How It Works

  
 

When a freshman woman first steps foot on campus in the fall, she has the opportunity to become a new member of one of the three international sororities here at Rensselaer. Read on to learn about the recruitment process.
 
Requirements
There are a few requirements a woman must fulfill in order to be eligible to join a sorority during fall formal recruitment.
 

First, a woman must register with the Panhellenic Council through a Recruitment Counselor. There will be several chances to register in the first few weeks of school.
 

Second, she must attend at least one recruitment event at each national sorority or attend a rotational event. She must also attend a total of three events (these can be split up between the sororities, or at the same house as long as a rotational was one of the events). The national sororities are Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Phi, and Pi Beta Phi. Women interested in Alpha Omega Epsilon or Sigma Delta do not need to fulfill this requirement.
 
Rotational Events

The first two recruitment events will be rotational events. Attending one of the rotational events will fulfill the second requirement listed above. Each rotation will be 45 minutes long, and potential members must visit each chapter for that amount of time.
 
The first rotational will be held on Freshman Hill from 7pm to 9pm on Tuesday, September 5th.
 
The second rotational will be held at the three houses from 5pm to 7pm on Thursday, September 7th.
 
Individual Sorority Recruitment Events

After the two rotational events have concluded, individual sorority events will begin.

 

Each sorority holds three recruitment events plus an invitational dinner. See the recruitment calendar for the dates and times of these events.
 
Preference Parties
The last two parties held by each chapter are called preference parties. These are by invitation only and will occur on Friday, September 22nd from 5pm to 6pm and 6:15pm to 7:15 pm.
 

Potential new member can be extended up to three preference invitations, and may accept a maximum of two. However, participating in recruitment does not guarantee a woman an invitation to a preference party.
 
Bid Matching
Following the final preference party a woman attends; she fills out and signs a preference card. This is where she states which house or houses she would be interested in a bid from, in order of preference.
 

Bid matching will occur the next morning and once a woman has signed her bid, it is binding for one calendar year. This means that if a woman signs a bid for one house then chooses not to complete the new member process, she cannot join another house until the next year.