NPC Rounds
Today, I continue my series on sorority recruitment. I’ve already posted articles on Greek Life common terms and the application process. I did not discuss making the decision of participating in recruitment. I know it would seem a logical spot to do that first, but I am saving that discussion for later as it ties in with another major point and the reason for me writing this series. So now, on to Round 1. Well, not really. At some universities/colleges, there are a few pre-round events. Keep in mind, I can’t stress enough, every university/college is different. The below outline of events may vary.
Anyone who has read my previous posts knows that I have a daughter who is participating in NPC recruitment. Her rush did not start until late September, which I found a little odd since the majority of southern sororities had their rush weeks ago. But that’s irrelevant to this post. So, let me focus on something relevant and rewind to freshmen orientation. On the second day of orientation, there were two sessions pertaining to sororities. The first was Fraternity and Sorority Life, and the second was Meet & Greek. If I’m not mistaking, we missed the first session due to my daughter’s class registration running over. Then again, maybe we did attend. It was such a long day, that I can’t remember. I do know for certain we made the second session.
Afterward, I heard a lot of the sorority members complaining about the session, that they hadn’t wanted to participate. Many of them stated it was a waste of time. I’m not sure if every NPC sorority on campus participated, but a fair number of them were there. No NPHC organizations attended, and only two of the 15 IFC fraternities were present. While the members may not have been thrilled, I strongly urge PNM and parents to attend these sessions if offered. For one, it gave PNM their first exposure to the sororities. Each sorority present had a table with a board. Many of the boards had pictures of sorority events, their houses, and activities. Second, PNMs had an opportunity to go to each table and talk with some of the members. This is huge! Why? Glad you asked.
When a PNM goes to house tours, she’ll be expected to have these types of conversations. The difference is, instead of hundreds of PNMs and actives chatting in a single room, there were several dozen. The area was large, so members could spread out for conversations. No one had to scream to be heard. PNMs weren’t bound to timelines or one member. If a conversation was going poorly, the PNM could move to another table at any time. At my daughter’s university, most sorority houses are located on one street, but some are not. These can involve quite a bit of walking. And although most houses are one street, the street is long and the houses mansions. It a decent walk from one end to the other, especially in triple digit temperatures. In the auditorium, there was air conditioning and no real walking required. Most importantly, this setting allowed parents who have never been involved in recruitment to get a glimpse of the process. For PNMs who were unsure if they wanted to rush, it was an opportunity to learn more from the people who could tell them the best without a financial investment. I found so many advantages to this and am sorry that the members present didn’t capitalize on the experience. I do hope the university keeps this as part of the orientation. (This year was the first year the university had these sessions, and they were like an experiment.)
Fast forward to the school beginning. Around the second week of school, the pre-rush meetings began. They didn’t call it that, and I’m not sure it has an official name. But this is what I’m going to call it. The first pre-rush meeting was a type of recruitment orientation. Basically, it went over all the information on the website, and PNMs were issued their PNM Guidebook. If I’m not mistaken, I believe registration remained open at that point, and PNMs still had time to register. Recruitment Counselors were introduced, and PNMs were split into smaller groups and added to a group chat created by their Recruitment Counselor.
The next week, PNMs had their first small group meeting. Mostly, this was a getting to know each other, icebreaker session as well as getting a schedule of events that must occur prior to recruitment. For my daughter, other pre-rush events involved watching four “PNM Prep Series videos” and attending two educational programs (“Respect & Dignity for All – D&I and Hazing” and “Health & Wellness”). She also had weekly group meetings with her Recruitment Counselor small group. The final pre-rush event was Convocation. At Convocation, members of the Panhellenic Executive Council give PNM a brief description of the day-by-day schedule. Since PNMs have been meeting weekly, I have no idea what other topics would need to be discussed at Convocation. Oh, and Convocation is a dressy event.
Round 1. The week of Convocation, PNMs are issued t-shirts to wear on designated days. Next is what my daughter’s university calls Greek Day. I’ve heard this referred to as House Tours at other universities. My daughter had a Greek Day t-shirt (that frankly, was underwhelming in design) that she was required to wear. Dress was casual, and PNMs visited all 11 sororities. Now, here is where it starts to get crazy. At some universities, especially the large ones, house tours are spread over two days, which would make sense to give PNM time to learn about each house. But logic isn’t spent here. At the end of this long day, PNMs rank and cut three houses.
NOTE: I’ve mentioned this before but it’s worth mentioning again. PNMs are obligated to visit all houses the first day and every house they are invited back to on subsequent days. If a PNM fails to visit a sorority, she is dropped from recruitment. Now, because recruitment happens after classes begin, PNM must complete conflict forms when sorority event/parties are at the same time as classes. PNMs are not penalized for arriving late or missing an event due to classes unless a conflict form is not completed. Class schedules are used to verify that class conflict exists. Also, PNMs who are caught skipping classes in order to attend recruitment events are at risk of being dropped. Education comes first, as it should.
Let me digress for a moment and address getting cuts of no bids. Although the registration fee is hefty ($250.00 in my daughter’s case), there is no guarantee for acceptance or bids. I searched online for the percentage of PNMs who were cut after the first round but could not find an average. Most posts that addressed the matter of being cut either 1.) discussed PNM who “dropped”, 2.) were cut due to not meeting the GPA minimal standard, or 3.) went through the entire process but did not receive any bids. The university information my daughter received stated 95% of PNM who went through the “entire” recruitment process received a bid.
Round 2 for my daughter was over two days. This was the Philanthropy round where sororities discussed their causes, community service, and campus involvement. The look for this round is casual and with a provided t-shirt. The maximum number of sororities a PNM can visit is 8. Many would argue that the majority of PNMs do not get invited back to 8 houses. I believe the average was quoted to be about 5. However, PNM may get anywhere from 0 to 8 bids. I’m also told that receiving 0 bids after Round 1 is odd unless there is an academic issue. But even then, many will be kept around for at least one additional round. I have no statics on of this. At the end of this round, PNM will cut three more sororities.
Round 3. This is Sisterhood Day. It’s dressier (business casual). The PNMs will have longer conversations with active members that focus on what it means to be a part of that sorority and can visit a maximum of 5 houses. At the end of the night, PNMs will cut three houses.
Round 4. This is Preference Day and the final day of formal recruitment. It is the dressiest of days (cocktail dress, semiformal, or business attire) and the most serious day. The maximum number of sororities visited is two. The atmosphere also shifts slightly. During rounds 1-3, PNMs have been working hard to impress members to receive an invitation to return. And while members have been interested in recruiting new members, it has been the PNMs who have to work hard to stand out against such large numbers. On Preference Day, the PNM invited to the sorority house are PNMs who the sorority seriously want as members. The numbers are small, and sororities want to meet their quotas. For these reasons, active members will be pitching their sororities hard to get PNMs to list their sorority as their top choice. One way to think about it is in terms of housing—going from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market. At the end of this round, PNMs will not cut a house (unless they are suicide bidding). Instead, they will rank the houses in order of preference with 1 being the sorority they most want to join and 2 being their second choice.
As mentioned previously, reportedly, 95% of PNM who complete the process at my daughter’s university receive a bid. That means 5% do not. Granted, those are good odds but not for the 5% who are cut. Many blogs/vlogs state, “Trust the process”. (I’ll come back to this.) Most of these blogs/vlogs were by women who recently had gone through the recruitment process. When a PNM is cut from a sorority, most times the PNM does not know why, and it becomes a guessing game. PNM who either drop or cut are allowed to repeat the recruitment process the following semester or year, depending on when the next recruitment will be held. However, there is no need to repeat the process (and spend that type of money) if there is no chance of being accepted. Knowing odds can help narrow down as to why a PNM is cut.
Sometime else to consider is that sororities will say that upperclassmen are invited to participate in recruitment. The reality, though, is in many colleges/universities, not going through recruitment as a freshman diminishes chances or being accepted. While no one will tell upperclassmen not to rush, many NPC sororities want women who are going to be around more than a day or two in order to grow their sorority and ensure financial security that mortgages are paid with dues. And there is nothing to say that upperclassmen absolutely will not receive an invitation to join. Some will. But some sororities limit the number of upperclassmen it invites.
The next day is Bid Day and is the day PNM learn which sorority has selected them. It is very casual dress. Depending on the college/university, Bid Day ceremonies may vary. Generally, in the large southern universities, it resembles the following. All the PNM (not just individual Rho Gamma groups) are instructed to meet in a designated area. The first thing that usually occurs after all PMNs are assembled are some general instructions. This is a happy day, and while many of the PNMs are anxious to learn their houses, a bit of weight has been lifted from them because they know they are guaranteed invitation into a sorority. If a PNM has not been given a bid, they will have received a call from their Recruitment Counselor and will not be present at Bid Day.
The second thing that occurs is the Recruitment Counselor reveals. During the entire recruitment (and pre-recruitment) process, Recruitment Counselors (or whatever name they used to describe themselves at the various universities/colleges) have disaffiliated themselves from their sororities so that they can be unbiased mentors to PNMs. During this entire time, Recruitment Counselors have not been allowed to discuss any aspect of what sorority they are members, wear their sorority paraphernalia, be seen at their sorority houses, etc. Their sorority associate has been kept secret. On Bid Day, they are able to tell which sorority they are members. Often, this is done when all Recruitment Counselors gather on a stage, wearing a jacket or some other cover to hide their letters beneath, and perform some type of chant or song. On a count or mention of a sorority name, the Recruitment Counselors take off their jackets to show their sorority Greek letters. Sometimes, this is done in groups, where all Recruitment Counselors belonging to sorority XYZ step forward and simultaneously make a reveal. Other times, it may be done with all Recruitment Counselors, regardless of sorority affiliation, make the reveal at the same time. Smaller colleges/universities may have Recruitment Counselors reveal themselves one at a time. A lot of PNMs enjoy this because they may have been trying to guess their Recruitment Counselor’s affiliation the entire recruitment.
Next, PNMs are given bid day cards in sealed envelopes. Usually, these are distributed by the Recruitment Counselors. I have seen some videos where PNMs open their bid cards as soon as it is handed to them. With large recruitment classes, that could lead to tons of chaos. Bid Day is jammed with a lot of screaming, jumping, and tears of extreme joy. (sometimes, tears of sadness. I’ll get to that). Therefore, large recruitment classes are distributed their bid cards but instructed not to open them until everyone has been given a card. That way the mass pandemonium can occur all at once. PNM read the names of their sororities and then run to their sorority houses (provided the sorority has a house on campus) where the other sorority members are waiting to greet them. In the event the sorority does not have campus housing, new members will be given instructions of where to meet their sorority. In either event (sorority house or designated location), many of the actives will be waiting and holding a sign with the now new members’ names. The new members run to the active member holding their name, and this is their Bid Day Buddy. A Bid Day Buddy is the active member who has been assigned to spend the day celebrating with the new member, perhaps, showing her around the house and introducing her to other members. In other words, a Bid Day Buddy is like a personal welcoming committee and tour guide for the day.
The end…except for all the gaps I left in this. There is so much information, it is difficult to insert it all in order without digressing for too long. In a conversation, it would be easier but is more challenging in a written post. This gives an overview of the recruitment process. My next entry will be listing the details that will further help understand the process and answer questions typically not answered.
If you liked this article or found it helpful, please leave a like or a comment below. I would love to hear from you. You can also email me questions at genevivechamblee@yahoo.com. And if you would like for me to do more of these type posts, let me know that, too. Subscribe to my blog Creole Bayou at www.genevivechambleeconnect.wordpress.com to see what other content I have. I post there every Wednesday.
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