Except for the lack of food, starting formal recruitment for sororities early this year made life a lot easier for all involved. The 411 women involved in recruitment completed the first two rounds without having to deal with classes, and the process wrapped up Sunday.
'The one day we had rush on a school day, I was already so stressed out because of classes and buying books,' said freshman Kaitlin Ridder, who accepted her bid from Kappa Alpha Theta. 'I was so happy that we had gotten most of the nights done before classes started, especially the first round, where we had to meet so many new people.'
'It was really hard last year to rush during school,' said Hillary Caron, a sophomore member of Delta Delta Delta. 'It was nice to get it out of the way before classes got into full swing.'
In light of this week"s success, the Panhellenic Association began discussions Monday about bringing back early recruitment next year. The decision will mostly depend on the scheduling of winter break, which will last three and a half weeks next year. 'If the break is only three weeks, we would feel bad about bringing girls back early,' Panhel President Jessica Chilson explained. 'Bringing them back earlier did not hurt our numbers at all and made a lot of people happier, including professors.'
Even with the early start, however, more than 100 women did not complete the entire recruitment process. This happens every year, as women drop out for various reasons. 'Every woman who maximizes her options--prefs three sororities--does get a bid,' Chilson said. 'Those who don"t get a bid didn"t pref three sororities.'
Some of the women who dropped out of recruitment did so because of interest in participating in Zeta Tau Alpha"s first recruitment process, which will begin Feb. 14. 'I think they will be very successful, and it"s very possible they will meet total chapter size in one year,' Chilson said.
Most of the sororities met their quota, which is determined by dividing the total number of women who remain at the end of recruitment by the number of chapters. Each sorority has the same quota, which was 34 this year.
'The size of each chapter dictates how many women you can bring back each round, which makes it easier for potential members to go to as many different chapters as possible,' Chilson said. 'The larger the sorority, the less you can bring back, but this does not effect quota.'
Alpha Phi, which traditionally has had a smaller pledge class, handed out the full quota, while Alpha Omicron Pi came in well under quota. The other sororities all took approximately 34 women, though Panhel would not confirm the numbers.
Of all of the women who participated in recruitment this year, about 40 were sophomores, a higher number than in previous years. 'I didn"t know about the online registration [last year], so I didn"t register and subsequently wasn"t allowed to rush,' said sophomore Danielle Imperato. 'It happened to a lot of girls last year, which is why there were so many sophomores rushing this year.'
Imperato received a bid to Delta Delta Delta and said she felt recruitment was easier as a sophomore 'because I didn"t have any anxiety about walking into a room full of strangers. If I was a freshman, I would have been a lot more nervous,' she said.
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