member changes between semesters

Questionable if they would be considered top, but they do have a strong recruitment and manage to hold on to their members.

I meant to say that the Miss. Houses have the Highest Retention...not just "the highest".

Point is that the Miss./Deep South girls are brought up in the Greek life culture and I think that's why they likely don't drop.

It is a statistical fact that legacies are much less likely to drop due to parental expectation and willingness to pay dues. This is a major reason why nationals push chapters to recruit legacy members.

The sororities that recruit based on Ole Miss legacies connections are going to be pulling from the same demographics. These girls will have gone to school together, camp together, possibly even related to each other. There is going to be a continued social status element to their membership even after they graduate. There are towns in Mississippi where you HAVE to belong to a certain Ole Miss sorority or your social status is permanently affected. Students coming from OOS aren't going to have that same pressure. So if they decided sorority life isn't for them or they decided to return to their home state to continue their education they aren't going to suffer a life long stigma. A Chi-O from Jackson CAN'T drop Chi-O, she would probably be an outcast in her own family.

I think part of it is that theta was so small before variable was implemented. I’m in it and PC 17 has like 100ish members in it as of right now but PC 14 had only 35 and PC 15 is also very small but I don’t remember the number. Once variable quota started our pledge classes have increased quite a bit in size and quality as well.

I didn’t actually go through formal recruitment and am not super huge on Greek life for a number of reasons so perhaps I have a slightly different perspective. But, it seems to me like people go into rush already decided that theta is horrible, takes all the weird people, etc. however I’ve had quite a few people ask what’s actually so bad about it bc most of the girls they know in it are fine and normal. I don’t really know how to solve the problem bc it seems like its more of just we got s bad rep and kept it then anything. That’s not to say we don’t have our problems but as a whole it’s not bad.

I actually Thetas are lucky because their chapter is small enough to allow girls to get to know each other while being large enough to have girls from all over the country. I have relatives who were here in the early 80's and the average size of even the biggest sororities was under 200 so when I hear them talk about their sisters, they really were able to know them. Personally I think we've gotten way too big to have that kind of bond. I think the ideal would size would be about 200-250 at max.

Supporting them would start with not bashing them and calling them what I read on here - labels like "weird", "bottom" and saying things like "they'll take anyone." That perpetuates a negative image when in fact there are a lot of great girls in Theta. I think if we know girls who would make great members - but who shy away from going through formal rush - we should encourage them to look at a house like Theta. If we know girls who are sophomores and juniors - who often get cut simply because of their upperclassman status but are great girls - let's encourage them to rush.

I also think if any Thetas reach out for ideas to members of other houses, support them in holding a very strong COB year-long and that can mean introducing them to girls who could be good members. I wrote below that my cousin was a "traveling consultant" for her sorority (she was at another school) and one way her sorority helped struggling chapters was to implement school-year-long programming where they would hold small events - nice dinners, fun events, etc. - for girls that they were interested in. She said they taught members how to continually seek new members via campus groups, etc. In short, her sorority's struggling chapters had to develop a mindset of always looking for great girls and then "rushing them" in a low-key way. It can work as she saw some of her sorority's weaker chapters start to do better. And it's long-term...struggling chapters don't stop struggling overnight, they work on this all the time. That might sound "not fun" but it can really make a difference.

IMy cousin also was sent to a struggling chapter of her sorority where she stayed for a semester to help members do better, starting with being there before rush - she said the nationals told her that chapter's rush/pledging dramatically improved because of a consultant being there. Makes sense. I wish the Thetas all the best!

Actually Theta is considered a top house at most Texas schools, so if the Dallas girls were really intense about only pledging a sorority that would benefit them back in Texas they would be also be pledging Theta. The Kappa membership fluctuates wildly. Between Fall 2016 and Spring 2017 they had a reduction of 52 girls, which was the largest drop in members of any sorority on campus that year, almost double the amount of every other sorority. This past year they had a reduction of 24 members which was pretty standard for the middle tier sororities. Don't know how the Texas members affect those numbers.

The challenge for Chi O now is overcoming perception. For many years Chi O has been all about Jackson girls and legacies so now even if you do take girls from elsewhere and who aren't legacies, you face what's called "perceived bias" - meaning girls still perceive you as only Jackson and legacy girls. The perception is also that your alums do all the choosing even more than DDD and KD.

Perception bias works in many ways - PNMs perceive top tier houses as the "best" even if those houses are slipping or take girls that maybe only get into a top house due to connections or legacy status. Likewise you could have a lower tier house that actually takes girls that would go top tier if they knew girls in the top tier houses, but they are still perceived as lower tier. There are some very sharp girls in lower tier houses that would have gone top tier at a school where they knew girls.

Every house, product, person, etc. is perceived in one way or another, for better or worse, and often it has nothing to do with reality. I know a girl you all wanted badly, but she chose DDD over you, so you are right, you are losing girls to other houses, but the perception of Jackson girls and legacies is still embedded. Chi O has some great girls but overcoming this negative perception will take a lot of work. I wish you all luck, I've known some great Chi O's and hate to see a strong house become so insular.

Personally I don't know why it's a big deal if the Jackson legacies all want to be Chi-Os. Chi-O is still a good sorority, they have strong recruitment numbers, maintain their numbers and have a strong GPA. They do tend to be an extension of Jackson private schools but if that is their choice why does it bother anyone else? Each sorority has a demographic. KD and DDD are also certainly known for having strong Ole Miss connections/legacies. Then you have the OOS sororities that are recruiting the strong resumed OOS students, same resumes as the Mississippi girls just without the connections.

Yes