Despite a slight dip in recruitment compared to last year, this year saw a successful Sorority Recruitment period from August 29-September 8.
The recruitment process began with a sorority forum and new member orientation session in ATS, which 134 girls registered to attend. Over the weekend, girls interviewed with sisters of the sororities accepting new members – Delta Nu, Kappa Alpha Theta, Pi Beta Phi, and Kappa Kappa Gamma – as well as sisters in Sigma Lambda Gamma, which completes its recruitment process separately later in the semester. After two meet and greed rounds to learn more about each sororities members and philanthropic initiatives, the potential new members filled out preference sheets to indicate their top picks of sororities to join. The sororities also gradually narrowed down their pool of potential members until Bid Day, Sunday, September 8. 105 out of an original 134 girls were offered invitations to join a sorority.
“The drop in numbers was due to the women who decided to withdraw from recruitment for personal reasons on their own accord and women who were released from the process for various reasons throughout the week,” explained Juliet Baker ’14, President of the PanHellenic Council. “We are not at liberty to provide specific statistics, but we can say that the number of women who withdrew was higher than the number of women who were released.”
The number of students who expressed interest in joining sororities was lower compared to that of last year, which was a record-high for recruitment. However, interest this year was average compared to past years.
“In past years the number has been slightly higher, but these statistics are certainly not a record low,” said Baker. “The new member classes are of an average size as in past years.”
“I would not describe this year as a “record low” by any means,” confirmed Erica Gordon, assistant director of Campus Life.
Both potential new members and sorority sisters expressed happiness with how the recruitment process went this year.
“[Recruitment] is a big time commitment and it does get rough because you have to do the same thing over and over again, but just meeting new girls is really fun, even for me doing [recruitment] for the second time as a senior. You find out the most interesting things about people during the process,” said Jennifer Menendez ’14, a member of Pi Beta Phi.
“It’s a crazy, hectic, emotional week with laughter and tears, but it ends in a really rewarding experience. Every girl who completes the process finds the right place for her and makes her sorority better,” adds Nikki Russo ’14, chief educational officer of Kappa Alpha Theta.
Students on the other side of the process – the potential new members – agree.
“It was a very busy and exciting weekend, and I couldn’t have been happier when I opened my envelope,” said Izzy Brown ’16, a member of the Pi Beta Phi New Member Group.
