Sorority recruitment reaches end with Bid Day

After a week of laughter, tears and all-nighters, sorority recruitment came to a close Sunday as potential members received and accepted bids from chapters across campus. \n"It was fantastic," said Katie Fagan, president of Kappa Kappa Gamma. "We had one of our best recruitments ever. We had great morale." \nThe system changed in a few ways this year, including new names for some of the week's events. The first two events of the week, previously referred to as "12 Party" and "Six Party," were changed to "First Invite" and "Second Invite," because most women received fewer than 12 and six invites for each event. \nIn addition, Fagan said, the formula for determining how many women are invited to join a chapter changed this year. \n"They use return rates from previous recruitments, and that determines how many people you ask back," she said. "Houses with the best return rates ask back less women, so the numbers are more spread out to all the chapters on campus." \nFagan said she believes this method is superior to what was done in the past. \n"It's more of a set system and equation, instead of just pulling it out of the air, so it is a lot more fair," she said.\nHeather Larson, recruitment counselor for Pi Beta Phi, said the new system was set in place based on recommendations from other universities. \n"Everything is handled through computers," she said. "We heard that it's working really well for other universities." \nIn spite of these changes, Kyle Witham, director of business recruitment for Alpha Phi, said its pledge class of 47 was pretty standard compared to previous years. \nWitham also said the physical toll of recruitment has not changed. \n"We didn't sleep much the last two days," she said. "I've slept two hours a night since a week ago." \nLauren Henderson, a freshman who went through the recruitment process, said the week also had an emotional impact on the women involved. \n"It was really stressful in the beginning," she said. "There are a lot of tears." \nRecruitment counselors start training a year in advance in order to soften the blow of being denied entry to a sorority, Larson said. \n"There's hurt on both sides," she said. "Almost always, there are tears in the morning, then they pick themselves up and go to other parties and find a chapter they fall in love with." \nCourtney Bryant, new member coordinator for Pi Beta Phi, said after being on the other side of the recruitment process, she realized it is just as difficult for the women that are already in the sorority. \n"It's so different going through recruitment," she said. "You're so nervous about sororities choosing you, and you think it's just awful for you, but we're so nervous the girls won't choose us"