We have 5 sororities on campus and no houses. The sororities are housed in a section of one of the dorms. About 100 girls go through rush every year, give or take a few.

First day is orientation for PNMs to meet their Rho Chis. After that, the rounds go as follows.

Round One--Values Day (Open)
Round Two--Philanthropy Day (Open)
Round Three--Theme (Skit) Day (Invitational, can attend three parties)
Round Four--Pref Day (Invitational, can attend two parties)

Bid day is in the afternoon, after Pref. All the PNMs gather inside a building called the Roundhouse, which borders on the quad, for Rho Chi revealing and bid card opening. The five sororities (AOII, Alpha Xi, DZ, Phi Mu, and ZTA) gather on the quad with their large wooden letters, bid day goodies for the new members, and balloons and such as that. The sororities do cheers until the new members open their bids and run out to meet their new groups. Then, everybody hangs out, talking, hugging, and still cheering, to wait to have their bid day pictures taken. After the pictures are finished, the sororities all have little get-together parties to celebrate. We always reserved a place to eat and play games and talk until everybody got tired. :)

There are three sororities on my old campus. Here's the run down:

Day One (Monday): Philanthropy Night (open)
Day Two (Wednesday): Open House Night (open... tours of the chapter houses)
Day Three (Friday): Theme Night (invitation only... skits)
Day Four (Saturday): Pref. Night (invitation only)
Day Five (Sunday): Bid Day!

Our bid day goes like this... PNM must be in their dorm rooms between 10-noon. If a PNM is not receiving a bid, the Gamma Chi will come by and inform them so they do not go to Bid Day.

At 12:00 all PNM receiving bids go to the chapel in the middle of campus. The girls sit up at the front of the chapel while the Panhell. Advisor & Gamma Chi's give them a rundown of what's going to happen.

At 12:30, the three sororities set up outside the chapel: Alpha Gamma Delta to the left, AOII to the middle, and Phi Mu to the right. The chapters are out there with letters and balloons and flowers and bid day packs with shirts and chant and sing until about 12:45.

At 12:45, bids are given out (a couple at a time) to the PNM's. They get their bid at the back of the chapel and have a room to sit and think about it privately (if they need to do so). If they accept the bid, they run out the doors of the chapel to their new chapter. If they do not accept, they can go out the back of the chapel (and there is so much going on on the other side of the chapel, it usually goes unnoticed who is walking out, if anyone is).

After all bids are distributed, each group does their flagpole at the center of campus around (obviously) the flagpole, and they all the groups head to their houses with their lovely new sisters to celebrate and go to whatever bid day party they have planned.

That was way too detailed... Oh bordem at work.... :p

My school's recruitment schedule starts on a monday and ends friday wih bid day. After pref we ranked our choices on which chapter we would accept a bid from and handed them in. The next morning the girls went to the panhellenic office between 730-1 (supposed to be 9-12 but girls had class so the extended the hours.) to meet with the panhellenic council where they would see if they recieved a bid or not.

I'm not too sure what they did about girls who didn't recieve a bid at all, I don't think there was very many of them at my school that didn't recieve bids.

On our bid invitation there was the name of the house and a time to be there at for the bid day celebration (5:00pm). So it's strict silence for the rest of the day (well about sorority related things anyways) until 5:00 when you go to the house to meet and celebrate with all of your new sisters!

What about girls who get a bid to a group that wasn't their first choice. Might that be a little awkward if they open it and aren't that excited...?

We met our Rho Chi groups in a classroom where the Rho Chis handed out the bids. Everyone in the Rho Chi group opened their bids at the same time. However since we were in a classroom with the Rho Chis that we had gotten to know, they were able to block the door so noone ran out if they were upset. Also, the Rho Chis saw a list of who matched where, so they could "target" the women that they thought would be upset. We only had a couple people in tears, and the Rho Chis took them out of the room quickly to talk with them.

After we opened our bids, we moved to a large lecture hall where all of the groups gathered. There they did Rho Chi revealing and you could see your friends from other Rho Chi groups. After the reveal, the Rho Chis gathered up all the new members for their org, and then we ran (or walked quickly since we had to go up either Morton or Jefferson Hill) to our new houses.

Those that didn't match were visited by the Rho Chis at their dorm before everything started.

Bid Day Fun
 

At the school where I pledged, Rho Chis came around and gave each girl her bid card. It worked out well because I was at a small school and all the freshmen women lived in the same dorm (and very few upperclassmen went through rush). As soon as we received our bid, we were allowed to open it and then run across campus to our new home. All four sororities had lodges on the other side of campus, right next to each other. The sisters of each house were in their front yards and on the road, chanting and screaming. It was a total blast, but kinda rough when your house was the last one and you had to fight to get where you wanted to go.

Considering what a total klutz I am, I still don't know how I made it down a flight of stairs, across campus and down a hill to the KD house without hurting myself :D

At the school where I'm a chapter advisor, the PNMs receive their bids at about 2 the day after Pref Party, once bids are matched. They then have a few hours to think about it and shop at the Greek store that is broght in for the day. (Actives are barred from the store for a few hours so they don't accidently/on purpose see what a girl is buying.) Then, that evening, the chapters all meet in the student union, surrounding a stage. Each Rho Gamma group is broght up and the director of Greek Life talks to each girl and announces where they are going. The NM then jumps off the stage into the arms of her new sisters. The Rho Gammas are revealed at the end. They all wear a zip up jacket over Rho Gamma shirts because on the back is a saying that announces where they belong. Then each Rho Gamma "strips" and jumps to her house.

How funny they give the NMs time to go shopping prior to bid day - do they not get a bag of goodies from their new chapter?

The new members are given a few things on bid day, but not anything like I was used to when I pledged. Most chapters give them a t-shirt, cup, bumper sticker, pen/pencil, balloons and a flower. More gifts are given on big/lil reveal, but still nothing like I was used to.

When I pledged, I was given a ton of gifts. Our chapter was small enough that each sister made 15-20 of something over the summer so that each new member got a "gift" from everyone in the house. I got things like etched glass glasses, painted frogs, pitcher frames, etc.