The fall 2022 semester is underway and sororities on campus just welcomed new members to their sisterhood through the fall semester’s annual rush week. Rush week is a weeklong formal recruitment for sororities on West Liberty University’s (WLU) campus where interested members mingle with each sorority to find their potential home on the hilltop. WLU’s campus is home to two national sororities, Alpha Xi Delta and Chi Omega, in addition to two local sororities, Beta Rho Epsilon and Lambda Psi Sigma.

With the recent completion of formal recruitment, sororities are now searching for members through continuous open bidding (COB) activities where interested students can join sororities by attending their events throughout the next two weeks. To give you some insight into the recruitment process, I’ll be sharing my own take on how I found my sisterhood.

This year’s formal recruitment lasted three days, each day holding a different round. The first round was an open house, where I visited each chapter for 25 minutes. Each round consisted of introductions and icebreaker games so we could become more comfortable with the recruitment process. The first night of rounds allows you to get an idea of which chapters you click with and which chapters you would consider to be your forever home. After visiting each of the four sororities, I had to drop one organization on a list that determined the sororities I would meet again in the second round. For myself, the decision was easy. Every single chapter I visited was welcoming, friendly and kind, but I feel like I got to connect with the other chapters more.
Round two was philanthropy night where we got to visit the remaining three chapters and learn more about the philanthropies they work with. The dress code for philanthropy was business casual or semi-formal attire and I received 30 minutes with each chapter in this round. I had many amazing conversations regarding what each chapter valued and what previous experience they had with getting involved in their community. Each chapter also had an activity for us to participate in which involved giving back to their philanthropy. The activities consisted of making chew toys out of old shirts to donate toward local shelters and writing a sweet message in a coloring book for children. I really enjoyed this round because with each chapter I visited, I was able to help give back. At the end of this round, the chapters were responsible for choosing who they wanted to invite back to the last round of recruitment. I was called the next morning and was informed that I was invited back by two chapters.

The final round, preference, is when I was able to visit the two chapters that had invited me back. The dress code for preference night was formal where I was able to visit both chapters for one hour each. Preference was my favorite round of the recruitment because it felt very personal and I really got to know the chapters on a more meaningful level compared to the other nights. The first chapter I visited was Beta Rho Epsilon. Their room was decorated with a ton of cute lights and they provided a snack plate for each of us visiting with our initials on a cookie with a chocolate covered strawberry. We got to sit down, snack on different foods and talk to each of the girls in that chapter. It was very natural and reminded me of being with friends rather than at a recruitment.The second chapter I visited on preference night was Alpha Xi Delta. Their room was also decorated with cute lights, and every girl was wearing a white dress. We stood in a circle as the girls spoke about their chapter and initiated us with Alpha Xi Delta. Afterwards, we were paired with one of the girls in the chapter where we got to sit down and speak with them on a personal level. I felt really connected with the girls at Alpha Xi Delta and I’m grateful for the amazing experience they provided during all of recruitment. At the end of the night, I was faced with the tough decision of ranking the chapters I visited.

The final day is known as bid day. After ranking the chapters, I had to wait until the next day to see if I was offered a bid. Bids are formal invitations from a sorority that offer official membership. On the final day, everyone gathered in the Union Ballroom and waited to see which chapter would invite us to their sisterhood. All the chapters waited on the quad for their new members to run to their homes. I received a bid from Beta Rho Epsilon and along with the bid was a shirt, hippie glasses and a cute flower headband. Everyone with a bid changed into the shirt of their chapter and waited to run home to their new sisters. Bid day was a fun day and the entire experience was amazing. I got to meet a lot of new people, and now I’ve made over 20 new friends. When I first transferred to WLU, I had no intention of rushing through sorority recruitment, but I’m happy that I did.

While this may have been my experience, it’s important to remember that everyone has a different recruitment journey. If formal recruitment doesn’t interest you, sororities offer COB events so students can meet the members of each chapter through a less structured process. If you’re interested in going Greek, check out the WLU Panhellenic or WLU activities page on instagram for more information on the dates and times of each sororities COB events.