Sororities have a lot of misconceptions and lots of people think of them in a negative light, and I'm here to shed some light on how the sororities actually operate, so hopefully going into this new school year, we can all branch out and maybe even find a sorority you would consider joining! So, let's go from the beginning.

Sorority recruitment, possibly the most confusing part of all, but if you figure it out, one of the most fun parts, too.

So, in the Fall semesters, there are usually two separate kinds of recruiting. There's the structured recruitment and then open recruitment. Structured recruitment will probably vary in timing from school to school, but I believe it follows the same basic guideline as to how it's run throughout all campuses.

While Open Recruitment is up to each individual sorority to run as they wish, minus a few regulations that are given to every sorority to keep all recruitment events fair.

Structured:

Structured Recruitment usually consists of four days of festivities. It usually requires signing up beforehand, but if you know where to go, there's usually someone to sign in people the day of.

The first day is pretty crazy.

They split you into groups, usually led by current members of chapters who have separated from their chapter in order to provide unbiased aid to you in your journey. (These girls go by different names depending on schools! At Eastern, they are called Gamma Rho Chis.)

You meet all the chapters your campus has to offer, and when you're finished, you're asked to rank them from your most-to-least favorite. (it's a seriously big decision, which is why they have people with you to help you make the right decision for you. They are there to help and talking it out with someone else can sometimes be the greatest thing ever!)

The second day is still kind of crazy, and difficult to explain without using numbers, so I'm going to use Eastern as an example. We have 8 sororities on campus at this time, so the first day all the girls visit those eight. Overnight, the ratings of all the girls are reviewed.

Then, at the beginning of day two, each girl is given a list of at most six sororities to see for the first round, which is the philanthropy round at Eastern. It's where the sororities get the chance to show off the good work they do with their sorority sisters and show off the sororities primary philanthropic organization that they raise money for.

After that round, you re-rank the sororities that you saw earlier in the day (still from most-to-least favorite), and then your rankings are reviewed and you're given another list of at most 4 sororities to visit for the last round of the day, the sisterhood round.

This round lets the sororities show off their sisterly bonding methods, but since every sorority uses the sisterhood round differently, I can't provide much detail as to what to expect in this round. Before you leave for the day, you rerank the sororities you saw during that round.

On the third day, you go to the preference round! In this round, you'll see at most two sororities, and you'll get to be a part of something super special. Most sororities do a special ritual during this round, and it's all very secretive, but there's no need to be scared!

The rituals are nothing like what the movies and tv shows make them out to be! They are fun and totally meant for you to enjoy! After you finish visiting the chapter(s) for the day, it's time to make a "bid" on where you want to call your sorority! It's recommended that your bid goes to one of the chapters that you visited in the round that took place on this day, because it makes it more likely (but not promised) that you will be accepted into the sorority you choose.

Basically, you fill out this fancy form which says (in much fancier, formal wording: "I, [Your Name Here], Am choosing to place a bid of membership with [Insert Sorority Name Here] Chapter." The sororities receive a list of every girl who bids on their chapter, and they decide who they accept or reject.

Note: If you don't get accepted, it's not a huge deal! Try going to open recruitment events for that sorority, or try again next fall!

On the fourth and final day, you find out whether you received a "bid" back from the sorority you bid on the day before. If you did, you are asked to formally accept the bid, and then we at Eastern like to celebrate by "running home" to your new sorority. We have this whole cute little ceremony in which all the girls who just accepted bids line up and either one by one, or with a friend, they get on a mic, and announce who they are, and who they are running home to!

And after all the new girls do it, the Gamma Rho Chis get to run home as well! It's a super fun way to end this really stressful process. But it can be super memorable, so structured recruitment has its perks.

Open:

For open recruitment, it's WAY more laid back. Open recruitment events are usually little activities planned at the sorority house, so the interested girls can meet the sorority without having to feel any of the pressures of structured recruitment.

Usually, the events are only a few hours long, and allow you to socialize with many of the members, as well as take part in some sort of fun activity! Usually, sororities set up a few of these events early on in each semester, and a couple days after the last event, the sorority may offer you a bid, which you can either accept or deny.

So, no matter how you choose to go about finding your sorority, I hope you can go into it feeling less confused about the recruitment process, and focus on putting yourself out there and finding the sorority that is the best fit for you!