The sorority recruitment process typically lasts three to eight days. During the process, women college students attend daily meetings or parties where they learn about the sororities on campus and meet their members. The process often includes three to five recruitment rounds, and after each round sorority members choose who they want to progress to the next round. Women who participate in the recruitment process must narrow the number of sororities they want to join during each round.
The final event of the recruitment process is "preference," during which women fill out preference cards that list the sororities they want to join. Typically, women list only their two favorite sororities on a preference card. Shortly after the event, the women can view their bid cards to see if any sororities invited them to join. Sororities often have ranking systems and choose members based on their scores. Sororities score women on factors such as leadership potential, community service, grade level and presentation. Some schools require sororities to accept all women who complete the recruitment process as long as the women attend a specified number of meetings.
Continuous open bidding is an informal way that sororities recruit women. Sororities often invite women individually and hold informal meetings to get to know them. Continuous open bidding occurs whenever a sorority chooses to invite more members after the formal sorority recruitment process concludes. Unlike formal recruitment, women do not have to register for continuous open bidding. Women are typically not allowed to participate in continuous open bidding if they rejected a sorority invitation within the preceding year.
When sororities complete the bidding process, new members attend educational meetings and sorority functions where they learn more about sorority life. Women are initiated into the sorority after completing the educational process. After initiation, they may move into the sorority house, participate in all sorority events and provide services for the school. Women who are not invited to join any sororities may participate in the following year's recruitment process.