things to consider when joining a chapter

When going through recruitment a lot of emphasis is placed on running home to the chapter that aligns with your values, and that’s 100% true and important. But these are some things to consider for when you’re stuck between a few chapters, or when you like everyone and don’t know who you don’t want to go back to
- how big is the chapter nationally? Bigger organizations generally have more resources (involved volunteers willing to help a chapter succeed, frequent national consultants to support chapter leadership, an involved housing or properties cooperation to keep your house updated) to support chapters and larger alumnae networks (you will be an alum for MUCH longer than you will be in college. Remember, you join your organization for life) to keep you connected.
-how nationally recognized is the organization? Is that recognition positive or negative? A chapter may have the strongest reputation or most successful philanthropy on campus but be relatively unknown on a larger scale or only be known for high profile hazing incidents.
- how involved are the chapter’s alumnae? Do they have a lot of alumnae advisors to support the chapter? What kind of alumnae evens does the chapter hold? Do their legacies generally join (this is important even if you’re not a legacy. It shows the kind of relationship you will have with the chapter in 5, 10, or 30 years.)?
- How long have they been on campus? A newer chapter has its own pros (you can help establish traditions and lead your chapter to success) but the longer a chapter has been around, the more stable it will be and the more alumnae support they will have. Though this can be mitigated for newer chapters by the next point:
-are their other chapters of the same organization nearby? This might mean there are alums in the area despite a chapter’s newness. It also can mean you have the opportunity to support and interact with sisters from another chapter. If the closest other chapter is in Gainesville, it’s not likely you’ll have that extra support and resources
- what is the organization’s reputation on other campuses?
- how much/how often have the organizations symbols, ritual, etc been changed? Is it important to you that your org hold fast to its traditions and founding values and purposes? Or would you rather be in an org that is flexible and evolves with time? How will you feel in 10 or 20 years?
- what is your religious background? How important is that to your Greek experience? These orgs were created from 1850s-1910s and some are much more religious than others. If you’re very connected to your religion that may be a feature for you, whereas if you’re not religious and a chapter is, it can create a disconnect you may not know about until after initiation when it’s too late
- read the chapter’s national website and/or Wikipedia page. This will generally give you an overview of the chapter’s symbols, values, and history much better than even talking to individual sisters. Most chapters have more values, symbols and meaning than can be communicated during recruitment. You may not hear the things you could connect to from the sisters you talk to. This is good to do before recruitment too so you can ask “what does this symbol mean to you?” (Just make sure you’re asking about public symbols! )