During recruitment or rush week, women attend sorority events and parties to learn more about the sorority houses on campus. Each house has different rules and different members, and prospective sorority members should gather as much information as possible so they can make a wise decision. At the final event, recruits fill out preference cards indicating the sororities in the order of preference. Sorority members evaluate potential candidates and issues invitations to those they want to join them at the end of recruitment week.
All members chosen during recruitment week must go through an initiation process. New members are also known as pledges. The initiation process is different for each chapter, but it normally consists of learning more about the sorority and participating in an initiation ceremony. After the initiation period, the pledge can opt not to continue her membership, or the sorority may ask the pledge to withdraw her membership. Once members are initiated, they receive a badge or pin to wear as a symbol of their affiliation with the sorority.
Hazing refers to a method some sororities and fraternities use to initiate new members. This may consist of embarrassing acts performed in public, as well as dangerous activities and activities that cause mental anguish. The practice is against the law in every state, but some chapters still engage in it.
Everyone who joins a sorority must pay dues. The money covers events they host and activities in which they engage. The fees paid also cover the cost to operate the sorority on a daily basis. If you live in the sorority house, you have to pay for the room as well as meal plans. Some chapters require members to live at the dorm but others do not.