The sorority recruitment process at Gettysburg College is identical to the process used at most institutions.  The process was developed and implemented by the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC).  Five of our seven sororities are NPC organizations and participate in formal recruitment.

Gettysburg also has two National Pan-Hellenic Council organizations, Sigma Gamma Rho, Inc. and Zeta Phi Beta, Inc.  These organizations follow the recruitment process required by their own national organization and do not participate in formal recruitment.  Their recruitment process does occur during the same timeframe and this group is required to follow all other college policies relating to sorority recruitment.  If your daughter is interested in joining Sigma Gamma Rho or Zeta Phi Beta, we encourage her to reach out to the organization president who can provide additional information. Contact information for all organizations.

FORMAL RECRUITMENT

The concept of mutual selection describes the underlying philosophy and practice of sorority recruitment.  The term mutual selection means that  your daughter has the right to select those organizations which interest her, and those organizations have the same right in selecting potential new members (PNMs) which interest them.

Once a PNM has registered for recruitment, she is placed into a recruitment group and given a current sorority member as a recruitment counselor.  This student's role is to guide the women through recruitment and answer any questions or concerns your daughter may have about joining an organizations.

A formal recruitment weekend is held each fall to facilitate the process of mutual selection.  All pNMs attend events over formal recruitment weekend called rotationals.  During the first night of rotationals PNMs will attend an event with each organization.  This process is repeated two more times over the weekend as PNMs narrow down the organizations they are interested in, and the organizations narrow down the PNMs they'd like to offer bids to.  This means that your daughter will be required to drop organizations she is no longer interested in, and the organizations are required to bring fewer and fewer PNMs back to each round.

On Sunday of formal recruitment each organization distributes bids to PNMs.  A bid is a formal invitation to join a sorority. We are unable to guarantee every potential new member a bid from a sorority.  We encourage you and your daughter to be aware of this fact and to consider this potential disappointment in making the decision to go through with recruitment.

We encourage each PNM to keep an open mind throughout the recruitment process. The process was designed to place an optimal number of women into the Greek system.  Women interested in joining any Greek organization have a much higher chance to be placed when compared to a woman who only wants to join a specific Greek organization.  When a woman enters the recruitment process with a preconceived notion that sorority "ABC" is the best, most popular, or the only choice for her then she intentionally prefers this sorority above all others.  Once again, this approach will substantially diminish the likelihood of receiving a bid to that or another organization on campus.

Not all women receive their number one choice, but we rarely observe these same women being disappointed with their resulting experience as sorority members at Gettysburg.  The benefit of Greek membership, particularly those identified by the institution, are evident in all of our organizations on campus.

It's also important to note that sorority recruitment events do not involved men or alcohol and are closely monitored by the Office of Greek Organizations, local alumni, and (in some cases) a representative from the national organization.

Please feel free to contact the Office of Greek Organizations with any questions about the recruitment process or questions about the Greek Organizations on campus.