This article is Day 29 of the series: 31 Days to Better Fraternity Recruitment.
This question was submitted by one of our readers. If you have a question you want me to answer go here to submit it: Fraternity Advice.
Question:
Our rival fraternity was recently ranked as the best fraternity to join nationally. While our fraternity still remains the largest and the #1 fraternity to join at our campus, how do we make sure that we are still able to get the best guys on campus? In addition we don’t want to sell the fraternity on things that our perspective members were not a part of such as a top chapter award and other recent success (rather give them something to look forward to) how do we make sure we aren’t loosing guys if they use this as their selling point?
Answer:
On the surface, this one appears tough. Everyone wants to be a part of a winner right?
However, you are looking at it from your perspective. And your perspective doesn’t matter.
Think about it from where the recruit stands. Sure, it sounds impressive on the surface. But the truth is it isn’t going to have much of an impact on him because people don’t join organizations – they join people.
Also, you need to realize this: Fraternity Recruitment Rankings are bogus. I imagine your rival fraternity is referring to this article: College Rankings 2012: Top Fraternities. Note the article states they ranked fraternities by the following criteria:
- Number of Chapters – Because more crap chapters is probably better than fewer awesome ones
- Number of Alumni in Congress – Because brilliant minds like this are to be celebrated: Hank Johnson
- Amount of Money Donated to their Foundation – A good criteria, but not as important as what is done with the money
This is such a narrow focus that any ranking derived from it is absurd. It is like ranking football teams by the age of team, number of former players in the Hall of Fame and number of seats in their stadium. They are not correlated at all. There is no reference to scholarship, leadership, athletic achievement or community service.
In short – the fraternity ranking is bogus.
If you are really bent out of shape about it though, create your own top fraternity list. Utilize vague criteria and be sure your fraternity ranks #1 nationally. Get it published on the internets and boom – problem solved.
Note that TJ Sullivan wrote a great article not too ago on this very topic that is worth reading – TJ – Ranking Fraternities.
In summary, the ranking doesn’t matter for two reasons. It isn’t going to sway the recruit and the ranking is bogus. With the above information you are prepared to explain why the ranking is bogus. Utilize 31 Days to Better Fraternity Recruitment to understand how to effectively turn prospects into new members.
If you do that, you will have nothing to worry about.
This question was submitted by one of our readers. If you have a question you want me to answer go here to submit it: Fraternity Advice.
To learn more, check out our most in-depth article on fraternity recruitment: The Complete Guide to Fraternity Recruitment.