Panhellenic Recruitment Frequently Asked Questions
Below we have expanded on a few frequently asked questions. For your convenience, questions are broken down by subject: Registering for Recruitment, Logistics, and Recruitment Week.
Registering for Recruitment
Registration must be completed at one time. Once you complete your registration, you cannot log back in to change anything. If something drastic has changed, you can contact the Recruitment Coordinators via email to request an update at sororityrecruitment@okstate.edu.
It is recommended that you have the following information with you while you register:
- Banner I.D.
- Your Banner I.D. number is an eight-digit number used to identify you through the Student Information System (SIS). You can find your Banner I.D. by looking at your newly issued Student ID or by logging onto SIS. After logging on, there is a tab at the top of the page titled "Personal Info." The second option is "What's my Banner I.D. ."
- T-shirt Size
- Parent/Guardian Email Addresses
- Parents/guardians have the opportunity to receive summer updates and nightly emails during recruitment week. Each PNM may provide two addresses for parents/guardians.
- Resume
- The Panhellenic Council does not need a copy of your resume. Using your resume to enter your high school and/or college activities, honors, and service will build a resume for you on the application.
- Digital Photo
- Chapters will use your photo to identify you during recruitment week. Therefore, make sure your picture is just of you. "Selfies" are not recommended. A senior photo that clearly shows your face is perfect. Further, you do not under any circumstance need to schedule a photo shoot featuring certain poses just for this photo. That is unnecessary. The photo you submit with your application is the one photo the chapters will use to identify you.
A legacy is defined differently by each inter/national organization. However, in general, legacy is defined as a woman whose sister, mother, or grandmother is a member of a National Panhellenic Conference sorority. Most chapters are asked by their inter/national organization to get to know each of its legacies participating in recruitment. It is important to note a sorority is not obligated to offer a bid to a legacy, and a potential new member is not obligated by anyone to commit to a chapter where she is a legacy.
Please remember that the ultimate decision to join a chapter rests with you. You should
not make a decision or be under pressure based on your legacy affiliation. You should
make a choice based on where you are most comfortable and not on
the experience of another individual.
For a full explanation of recommendation letters, click here to view a brief presentation.
Please note that under no circumstance is it advisable to pay an alumna for a recommendation letter. This violates sorority policy and in no way increases a woman's chance of joining a chapter. Alumnae who solicit money or gifts in exchange for recommendation letters should be reported to the Office of Fraternity & Sorority Affairs or the National Panhellenic Conference.
The Panhellenic Council does not set specific academic conditions for you to participate in recruitment. However, it is important to understand each chapter has grade point average requirements set by its inter/national organization and the local members. It is possible, but extremely rare, for exceptions to be made to these guidelines. These individual requirements are listed in the 2017 Recruitment Booklet on the chapter profile pages.
Please note that you are not asked to provide your own academic information on your application because your academic record will be verified using the Student Information System (SIS). The high school GPA that the Panhellenic Council accepts is the Core GPA provided by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, which is also used for admittance into Oklahoma State University. Core GPA is defined below.
15-Unit Core Curricular Requirements:
- 4 units of English (grammar, composition and literature);
- 3 units of mathematics (algebra I, geometry, algebra II and above);
- 3 units of history and citizenship skills (Must include 1 unit of American history and 2 units from the subjects of history, economics, geography, government, civics and/or non-western culture);
- 3 units lab science (biology, chemistry, physical sciences, physics or any lab science certified by school district); and
- 2 units of other courses selected from any of the sections above or computer science or foreign language.
- AP and higher-level IB courses are identified and weighted in the Core GPA (i.e. If a student makes a B in AP language composition, it is calculated as an A. An earned A grade is given an extra point when calculated.)
*While the State Regents strongly support the initiation of honors courses, honors weighting will not be used in the calculation of either high school (overall or core) GPA because there is no equitable mechanism to include the honors premium
Additional Information: Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education: Section 3.9.4 Admission of First-Time Freshman: Performance Requirements: http://www.okhighered.org/state-system/policy-procedures/part3.shtml
Please refer all questions specific to your Core GPA to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions
The above information can be found at https://admissions.okstate.edu/admission-requirements#freshmen.
Please don’t forget to send your final, eight-semester transcript to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions as soon as you are able. (Do not send your transcript to the Office of Fraternity & Sorority Affairs or to the Panhellenic Council. We do not have access to enter it into SIS.) Transcripts not postmarked by the application deadline of July 12 will not be processed. Women whose academic records cannot be verified will not be permitted to participate in recruitment.
If your high school Core GPA is below a 3.0 or college GPA is below a 2.75 (on a 4.0 scale), you will have significantly fewer opportunities than participants with higher GPAs. Potential new members who do not meet the minimum academic requirements of a specific chapter typically are released early in the recruitment process to allow these women to explore other alternatives.
Logistics
If you will be living on campus during the fall, you have the ability to move into your housing assignment on Friday, August 10 from 5:00 p.m.- 8:00 p.m. or Saturday, August 11 from 9:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m. Part of the cost of recruitment is the $150 early arrival fee, which is charged to your bursar account. All women participating in fall recruitment who will be living on campus in the fall will pay this fee and be able to move in on Friday, August 10, 2018 or Saturday, August 11, 2018. When you arrive, you should report to the front desk associated with your permanent housing assignment on that same day All moving activities should be completed by 4:00 p.m. on the 11th in order for you to begin attending recruitment events.
Off campus students will be responsible for their own housing during recruitment week. Off campus students will still be required to purchase the recruitment meal plan for $105.
Following the Bid Day activities at the chapter houses, new members will retain access to their permanent housing assignments and can move the remainder of their belongs in at that time. Therefore, it is recommended that you bring only what is needed for recruitment or that you pack strategically due to the limited amount of time allotted for move in. Women who withdraw from the process early will be allowed to remain in their permanent housing assignment.
This information is described within the 2017 Recruitment Booklet, on page four.
You must bring your parking permit with you to recruitment. Your parking permit may be ordered online at http://parking.okstate.edu. We recommend waiting until right before you leave to order your permit. When you order it, you’ll be able to print off a one week temporary pass. Then, your permit is mailed to your on campus address. If you do not have your parking permit on your car during recruitment, you may be ticketed by OSU Parking and Transit Services. The Panhellenic Council is not associated with the OSU Parking Department and will be unable to dismiss any tickets that you receive during recruitment week.
Recruitment Week
This year's Recruitment check in is in the Colvin Annex from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturday, August 11. We ask that you bring only one guest, preferably a parent or guardian. Make sure the parent/guardian who attend check in is prepared to visit the Vendor Fair t purchase a bid day gift if they so choose.
Remember, you can also move into your permanent housing on Saturday, August 11. Please be sure to schedule your time carefully and consider only bringing the items you will need for recruitment. If you will be living off campus, you will be responsible for your own housing during recruitment.
Like sorority membership, recruitment week requires a significant time commitment. The Panhellenic Council has adopted a no-tolerance policy regarding missed days or events. Women participating in recruitment must be available to attend all scheduled invitational rounds and evening events; exceptions will only be made for University-related activities (i.e. OSU Band or OSU Athletics). You are expected to be present at every chapter event you are scheduled to attend. Failure to do so will result in dismissal from recruitment.
Women who have unavoidable conflicts that will require absences from recruitment are encouraged to consider Continuous Open Bidding or to wait to participate until fall recruitment 2018.
Participants are required to purchase a meal plan for recruitment. The recruitment meal plan is separate from the meal plan you have during the school year and cannot be used outside of recruitment. The cost of the meal plan is $105 and will be charged automatically to your bursar account.
The following meals are included with your meal plan: Saturday Dinner, Sunday Lunch and Dinner, Monday Lunch and Dinner, Tuesday Lunch and Dinner, Wednesday Lunch and Dinner, Thursday Lunch and Friday Lunch. On Thursday and Friday evenings students will make plans to go eat together in Stillwater. It is recommended that students bring money for these meals as well as breakfast. Breakfast is not provided at any point during the week.
During the day, you will not be allowed to talk on your cell phone to ensure that you are focusing on your recruitment events as well as meeting new people. In the evenings, you will be able to call. Please note that inappropriate cell phone usage is grounds for dismissal from recruitment. In the event of an emergency, please have your parents/guardians contact the Office of Fraternity & Sorority Affairs at 405-744-5490 or the Recruitment Central at 405-744-6583.
Events will be begin on Monday, August 14, before each event the Recruitment Counselors (Gamma Chis) will line your group up alphabetically outside the chapter house, and the Recruitment Chair from the house will come out to take roll. The chapter members inside will then begin singing, the house doors will open, and your group will walk inside. You will then meet a woman who you will be talking to first at the event and she will most likely offer you a drink and lead you to a place to sit for the event. During the event it is likely you will meet several other chapter members and may begin conversations with them. At the end of the event, the woman you are talking with will likely take your drink and walk you to the door where other chapter members will be gathered and singing.
Recruitment is a mutual selection process that balances the preferences of each potential new member with those of the existing sorority chapters. The Panhellenic Council strives to allow every young woman an opportunity to find a sorority that best suits her personality, interests and future goals, while providing an organized and unbiased membership selection process for the chapters.
Invitations are only guaranteed to potential new members for the first round, which begins on Sunday and concludes on Monday. There is no guarantee that a PNM will be invited to attend the second (Tuesday & Wednesday), third (Thursday) or fourth (Friday) event rounds. There is no specific formula that defines why a woman is not invited back.
Therefore, there is no guarantee that a woman will receive a bid to any sorority. However, if a potential new member progresses through the week and attends all the events she is invited to during fourth event round and lists each of those chapters on her preference sheet that night, she will receive a bid to one of those chapters.
There is no specific formula that explains why a woman is released from a particular chapter, or why a woman prefers one chapter more than another. The Panhellenic Council makes every effort to allow each potential new member the best opportunity to join the sorority of her choice, but there are no guarantees a young woman will be placed within that specific sorority. It is important to keep an open mind during recruitment week and to use the time to meet and make new friends!
For more information on decision making and mutual selection, click here to view a brief presentation.