Rush week and probate bookend a woman’s initiation into a sorority. After successfully pledging and completing the house’s initiation rites and other pledge-period activities, she becomes a full member of her sorority at probate. The ceremony, which may be formal or semi-casual depending upon the house, may include activities such as the public recitation of the Greek alphabet or performance of the house’s latest stroll by the pledge line. Many probates are attended by fraternities affiliated with the house and, in some cases, alumnae of the house. Probate may also be known as a coming-out show.
After probate, a sister is known as a neophyte, a term given to the youngest line accepted into the sorority. They are full-fledged members of their house, though they may be referred to as neos, a step above the latest pledge class, for the first semester as sisters. After a new line’s probate, that line becomes the house’s neophytes, and the more senior line then become prophytes, the term given to all non-neophytes in the house.
After the formalized probate ceremony, sororities may hold parties — sometimes called probate parties or coming-out parties — to celebrate their latest line. These post-probate parties may be formal events sanctioned by the campus authority that oversees Greek life, or casual mixers with affiliated fraternities. At some colleges, probate ceremonies must be registered with the council to not conflict with another house’s probate or after-parties. Depending upon the traditions of the sorority house, there may be no established activity after probate.
At times, students unfamiliar with the Greek system or those new to campus may confuse probate with probation. All sororities celebrate probate in one form or another, usually each semester. Probation, on the other hand, is a formal disciplinary action invoked by the college administration or Greek council when it decides a sorority violated the council or college’s code of conduct or other rules set forth for houses in the Greek system. If a sorority is on probation, it’s in danger of having its charter revoked.