PHA Vice President Monica Dirk said everything so far has been going very well, but she said it is still too early to tell if the whole event will be a success.
So far, the majority of the potential new members, who Dirk refers to as PNMs, have stayed involved with the recruitment process. She said she considers this a success.
“At this point, we are still definitely in the position where we haven’t had many potential new members select out of the process yet, so as the number of chapters narrows down for PNMs, it will be interesting to see how those numbers turn out,” Dirk said.
Each PHA formal recruitment is divided up into four rounds, outgoing PHA Vice President of Communications Alison Oppelaf said.
The first round, which was held Jan. 7 and 8, was spread out over two days where the potential new members visit all 22 sorority chapters on campus and meet some of their potential future sisters. Dirk said she compares this process to “speed dating.”
“The conversations are quicker,” she said. “PNMs will talk up to two to four to even five sisters.”
During the next round, also known as the Philanthropy Round, which took place Jan. 9 and 10, PNMs may be invited back to up to 16 of those sororities.
In the third round, which commences Saturday, potential new members can be invited again to up to nine chapters.
The fourth round, also known as the Preference Round, will be Sunday. This final round divides the choices once more to only three chapters.
After the final round, Bid Day will be held Tuesday, Jan. 19. On this day, potential new members are able to receive one or more invites, or “bids,” from any of the sororities they visited to join their chapter. Some of them make the cut and some don’t, Dirk said.
What helps the potential new members stand out is how they present themselves to current sisters of the sororities they may or may not be interested in, Oppel said.
“Each of our chapters have values that they live by,” she said.
Dirk said she believes the potential new members who are willing to think ambitiously about their futures are the ones who will succeed in the process.
“The ideal sister is the one willing to make a decision that benefits her chapter and her community as a whole, even when that benefit supersedes her own,” she said.
Dirk said she is excited to witness how those selected will take on the challenges of a community she said she thinks is different than the one she was recruited in three years ago.
“They will face different challenges and responsibilities and different exciting times,” she said.
