It is easy to be confused or deterred by the idea of formal sorority recruitment. For some, words like “Pref,” “PNM” or “Rho Gamma” seem like a new language entirely, and the process of recruitment has developed a reputation for being confusing or only the knowledge of a select few. 

In reality, sorority recruitment is meticulously planned and executed, like a smart wartime maneuver. It is easier to understand than the acronyms suggest. For freshman business major Marisa Adao, this was how she spent Jan. 26 to 29 of this year. 

“I was really just looking for a community on campus,” Adao told The Panther. “I wanted a way to meet people who had similar interests and values as me.” 

Now a new member of Pi Beta Phi (Pi Phi), Adao and other members of Greek life detailed for The Panther what the four-day process of recruitment entails.

For potential new members (PNMs), the process of recruitment begins in October when registration for formal recruitment opens. The application requires a $49 or $75 fee, depending on when they register. 

The real excitement begins in January, when the four-day process begins with Day One, the theme of which is “Go Greek." This theme represents each sororitiy's support for every chapter on campus and motivation for people to find their home — no matter if that is at their individual chapter or somewhere else. 

For senior public relations & advertising major Kendall Kearnan, who acted as the recruitment director for Kappa Alpha Theta (Theta), this was the beginning of a recruitment process she’d been heavily involved in since its development. 

“(On) Day One, you’re given a schedule for every house that you have to see that day,” Kearnan said. “Day One is really packed and stressful, because you have to go to every house.” 

Kearnan told The Panther that PNMs are placed in Rho Gamma groups from the get go. These groups are made of fellow PNMs and a Rho Gamma — an active member of a sorority who has disassociated themselves from their sorority for the month — with the purpose of helping PNMs through the recruitment process. This is the group PNMs will go with to visit sororities each day. 

The first day, a PNM will visit every sorority and take part in icebreaker conversations with active members, getting a sense of which sorority they might prefer. At the end of the day, they meet with their Rho Gamma group and rank all the sororities on the Companion app, a process that will be repeated at the end of each day, but with fewer sororities visited as recruitment goes on.

“Essentially, you think about which sororities you liked the best and which you didn’t like so much,” Kearnan said. “And you rank them from which you liked best to worst.” 

On Day Two, or Philanthropy Day, PNMs return to the sororities they have been called back to based on a combination of the result of their own rankings as well as the sorority’s rankings of the PNMs. 

“It was cool to hear (active members) talk about how getting involved with their philanthropy affected their personal lives outside of the sorority,” Adao said.  

Moving into Day Three, also known as Values Day, conversations with active members become lengthier and more personal. 

“In some (sororities), we mainly talked about our values, like what we look for in a friend or what we value in relationships,” Adao said. “But some got really personal about childhood stories or aspirations for the future.” 

Day Four, Preference and Bid Day, is the culmination of recruitment. PNMs can only be called back to two sororities, one or none at all. The day begins with the Preference (Pref) round where a PNM will have a long conversation with an active member.

Senior business major Ashley Rhee, who serves as vice president of recruitment for Pi Phi, told The Panther that Day Four is a day active members try to make special for PNMs. Pi Phi had active members sing and hand out flowers to their PNMs. 

“It’s supposed to be super special because these are the PNMs that our chapter wants,” Rhee said. “These are the girls that we saw something in and we want them to be in our chapter.”

Following the Pref round, PNMs will rank the two sororities they visited that day. A few hours later, PNMs find themselves sitting in Memorial Hall, where they are handed an envelope with the name of the sorority they will be joining inside. This process is notably called Bid Day. 

Once they know what sorority they’ve gotten into, PNMs are walked to Wilson Field where they “run home” to their sorority, an exciting and jubilant moment marked with posters of the PNMs name and ecstatic clapping and shouting from the active members who are now their sisters. 

And thus, sorority recruitment comes to an end. 

Junior business administration, economics and accounting triple major Gabby Gacer, Theta’s vice president of finance, told The Panther recruitment was fulfilling and exhausting. 

“When you get your new members, they’re so excited and you’re so excited for them, and so excited with them,” Gacer said. “It’s a really fun process to go through.” 

Once the glitter settles and streamers are taken down, it is business as usual again on campus, each sorority with a new class of members. Recruitment, gone as quickly as it appeared, is no longer the foreign entity it once seemed. As for fraternity rush, well, that’s an entirely different world.