have been paying attention. 2) how you can be a contributing member of their organization, something as simple as, I love that I can use my painting skills with homecoming banners or philanthropy marketing can go a long way. This is a general and simplified response for the sake of time, but I hope you get the idea. Hopefully this gives her a launching pad as she begins to meet with the colony reps. Help her identify her assets so she has a default list of topics in her back pocket if the conversation stalls.

I wish that some of the individuals on this forum would be patient and kind enough to understand that not everyone was raised with 5 aunts who were Greek. PNMs all too often go into the process with absolutely no idea what to expect. Recruitment can be incredibly difficult that way, especially if you are a bit shy or simply struggle with talking with strangers. It is intimidating and overwhelming and survival of the fittest is the best way that I can describe it. There are harsh realities to recruitment and good solid women have fallen through the cracks. Maybe the chapter member that did enjoy her had a hard time convincing the membership to vote her through. As many have said, there are no easy answers to give as to why it did not work out.

Perhaps she was simply meant to struggle and not find her home because the colony was meant to be where she landed. From the sounds of it you have taken good steps to help her along the way to putting in a valiant effort for the colony opportunity. I wish you and her the best of luck.

[leiaamiedala]

A final update for you all - my girl went through the colonization process, making an effort to network with the colonizing alumnae, make a good impression at her interview, and obtained a reference from a local alumna....
And she just received a bid from the new colony! She is thrilled and so excited to be stepping into a new chapter. Thanks for the advice on the colony recruitment process. It's been a long time getting here for her, but maybe two tough formal recruitments were what it took for her to find her new home in the colony!

[honeychile]

Congratulations to your Rec Girl! Maybe you'll let us know where she's at, once she's initiated?

[hannah2]

So glad to hear that your gal pledged. To answer one of your original questions, yes, 65% pledging is lower than average. If the weakest group is as you said, very, very weak, there may be a significant number of PNMs who are invited to their preference that choose to drop out of recruitment. If that is the case, that would bring down the campus average.