Know that you are never obligated to join a fraternity or sorority. No matter where you go to school or how the campus Greek system is organized, you always have the option to turn down a bid.
Understand your pre-bid options. Most colleges follow a system that allows students to withdraw from the rush process at any time. If you formally withdraw before bids are handed down, you may participate in continuous open bidding, informal rush or formal rush the following year. (Continuous open bidding simply means that houses with a low quota or low membership may hand out bids throughout the academic year.) In other words, if you decide to withdraw from the rush process before houses begin to bid, you have much more freedom than if you wait until after bids are handed out.
Contact your chaperone or the Greek relations director when you decide to decline a bid. Most colleges use men and women who are already Greeks to chaperone students as they go through the rush process. If you would like to turn down a pledge bid, contact your chaperone immediately. If your school does not use Greek chaperones, contact the director of Greek relations. Do not contact the sorority or fraternity directly.
State your formal request to turn down the pledge bid offered to you by the particular fraternity or sorority. Your chaperone or Greek relations director may need a signature from you, or she may be able to accept your rejection over the phone. It varies from school to school.
Ask your chaperone to send along thanks to the sorority or fraternity. If you are able, write a thank-you note and have it delivered to the house. The group will appreciate and remember the gesture.
Remember that rejecting a bid will automatically disqualify you from continuous open bidding, informal recruitment and formal recruitment for the rest of the academic year. If you later decide that you would like to go Greek, you will be required to wait a full academic year before going through the process again.