Fall Recruitment FAQ’s
FAQ’s
-
No. This is a time to assess whether you wish to pledge a sorority. Many women participate in recruitment to make friends, and to see why many of Louisiana Tech’s undergraduate women have chosen to be involved in the Panhellenic Community, and what has kept sorority alumnae active for years after their graduation.
-
Yes! The object of recruitment is to give yourself the information you need about the chapters in order for you to make the best decision; therefore, you must accept the maximum number of invitations your schedule can accommodate. If you choose to miss parties or accept fewer invitations than you could attend, you will greatly reduce your chances of joining a sorority.
-
Sorority chapters are composed of many individuals with their own special qualities and talents which contribute to the entire group. When deciding about a chapter, the only opinion that matters is your own. If you allow someone else’s perception to influence you, you will not be satisfied with your choices in recruitment. Each chapter of a sorority is different from campus to campus and from year to year. Remember that you are choosing a sisterhood, not a label.
-
Each sorority has its own definition of who their legacies are. It is OK to report any family relationships you want, but it is important to note that many legacy policies have changed. Please research updated legacy information by contacting the sorority headquarters.
-
Each potential member will have a different experience in each group, depending on who she meets and her personal preferences and personality. Ask yourself a few questions as you participate in recruitment: Are the members people you can truly see as your sisters? Are the goals of the organization similar to your own? A sorority should be a second home. The answers to your questions should guide you to the right group for you. Your Gamma Chi will be of great help in sorting out what works best for you.
-
As your schedule of parties shrinks from round to round, so does the number of people each chapter is allowed to invite back each round. Every potential member has something to offer a group, but each group must release potential members, just as you may need to regret some chapter invitations. Each chapter uses a democratic process to make the decision of who to invite back.
-
If you receive a bid through Fall Formal Recruitment and decide not to accept it, you may not participate in recruitment until the next Fall Formal Recruitment, and you may not participate in Continuous Open Bidding. We urge you to think very carefully before turning down a bid. Emotions have a tendency to cloud thinking and judgment. Please give yourself and the sorority a chance to prove you made the right choice.
-
When a sorority knows that you are involved in something already, they know that they will need to work with you where attendance is concerned. The chapters at Louisiana Tech tend to work well with their members who are involved in other on-campus activities and do their best to be flexible with those members who are participating in those groups. If you are involved in two groups, it only makes sense that you have much more time committed than those students only participating in one group, but if you commit yourself to managing your time well, active participation in both can be accomplished.
-
Genuine conversations, words of welcome from chapter officers, philanthropy and sisterhood videos, testimonials by members about their experiences and chapter activities, presentations on organizational history, values, and strengths
-
Why did you choose ____?
Tell me about your experience in ______.
What are you involved in on campus?
How do you balance sorority life and academics?
What were your values when you participated in primary recruitment?
What service projects have you been involved in?
How do your sisters support you?
What most excites you about sorority membership?
-
Why did you choose Louisiana Tech?
Tell me about your hometown.
What were you involved in at your high school?
How do you like to spend your time?
What do you hope to gain from sorority membership?
What is your major? Why?
Do you have a philanthropic cause that is important to you? Why?
What about our chapter interests you the most?
-
What is it?
The membership recruitment acceptance binding agreement (MRABA) is the contract a potential new member (PNM) signs to receive a bid from an NPC sorority. A PNM must understand the MRABA she is signing as just that -- a binding agreement. By signing the MRABA, a PNM acknowledges that she understands and agrees to each of the conditions listed in the document.
Below are some key clarifications about recruitment and the MRABA.
A PNM has the option to withdraw from recruitment at any time.
A PNM should never feel that she must complete the recruitment process or feel forced to join a sorority at any point in the recruitment process. This includes not completing the MRABA if she is not ready to make a commitment to a sorority at that time.
A PNM has the option to limit her choices when completing the MRABA.
On the MRABA, a PNM is agreeing that she will accept a bid from any sorority she ranks. She must not be pressured to rank all of her remaining options if she would not accept a bid from that sorority. However, there are different outcomes if she does not maximize her options versus limiting her options (listing all houses attended on preference day versus not listing all houses attended on preference day on MRABA).
Maximizing options DOES NOT guarantee a bid to the PNM’s first preference, but it DOES allow the PNM to be placed as a quota addition. This means that any PNM that maximizes her options WILL receive a bid from a chapter listed on her MRABA.
Maximizing options DOES NOT make the PNM more likely to receive a bid to her first preference.
Limiting options DOES NOT increase nor decrease the PNM’s chance to be placed into her first preference and DOES NOT make the PNM less likely to receive a bid to her first preference. However, when a PNM limits her options, Panhellenic CAN NOT guarantee that she will receive a bid.
Maximizing options DOES NOT influence the PNM’s placement on a chapter’s list, as the chapters do not have access to know the preference order selected by a PNM..
If a PNM is CERTAIN she does not want to be a member of a chapter, she should not list the chapter on her MRABA. In signing the binding agreement, the PNM is, in essence, pre-accepting a bid from any sorority that she lists.
If a PNM DOES NOT RECEIVE A BID from any chapter(s) she has ranked, she is eligible to join any sorority through continuous open bidding (COB).
Any woman who does not receive a bid is eligible to join sorority through snap bidding* and COB. This includes PNMs who chose to intentionally single preference (limit their options) and do not receive a bid.
Those who choose to intentionally single preference CANNOT be quota additions, which means that they cannot join chapters who have already met quota. HOWEVER, they may be snap bids and are IMMEDIATELY eligible to join a sorority through COB if there is an opportunity.
*PNMs must participate in the first round of recruitment in order to be eligible for snap bidding. This includes PNMs who may have withdrawn from the process entirely after the first round of events.
If a PNM RECEIVES BID from a sorority she ranked, but she chooses not to accept that bid, she is INELIGIBLE to join any other sorority on this campus until the start of the next primary recruitment process.
PNMs should only list the sororities of which they are willing to accept a bid. If a PNM chooses to list a sorority that they do not intent on becoming a member (in contradiction to what they had agreed to in the MRABA), and they decline the bid, they are still bound to the MRABA thus making them ineligible to join any other sorority on that campus until the next primary recruitment period.
-
A Values-Based Recruitment focuses on conversations between chapter members and potential new members about organizational values and member organizations. It eliminates all forms of bid promising, oral or written, to join a certain sorority before bids are distributed by Panhellenic. It eliminates extraneous performances by Panhellenic chapters in order to keep the focus on conversations and values.
-
To make connections and build relationships between chapter members and PNMs
To discover shared interests and values among chapter members and PNMs
To display the high standards held by all NPC member organizations
To provide PNMs with an opportunity to make informed decisions through an open, fair, and unbiased experience
-
PNMs seek the same core values, principles, and standards as the chapter members.
Improved retention rates due to heightened PNM awareness of chapter expectations before joining.
Members are engaged in meaningful programming consistent with their own reasons for joining.
What Should I Do To Prepare For Recruitment?
-
Each chapter has financial, academic, and social, and behavioral requirements. As a new member, you will likely attend two meetings per week: the chapter meeting and new member education meeting to prepare for your initiation. In our recruitment booklet, you can find the epected dues for each chapter.. Each chapter also has their own GPA requirements as well as study hour policies. As a PNM, it is important to understand what you are committing to before you enter the process of choosing the chapter that is right for you!
-
Each day’s dress code is published in our recruitment booklet, and your Gamma Chi will be able to answer any questions you may have about what is appropriate. You should also pack a bag to bring with you each day! You can include comfortable shoes, a sweatshirt or blanket (the Lambright is cold!), a refillable water bottle, and your hair and makeup necessities! We will have snacks and water for you, but you are always welcome to bring some for yourself.
-
Your Gamma Chi is there to help you every step of the way. Before you receive your Gamma Chi, you are more than welcome to reach out to us through our social media or email, speak with us at orientation, or attend our recruitment information session over Zoom in early August! We want to make sure that you feel comfortable and informed in order to have the most enjoyable experience possible.
-
Louisiana Tech Panhellenic participates in a values based recruitment. This means that the PNM should choose the chapter that most closely aligns with her own personal values. Each chapter offers sisterhood, support, philanthropy, and social activities, but it is their specific values that differentiate each group of girls. It is important to know what you are looking for in a chapter as you attend each event. This can also help you develop some questions that you want to ask chapter members during each event.
-
Our Panhellenic community is composed of over 800 incredible women. While they are members of their chapters, they are also future engineers, passionate artists, successful college athletes, and amazing friends no matter what letters they wear. There will be a lot of outside voices that you face during recruitment (family members, campus stereotypes, friends, girls you know in chapters, etc.). We are here to tell you that YOUR opinion, what YOU want, is all that matters. Stereotypes are not true, and some of the best friendships are formed across the lane. Deciding what chapter to be in is an important choice, but it is only a part of who you are, not what defines you.
What Every PNM Needs To Know About Recruitment!
Some events will have more PNMs in attendance than others. This is not a reflection of a chapter!
You must attend all events for which you receive an invitation. Failure to attend an event may jeopardize your ability to receive invitations.
Being a group’s legacy does not ensure membership in that group.
Good scholarship is valued by all groups.
All NPC member organizations have policies against hazing.
No chapter member may promise or imply the promise of a bid. If you feel as though a chapter member has done so, please contact the College Panhellenic Council immediately, as this is a serious offense.
You are expected to act politely and respectfully when attending an event, and you should expect to be treated politely and with respect.
Every woman attending a preference event must appear on that sorority’s bid list, but this does not ensure an invitation to join that particular sorority because recruitment is a mutual selection process.
You must be certain that you understand the membership recruitment acceptance binding agreement (MRABA) that you will be expected to sign immediately after attending the last preference event.
You may choose not to join a chapter and therefore not fully complete the MRABA.
You may choose to limit or list only one choice on your MRABA, or you may list all chapters where you attended preference events. You must understand that, if you list a chapter on your MRABA, are matched to that chapter, and receive an invitation to membership, you are bound to that chapter until the next primary recruitment.
Men and alcohol are not permitted during recruitment or Bid Day activities.
Positive Panhellenic Contact:
All sorority women should actively promote the overall sorority experience and membership opportunities in organizations through all forms of communication in the spirit of Panhellenic unity and the desire to reach out to all women to share the opportunity for sorority membership.
What does this mean?
The positive Panhellenic contact and promotion of the sorority experience policies allow all members to reach out to PNMs and create excitement around the sorority experience and speak about their experiences in their organizations and as members of the Panhellenic community. They do not have to hide their chapter affiliation but should not tell the PNM to join their specific organization but rather to “Go Greek.”
The National Panhellenic Conference created this policy with the intention to promote Panhellenic. Communication to a PNM from a chapter member must be related to the broader sorority experience. Positive Panhellenic Contact provides the ability for chapter members to promote the sorority experience, engage PNMs, and answer any questions PNMs may have.
NOT ALLOWED:
This policy does not grant permission for chapter members to actively recruit PNMs to their organization or to bid promises, give gifts, or in any way lead a PNM to believe she will automatically become a member of an organization. This also includes talking poorly of other chapters, telling PNMs to think singularly about one organization and not keeping an open mind, and saying anything that could be considered as offering a bid or guaranteeing membership.