I really want to use this as my siggy.

I find money to be the single biggest factor for women quitting. How they could not know the cost is mind boggling yet every year at least one New Member quits because of cost.

Way too many schools are not up front about cost, or are vague in their promotional/informational materials. I am all for mandatory full disclosure of costs, but that just doesn't happen everywhere. I think it leads to a "if you have to ask, you can't afford it" mentality.

To give you a different perspective on personal connections - they can work against you, too.

Scenario 1:

There was a house I really, really liked during rush - tent talk was that they never cut anyone, and then, BOOM, after round two, they cut me.

I was so surprised, especially because I knew several girls in the chapter -they had graduated two years ahead of me...with my sister. In fact, they had all been on Dance Team together.

And that's when I remembered that perhaps there had been a little friction on Dance Team their Senior Year with my sister and one of the girls from that sorority.

That may not have been the reason I got cut, but I'm betting it was.

I got over it pretty quickly.

Scenario 2:

The "Do You Know..." game.

I was so guilty of doing this, and it's such a bad idea, but I didn't realize it until I was on the sister side of Rush. This is when you meet someone and find out you have some type of vague connection - they grew up in Anytown, and so did a few people you went to camp with. You ask them, "Do you know Patty Personality? She's from Anytown."

This can go a number of ways - maybe she doesn't know Patty and that's that. Maybe she knows Patty and they're BFFs - great! Or maybe she knows Patty because Patty stole her boyfriend. Or maybe she used to torment "Fatty Patty" on the bus every day in Middle School.

It's so tempting to do because you're in a new place with new people and it feels so good to make a connection - the problem is, you have no idea what type of connection you're making.

We usually get a couple that transfer or that say they are dropping because of costs. There is always one person that says they are dropping because they have a really difficult major. This 2nd is really odd because the officers they have to sit at tell they are withdrawing are usually pre-med.

The truth is usually a combination of factors that usually includes while they like service they don't like someone telling they have to do service or they like parties but they don't like someone telling them they should go to a particular party. They don't like being required to go to chapter every week but then they get upset because they feel disconnected from their pledge class (cause they don't go to chapter every week or they scheduled a class during chapter.)

The other thing that I think contributes to a drop off between the number that pledge and the number that graduate is that CPC recruits women by saying "its a great way to meet people!" and "Find a home away from home!" Once girls have established themselves on campus and have made their core group of friends they don't always necessarily see a need to continue. On a campus that doesn't have a house or where not many women live in, its even easier to look at that cost as being an additional expense.

In that case - they aren't seeing the big picture - lifelong opportunities and friendships, a lifeline or a connection wherever you may end up either for family or career reasons, because they are thinking about it in the immediate situation.

I totally agree with all of your points. Actually on our application forms they say are you aware that sorority membership cost between $500 and $900 and you have to answer the question to submit. Also, I have found that all sororities basically cost the same but some include every thing in their dues and some don't. My daughter had a friend that went through last year and one of the factors of her choosing her group was that it was cheaper. I know for a fact it isn't it is just the other group includes every thing even the pin in their new member fees.

Preach it Panhellenic Sister!

Truth about the connections for sure, but for those OOS moms and daughters reading, out of state girls without personal connections get bids every year, even at the most competitive campuses. Every year, members "fall in love" with pnms they just met and fight for them like tigresses. Every year, a few stellar women inexplicably fall through the cracks, although that is far more rare than the rushees and their moms like to think. (I got dropped from EVERYONE typically means "I don't like the 3 I have left...")

Honestly, at the highly competitive campuses with 1300+ overachieving rushees, pledge classes of 100 and chapters of 300+, I almost think you could draw names out of a hat, randomly assign them to sororities, and it wouldn't look much different than it does now.

This thread is so great! :)

Make a good impression on those you meet and be yourself. I think that if any PNM took that advice, it would set them in good stead for recruitment AND in life.

Amen!

Okay, so what would you recommend a PNM do in these situations? How do you damage control? Bring it up? Hope no one remembers?