With the premiere date for my final season of Bama Rush coming up, I thought I could look back over my past three years of sorority experience and give some advice to all the girls going through recruitment in just a couple short months!
Before getting into my advice lets go over some quick sorority recruitment vocab:
PNM: short for Potential New Member, this is any girl who is either registered or considering going through Fall Primary Recruitment!
Active Member: an initiated member of a sorority who is currently in college.
Rounds & Parties: During the recruitment process you’ll go through 4 different rounds, Open House, Philanthropy, Sisterhood and Preference. Most schools nowadays do Open House Round virtually so you’ll just be watching videos about each chapter on your campus. The rest of the rounds will be in person and during each round when you go into a house to talk to the actives that is called a party.
Bid Day (aka the BEST DAY): This is the day you’ll receive a bid and run home with the rest of the girls in your pledge class!
The whole process of recruitment can be very nerve wracking and overwhelming, you’re going into these big houses full of girls you’ve never met before, the actives are singing their loud door songs and shouting “HI!” as you walk in. You're going to feel like you’re shouting while having conversations cause the room you’re in gets so loud. And on top of that you’ve only got about 20-30ish minutes to make a good impression. Let's just say it is a long week made up of even longer days.
But now after being on the other side of it for two years and going into my third, I can tell you right now that the active members are just as nervous and honestly overwhelmed as you are. You also have to remember that the active you are talking to is most likely either the same age as you or maybe a year or two older. When I was a freshman going through recruitment I always thought of it as I was just making new friends and it made the conversations flow so much better.
This might be the most said piece of advice, but it really is true: JUST BE YOURSELF! This whole process is about finding the house that is the best fit for you and the only way to do that is to be your authentic self and not try to be the version of yourself that you think the active members want you to be.
One of the easiest ways to do this is by expressing your personality through your outfits. This is especially true on the days when all the PNMs are in the same t-shirt for certain rounds! Check out last year's blog for some style inspo with an updated guide coming soon!
Next piece of advice: DO NOT LET OUTSIDE OPINIONS GET TO YOU! This process is about finding the house that fits YOU, not your mom, sister, cousin, aunt, high school besties, etc. While it is easy to go in with preconceived opinions of the chapters on your campus, you have to keep an open mind cause you never know which one will end up being your home! I went into recruitment knowing I would love to go Theta because that was the house Connor pledged in college, but I also knew I needed to fall in love with that chapter for myself (spoiler alert: Connor and I are sisters x2!). There may be times where it seems hard to trust the process but I promise you, that you will end up where you’re supposed to be in the end on bid day!
Now for some more ~logistical~ advice. You’re going to want to get what a lot of people call a “rush bag”, which essentially is going to be the bag you’ll carry each day that has all the necessities since you won’t be able to go back to your dorm very often in between parties. Different schools have different rules about what your bag can be or have in it (ask Connor about her Ziploc bag during Ole Miss rush circa 2017). You’ll want to make sure you have products to touch up your hair and makeup, a hand held fan, a comfy pair of shoes, a few snacks, and anything you would want to survive the day. You can check out this TikTok to see what I carried in my rush bag!
Be sure that you’re following the Instagram account for your school’s Panhellenic council because they will definitely be posting important information both leading up to and during recruitment! During the summer, they will usually introduce all the chapters on campus so it's a great way to learn more about the houses you will be meeting in the fall.
And since we’re talking about social media make sure that you clean up your social media presence because active members will definitely be looking at it and you want to make a good impression.
Though letters of recommendation are optional, they are always good to have because it is a chance to let the houses get to know you before recruitment in the fall. My best tip for finding alum to write your letters of recommendation is to have you or your mom make a post on Facebook listing the chapters at your school you need rec letters for - you will be surprised by how many sorority alums you already have in your personal network!
I know sorority recruitment can be a lot and you will probably feel overwhelmed or even discouraged throughout the week, but I can happily say going into my senior year that going through recruitment has been one of the best decisions I could have ever made. Being in Theta and being a part of the Panhellenic community at the University of Alabama has truly been the best experience and I have met all of my best friends because of it. So for all my girls who are starting college in the fall I highly, highly recommend going Greek because it will truly make college some of the best years of your life, it definitely has for me!
GO GREEK!
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