Joining a sorority is a great way to get involved at any involved at any university. Although it may not be for everyone, those who choose to go Greek make life long friends. You also gain opportunities to be involved in various events across campus. You can go to formals, semi-formals, take-a-date, and philanthropy events. This will be a day-by-day update of how sorority recruitment at Baylor University works, starting with freshman move in day and ending with Bid Day.
(Author’s Note: This article was written based on the parties I went to each day and the sorority I joined on Bid Day. For example, on sisterhood day I did not go to Delta Delta Delta and I didn’t go to Chi Omega for Bid Day, so I do not know what they did).
This period of time is used to adjust to being in college. Everyone just moved in and away from their parents, and it’s time to start making new friends. Welcome week is the perfect way to meet your first few friends on campus. There will be the first football game, welcome week rally, Late Night, first week of classes, and so many other things around campus. Use these to meet new people and see what groups you might want to join. Around mid-October there is an assembly in Waco Hall about recruitment for people who might be on the fence about it.
Registration has opened up for recruitment! It’s time to sign up and start getting recommendation letters for each sorority so you can get a bid. After you register, take your proof of payment over to the Panhellenic Building on campus to receive your recruitment shirt to wear on the first day. Another assembly tells everyone who signed up specific information about what to wear during recruitment week and what time to show up for things. There are also sub-mixers every night of the week where girls head over to the SUB and meet people from each of the sororities and ask questions.
This is the first official day of recruitment. Dorms open back up and everyone going through recruitment is moved back in. All of the girls head over to Waco Hall for an assembly to get some last minute details that will be important for the rest of the week. You also get into Gamma Chi groups. Gamma Chis are the people that will help you get to all the parties and help with ranking at the end of each day.
Are you ready for one of the most emotionally and physically draining days of your entire life? Because that’s what this day is. The start time is 7:45 AM with a morning assembly in Waco Hall. You stay there until around 8:15 when everyone walks over to the Panhellenic Building for the first party. Expect to visit all 8 sorority rooms this day, each being a 30-minute visit. You will be surprised how tired you get after being led around a building and talking to people!
When you walk into the room, there will be a line of girls on each side of you. One girl puts her arm around you and leads you to a somewhat open space. Normally before you walk in, the Gamma Chis are sitting right outside the door yelling some last minute words of advice such as “smile!” or “just be yourself.” After meeting 2-3 girls in one room and learning the basics of the sorority, you’re led out by the girl that picked you up at the door in the beginning. You then walk to the next room with your Gamma Chi group.
Fast-forward to the end of the day and you are back in Waco Hall. There is a small closing assembly before groups are released to go vote on the sororities they want to go back to tomorrow. You can only go to 6 parties tomorrow, so you pick your top 6 sororities (in no specific order). You also rank your bottom 2 (#1 being the one you liked a little bit better than #2).
This is the day you will learn about all of the sorority’s philanthropies. Now, just because there are 6 party slots today does not mean you will be going to 6. It all depends on how many cut you the night before and if the two you cut yesterday invited you back. (In my case, I was cut by four and brought back by 2 I’d preferred and the 2 that I cut). If you have party slots with no party, you can go back to your room and chill, which isn’t really convenient unless you live in Collins. You can also go sit in Room 117 where some Gamma Chis will have movies playing. For the parties you do go to, the entrance will be the same: walk into a tunnel of girls and one leads you to a spot.
Except today, there are chairs set up in the room and a projector. You will talk with your girl for a few minutes before sitting in a chair and watching a 15-minute video about the sorority and their philanthropy, which are all really sad. After watching the video, you talk to your girl a little more and might meet 1-2 more girls. The exit is also the same as yesterday: your girl leads you out and you walk to your next party/Room 117. Since not everyone in your Gamma Chi group will have the same party schedule as you, you walk from party to party on your own today.
The third party day is reserved for Sisterhood Day. Last night, you should have voted and ranked again, so you will get another party list from your Gamma Chis at the morning assembly with the party maximum for today being 4 parties. Once again, you might not have 4 parties, so Room 117 comes in handy with the Netflix in that situation.
For your parties today, you will walk in like normal and the chairs will still be there. The parties are 45 minutes today. For the first few minutes, you talk to the girl that picked you up. Then you’ll sit down to watch a 5-minute video about the sorority. It will have clips from events, activities, and lots of other stuff that the sorority has done. After the video is over, you will talk to your girl a little more and probably go on to meet 1-2 more girls. Once the 45 minutes is up your girl will lead you out like normal. From here, you head to the next party/Room 117/closing assembly.
Day 4 is Preference Day! You will go to up to 2 parties that you ranked the night before. The parties are slightly different from the other 3 days. You walk in and the room will be calm. The tunnel will still be there, but instead of yelling, the girls are singing a song. A girl will pick you up at the door and you will go talk with her for a few minutes and then there will be a small ceremony. You will talk to your OG girl again and then maybe meet 1-2 more girls before the 1-hour time slot is up.
Since there are so many girls going through recruitment, there are 4 party slots today. So for the 2-3 slots that you do not have parties you are free to do what you want (for example: go eat at the SUB, hang out in Room 117, or go hang out in your dorm). Today there will be no closing assembly. Once you are done with your parties you will walk back into Room 117 and a Gamma Chi will escort you to the SUB where you will rank the 2 sororities you had today (#1 being the sorority you would most like to receive a bid from and #2 being your second choice). Some girls choose to suicide vote and only rank 1 of the 2 sororities they went to today. However, this is strongly discouraged.
If you only had 1 party you don’t have to worry about ranking, you just rank the 1 and you’re done. There is an agreement from the National Panhellenic Board you will have to sign, and when that is all done, you are free to go home. Congratulations, you survived Recruitment Week! Now all you have left is Bid Day.
Welcome to the best day of Recruitment Week. There is no early wake-up call this morning, so you can sleep in and take your time getting ready. You will go to the SUB and sit in the Barfield Drawing Room to get your bid. The groups are split into three different times to get their bid. After you get your bid, each sorority has a little waiting room in the SUB that you will go to while everyone else is getting their bid. There, you will change into your bid day shirt and find out the theme your sorority chose.
Then everyone heads to the Panhellenic Building where you will go to your new chapter room. The rest of the sorority will be there to greet you. The photographer sets up around now and you hang out and take pictures with everyone. There’s a group photo of the entire sorority first and then the photographer will go class by class. A returning member will pick you up, kind of like during parties, and y’all will go eat with some of the other girls. Later on, your entire sorority will go do a group activity. For example, Alpha Delta Pi went to Skate World and brought pizza and everyone just got to know each other.
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