Getting Ready for Sorority Recruitment

When registering for recruitment, students on many campuses are required to attach a picture of themselves. Whoa, what? It’s true. So why does it matter?  With dozens or hundreds of students going through the recruitment process at your school, sorority women need help connecting your face – and your conversation – to your name.

Imagine a sorority recruitment event has just ended. If your submitted picture looks like the person a sorority woman just met, even if she cannot remember your name, she can convey to her chapter and to the Panhellenic Council that she likes you. How can she issue you an invitation to return if she isn’t sure who you really are? You might as well have been absent from recruitment that day.

If you plan to be present and clearly remembered, make sure your picture meets these six criteria to avoid choosing the wrong picture for your sorority recruitment registration. Read the rest of this entry »

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In just moments, you will finally step into the first party of sorority recruitment week. You have put a lot of thought into exactly what you are going to wear today, right down to the special bracelet that was the perfect finale for your outfit. You ironed your clothes (which you don’t often do) the night before, and you even cracked open some special new makeup just for the occasion.

Your skin is clear, your eyes are bright, and you smell good. You just got your hair done two days ago, in anticipation of recruitment, and today for some reason, it was on its best behavior for you. It works. Everything about you works. You look great, and you feel great. That smile on your face? It’s 50% nervous anticipation, 50% excitement, and 0% fear about your appearance.

Imagine your reaction when you realize the sorority members have not put as much energy into preparing to meet you. Read the rest of this entry »

Frenemies. You know what they are.  You know who yours are.  But, will you find them in a sorority?

When working with a diverse group of women, you are likely to find at least one woman with whom you are unable to see eye-to-eye.  In fact, you may meet a woman during recruitment like this.  When you have no choice other than to engage her, these four tips will help keep matters civil and avoid social damage. Read the rest of this entry »

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Have you ever had a crush on someone you didn’t even know very well?  It’s not uncommon to develop an interest in someone after observing how that person treats others or behaves with your mutual friends.   Guess what?  This is human nature.  Sorority recruitment is no exception to this rule.

Deferred Recruitment (Recruitment taking place either in your second semester, or second year) offers prospective sorority members a unique opportunity to build their personal brand on campus and set themselves up for recruitment success. It also gives these students the opportunity to pigeon hole themselves into an undesirable stereotype.

Why not capitalize on your time before recruitment to make an extended positive impression?  Here are the three things you want to do to position yourself right. Read the rest of this entry »

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Have you already had an amazing recruitment experience this year? Did you find your new Panhellenic home? Congratulations! You are probably enjoying tons of fun activities with your new sisters.

This is great time to reflect on the other women you met during the recruitment experience. Don’t make the mistake of losing contact with them.  Bolster your collegiate experience by including these three key women in your life right now: Read the rest of this entry »

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A 2010 study by Pew Research has revealed teens are increasingly using cell phones and texting. The results are not especially surprising.  However the implications for Panhellenic formal recruitment may be concerning.

To summarize key points from the study:

✔  Cell-phone texting has become the preferred channel of basic communication between teens and their friends, and cell calling is a close second.
✔  Some 75% of 12-17 year-olds now own cell phones, up from 45% in 2004.
✔  Fully 72% of all teens – or 88% of teen cell phone users – are text–messagers. Read the rest of this entry »

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Does your roommate like to be naked?  While this preference may present a big problem, it is only one of the potential “personal preferences” you and your roommate may not agree upon.

For many college students, living in university housing will be their first experience not only living on their own but also sharing space with another individual.  In the game of roommate roulette, you never know who you’re going to get. Sometimes roommates have different values and beliefs, which may include divergent views on fraternity/sorority life.

What if your roommate has a negative attitude about the fraternal experience?  Here are six tips on how to handle a skeptical roommate. Read the rest of this entry »

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Choose waterproof mascara.

That’s the simplest, most universal, and safest advice anyone can give you about your last sorority recruitment experience: Preference.  In this article, you will learn what to expect at Preference events, how they are different from the rest of recruitment, and how to deal with the emotions you and the other women might express. Read the rest of this entry »

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In the dark ages, people in tribes would make choices by voting with fundamental communications like grunts and rock tossing.  As communities became larger, systems became the method of choice for pleasing the villagers, citizens, employees, or stakeholders.

Today, many organizations use Preferential Bidding Systems (PBSs) to satisfy the preferences of their constituents.  You may be familiar with some of them.

★ Airline employees use their company’s PBS to bid on their preferred schedules each month.
★ Professional sports leagues use their PBS to determine which rookies will be invited to join which professional teams.
★ College administrators use a PBS to determine which students will be allowed into popular classes.

Similarly, students wishing to join collegiate sororities participate in a mutual selection process, which is a PBS just like those mentioned above.  The PBS ensures a prospective member is matched with the sorority chapters that are most interested in her, and vice versa.

Here is a simple explanation of how a matching mechanism like this works using three student examples during sorority recruitment.  Read the rest of this entry »

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Numerous television shows and movies portray Fraternity and Sorority Life as an elite party scene, escape from reality, or horror scene.

How accurate are these depictions?

TRUE or FALSE: Through joining a fraternity or sorority students become part of a social network where drinking, pranks, and partying become important everyday occurrences.

♥ FALSE.  Greek-letter organizations became popular in films during the late 1970s with the release of “National Lampoon’s Animal House” (1978). The film takes college traditions like homecoming, fraternity rush, and house parties and mocks them by presenting the most extreme cases or mishaps that could occur.  For example, the chapter meetings in this film show alcohol consumption.  In reality chapter meetings are alcohol free and run as any professional organization would with procedures and standards. Read the rest of this entry »

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