by Dr. Colleen Coffey-Melchiorre
I can remember very clearly the first moments of my first days as a college freshman. I was an always joiner. I would have found sorority if it was buried underneath the student union in a locked vault.
At an information fair, I went right up to the Panhellenic booth, handed in my application for recruitment, and informed the recruitment counselor that I had made up my mind about which sorority I wanted to join. She asked that I keep an open mind. This was hard to do since everyone around me, including but not limited to some of the cutest fraternity dudes I had ever laid eyes on, was telling me I would be “perfect” for Alpha Sigma Tau.
I am a little embarrassed to say that I chose AST because of what everyone else around me was saying. I liked the women in the sorority a lot and felt right at home there, but I closed myself off to other groups, not thinking critically about this life-long decision I was about to make.
I LOVE being an Alpha Tau – there is no other group I would rather be in, but it wasn’t until weeks into my new member program that I realized a) this decision was for the rest of my life and b) I was expected to understand and espouse the values of this organization.
I learned what Alpha Sigma Tau meant and fell in love with the meaning AFTER I joined. Thank goodness their values matched my values – I got lucky.
This fall, Phired Up will be piloting iValU, a tool for potential new members to understand how to apply their personal values to the sorority decision making process. I am honored to have been a major part of developing this project, and even more excited to see how this benefits young women who should think clearly and intentionally about this highly important life-long decision.
Sorority women: Do your best to help the potential new members this fall find organizations that will make them happy for the rest of their lives.
by Matt Mattson
If you raised your standards for membership this fall — significantly — what would happen?
What if you only allowed students with a 3.75 GPA or better to be considered for membership? Would there be fewer people interested? Or more? Would there be more smart people interested?
If you had a detailed,Values-Based Selection Process, that made your organization significantly more selective, how would that impact your fall new member class?
Like attracts like. High quality people are attracted to high quality organizations. If you only have to be mediocre to get into your group, then it is likely that mostly mediocre people will want to join. If you have be be excellent, then excellent people will suddenly start to show interest.