A few days before second semester undergraduate classes began at the University, hundreds of women moved back into campus early and participated in this year’s sorority recruitment process. 

Sorority recruitment at the University is a four day event and took place at the Villanova Inn this year. There are three rounds: Sisterhood, Philanthropy and Preference, and each one centers itself on a different value or theme. Rounds include conversations between chapter members and potential new members (PNMs) and videos or presentations about the chapter. The process is one of mutual selection, and the number of sororities one can go back to decreases each round. 

The four days of recruitment were followed by Bid Night on Monday, Jan. 10, where many individuals received invitations to join sororities, and the chapters welcomed their new members with a fun night. Bid Night activities among the different sororities included dinner at Jin Ding, go karting and axe throwing, a trip to Urban Air and a night in Philly.

Lindsay Gallagher, the Panhellenic Vice President of Recruitment 2022, reported that this year’s recruitment process resulted in 495 women successfully being placed into a sorority.

“The best part of recruitment was getting to see women make new connections across the Villanova community and running to their sisters on Bid Day,” Gallagher said.

Recruitment 2022 had its challenges though, with one being the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron. 

“The hardest part of recruitment was how quickly we had to pivot as soon as we received everyone’s COVID test results on Thursday morning,” Gallagher said. “Panhel had only two hours to individually assign 600 women to first round parties. There were a couple of delays, but everyone was patient with us and we were able to host the entire day in person.”

This year, recruitment had a hybrid model, where people who tested positive participated virtually, and people who tested negative had the option to participate virtually or in person. Therefore, there were a few parties held virtually each day. The second day of recruitment was moved entirely online at the last minute, but the other three days were held mostly in person. Masks were required at all of the in-person parties.

Caroline Longworth, the Vice President of Membership and Head of Recruitment for Kappa Delta, had similar frustrations to Gallagher regarding the uncertainty involving COVID. 

“It was hard to prepare for a virtual shift after expecting and planning to be fully in person for months,” Longworth said.

Despite the obstacles that came along with this year’s recruitment planning and execution, many chapter members had good things to say about the process. 

“There are some stressful aspects of recruitment, but there are also so many fun ones, like decorating, designing t-shirts and just getting to hang out with my friends all day,” Longworth said. “The recruitment process worked for me and allowed me to meet so many of the best people in my life, so I thought it would be really cool to get to help others have the same experience I did.”

Elizabeth Baladez, a sophomore in Chi Omega, went through the recruitment process completely on Zoom last year. She felt that in-person recruitment was a much more genuine experience. 

“I was able to make deep connections with some PNMs, which allowed me and them to open up more,” Baladez said. “Being able to talk with someone in person allows you to get a sense of how they are feeling, along with just gauging how you think the conversation is going.”

On top of the eight sororities already associated with the University, there are plans being made to add another. National representatives for Gamma Phi Beta are actively recruiting on campus this semester and are hoping to have a large pledge class by May.