Do large pledge classes hurt a chapter's ability to establish meaningful friendships

Deke4life · #1 06-30-2005, 08:28 AM

Do large pledge classes hurt a chapter's ability to establish meaningful friendships with new members?

My initial response would be yes ... but we have never had a large pledge class. Ours averages around 7-9 with total active membership averaging around 22. Being this small, we are all very close to one another and I could not immagine that being the same with a huge active chapter.

ADqtPiMel · #2 06-30-2005, 09:14 AM

No. I'm from a class of 56 and I have established many meaningful friendships. I really don't think size has much of an impact - it's more about the people themselves and their willingness to connect with each other.

DeltaEtaKP · #3 06-30-2005, 09:20 AM

I'm from a pledge class of 29 (not quite 56). We do get very close, it just takes time. Since we have deferred recruitment though, it is sometimes harder for the new girls and the seniors to bond too much because they only have a semester with them.

Zillini · #4 06-30-2005, 10:45 AM

IMHO it really depends on the Chapter and can even vary from year to year. I know of some campuses where they've had what I consider a small pledge class (10-15) and they weren't very close. While I've seen large classes (40-60) be amazingly close. It depends on the activities planned, how committed the members are (both old and new), and simply the personalities of the members.

Dionysus · #5 06-30-2005, 10:48 AM

The SLU chapter of my GLO has pledge classes of like 100+ (from what I heard). They have "families" of like 20 people, I heard that it works well.

winneythepooh7 · #6 06-30-2005, 10:52 AM

I can only comment on my experience since I obviously didn't go to a school where there were pledge classes of 50 girls. My class started out I believe with around 15 girls. Gradually people dropped until there were about 6 or 7 of us. Out of that group, it was still very "cliquey" and ultimately, 3 of us ended up crossing. It was like 3 of us who were already friends and the other 3 were already friends-type deal. But then my chapter also has had larger classes than that cross and from the way it appears the girls seemed/became super close. I think it just depends on the personalities of the girls pledging and what they are looking to get out of the organization as a whole. I think that regardless there are always going to be people you are closer with than others, and like in real life, people that you really can't stand.

ISUKappa · #7 06-30-2005, 11:15 AM

Those chapters that have large NM classes (Ole Miss, Texas, Oklahoma, etc...) have systems and programs in place that work for their chapters. No, you probably don't "know" everyone (you know their face/name, but that may be it) but you still form the close friendships and respect for your org that you would with a smaller chapter, it's just in a different way.

Like winneythepooh7 said, even in a smaller class or chapter, you're not going to be BFF with everyone. And that's okay.

Drunkie679 · #8 06-30-2005, 12:56 PM

I don't know about that, I think at Long beach, The bigger hosue tend to separate themselves by pledge class and have a lot of issues with other classes in the house. I know fraternity, such as mine have a bit more closer bond to the house and the people in the house. Bigger class tend to have more cliques, i could be wrong, but i seem class of 45 girls having different groups get along with each other and talking bad about other people in their classes. I do agree you are always going not goign to get along with anyone, no matter the size of the group

Drunkie679 · #9 06-30-2005, 12:58 PM

That another funny thing, i know girls who have members in their house and they don't even know them, one girl founded out a year later a girl was in here NM classes.

ZTAngel · #10 06-30-2005, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ISUKappa
Those chapters that have large NM classes (Ole Miss, Texas, Oklahoma, etc...) have systems and programs in place that work for their chapters. No, you probably don't "know" everyone (you know their face/name, but that may be it) but you still form the close friendships and respect for your org that you would with a smaller chapter, it's just in a different way.

This is exactly the case. I come from a pledge class of 66 (and there have been pledge classes of over 70 at my school). I will say that it is impossible to become close with every girl in your pledge class nonetheless your chapter. You find your core group of friends in the pledge class that you become really close with. Inevitably, every class loses a few members a year so by the time you're a senior, your pledge class is smaller. The remaining girls tend to become a lot closer.

PhiPsiRuss · #11 06-30-2005, 01:07 PM

Large pledge classes do not hurt a chapter's ability to establish meaningful realtionships. Poorly run fraternity (or sorority) education programs do.

Drunkie679 · #12 06-30-2005, 01:31 PM

I see chapter with really good education programs that have bad relations with their members. Large Groups have the trouble like small groups, but small groups most likely will know all the members of their house then large groups. I am not saying if it is bad or good, but realistic it is hard to get to know over 100 girls or guys in a year then have to know a group of completely new people that can range fro 30-50 people

doves95 · #13 06-30-2005, 02:15 PM

Size is irrelevant if, like others have said, you have a stable program that involves the new members in the chapter. And we can not forget to "keep rushing" current members by making everyone feel included, trying to attend things etc. so there can be less division amongst groups.

BUT if you havea large class in 4 years you need to replace them! So the stronger your chapter officers, programs, and commitement to the GLO u are a member of is size should not matter. I have seen small and large chapters fail b/ c of a common thread: lack of responcibility and lack of communication.

Drunkie679 · #14 06-30-2005, 02:42 PM

I understand what you are saying, I do believe it can happen in small and large chapter, but many people on my campus with 100+ members do say, it is kind of hard trying to get to know all their pledge class members, and with some chapters you can see the divide. My cousin is a Tri-Delta from Indiana and she talked about how hard it is to get to know people because her pledge class is 67 girls with 159 members. Somebody did make a value point about thoughout the years, the girls that are left are the ones left from your class, and i do agree with that.

PhoenixAzul · #15 06-30-2005, 03:39 PM

It just blows my mind to think of having a pledge class of over 20, let alone over 50! Ours have always been small, with my 9 person class being the largest in recent history. We tend to wear our size as a badge of honor...even though we may only have 20 or so actives, we still meet/exceed the work done by chapters 3x our size on campus, and we manage to have a better GPA than every other house on campus (why that's important? fewer girls means that every grade hurts the average).

Even with 9 girls and a year later, I'm still learning thigns about my pledge sisters that I never knew. But that's what is great...we can still cram everyone into the living room and have a gripe session, we can still all fit in an elevator (don't ask...weird tradition), and we know more than name hometown major. It's a different feeling from holding your meetings in a lecture hall. When we got our new girls, we got all excited because we had to add another table to fit everyone.

I don't think i would have rushed if my chapter had been 100+ people...the size is just intimidating to me. I love my 23 Delta kittens, each as crazy and wonderful as they are, and I really do consider them my blood.