Sorority Resources
What is a sorority?
In short, a sorority is a social organization at a college/university formed around common values, goals or aspirations.
Sororities are typically national organizations with local chapters established on college campuses. Most sororities fall under the umbrella of the National Panhellenic Conference, the umbrella organization which governs and advances the sorority experience of 26 national and international sororities. There are also a number of multicultural, service or religious-focused sororities on many campuses as well.
NPC sororities are values-based organizations which have evolved over time and include a focus on advancing the academics, philanthropic service and social connection of its members. Sororities aim to promote female friendships and support during their undergrad experience and in the years that follow.
Membership Benefits
Community
Change is hard and making new friends does not get easier with age. Recruitment is an opportunity to meet new people who share your values and interests while finding a home away from home.
Social Development
While you may gravitate towards people with shared values or experiences, this is also an opportunity to meet people from different backgrounds through various social events and activities.
Service
Sororities each have their own philanthropic focus, along with finding ways to give back and create positive change both locally and nationally.
Networking
Sororities provide long-term benefits including access to a network of sisters across the country both as an active and alum. This network is may help you meet people in a new city, find a mentor, or learn of opportunities to advance your career.
Academic Assistance
Many chapters extend tutoring support, provide a quiet study space, and offer access to scholarship applications. Sororities promote intellectual growth and focus on encouraging, developing and maintaining academic success.
Leadership Opportunities
Joining a sorority provides development opportunities from serving as an executive officer to mentoring new members. It can help instill values-based leadership skills which are easily transferrable to numerous professional sectors.
Glossary of Terms
Active Member: A member who is in college, pays dues, attends social and philanthropy events.
Alumna/Alumnae: A member that has graduated from college.
Badge: The pin that members receive upon initiation.
Bid: A formal invitation to join a sorority
Big / Big Sister: An older member with whom new members are paired. A “big” is charged with guiding new members as a mentor or “big sister.”
Little / Little Sister: A new member who is paired with an older member / active member.
G-Big, GG-Big: An older member who is the big of a new members big (g-big), or the big of a big’s big (gg-big).
Chapter: A local (university/college) branch of a national organization.
Continuous Open Bidding (COB): The informal recruitment process that allows select participating chapters to offer bids throughout the year.
Disaffiliation: Panhellenic Executive Board members and Rho Gammas may not reveal their chapter affiliation, remaining neutral at all times to PNMs, beginning August 1st and ending on the last day of formal recruitment.
Hazing: A very unproductive and hazardous experience (often referred to as a tradition/custom/ritual) that causes mental, physical, or emotional distress. Universities and national organizations typically uphold a no tolerance policy for hazing and reports of hazing are taken very seriously. Members who subject others to mental, physical or emotional distress may have their membership, or the charter of their entire local chapter, terminated.
Initiation: The formal ceremony that brings the new member into full membership.
Legacy: A potential new member who is a child/sibling/grandchild of a sorority member. Note: Legacies must be sister/mother/grandmother/great-grandmother; aunts do not constitute as a legacy.
Mutual Selection: The selection process during formal recruitment when PNMs choose the chapters they wish to return to each day and the chapters choose the PNMs they wish to have return to their events each day. To ensure that a PNM has the maximum amount of event invitations as possible each day, she may continue to receive invitations from chapters not on her preference list.
New Member: A member of a chapter prior to initiation.
Philanthropy: A charitable project or event that raises money for a particular cause or organization.
Potential New Member (PNM): A woman going through the recruitment process for sorority membership.
Quota: The number of women that a sorority may bid during formal recruitment.
Recruitment: The mutual selection process for membership consisting of functions acquainting initiated members and PNMs.
Rushee: Another term for Potential New Member (PNM)
Recommendations: Letters written by Alumnae supporting a PNM for membership. The number of recommendations or recruitment information forms (RIFs) varies across sororities/universities. We recommend having at least 2 written for every NPC sorority on your campus, however, some may require more/less/none. Recommendations can often be completed online by alums.
Rho Gamma (name varies by college): An active member that has disaffiliated from her chapter to serve as an impartial counselor to PNMs during the recruitment process.
Preferencing: At a certain point in the recruitment process (usually the last day), a PNM will be expected to rank their preferred sororities in order of preference (also commonly referred to as “pref day” or “pref night”). Sororities also have a process (each differs) to extend an invitation to PNM’s based on their preference list.
National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) – The international organization composed of 26 women’s fraternities (sororities).
Inactive Member – An individual who is still a member of the organization but is denoted as inactive to designate that they have disassociated, taken a leave of absence, and and no longer participate in the day-to-day activities of the chapter. This status usually has a time limit of one academic year or less. This not the same as a graduate/alumni member or a resigned/terminated member.
Intentional Single Preference (ISP) – When a potential new member lists only one sorority on preference list, but they have more than one option to rank in order on their list. PNMs who identify only one sorority they would accept a bid from are not guaranteed a bid to the selected sorority.
Snap Bid – a term used by Panhellenic sororities referring to an option available to chapters that do not fill Quota during formal recruitment. Chapters may offer bids to potential members whose preferences were not matched. This process takes place before bids are distributed. Snap Bidding is not the same as COB and is not intended to fill spaces in the chapter Total; it is limited to students who participated in the formal sorority recruitment process. This process/opportunity varies.