I find this topic very interesting having been a grade risk myself. When I went through recruitment, the minimum GPA was a 2.5 - if you had a 2.5 or higher (irrelevant of higher chapter minimums), you were allowed to go through the first round. Women with lower GPAs would be released before the first round of recruitment (or not allowed to finish signing up). However, it's very likely that (like in my situation - I had a 2.5 as a result of my own neglect to my academics) you will not be asked back to a chapter that has those higher grade requirements NO MATTER WHAT. I was cut from several chapters that I loved/loved me because the fact is that my grades were not where they were supposed to be for a sorority woman.
Recently, my school changed the minimum to be a 2.7. My chapters GPA minimum is higher than that at a 3.0, so girls between the 2.7 and 3.0 are typically dropped after the first or second round. There are, of course, exceptions to this (legacies, certain recs, special circumstances), but those are rare.
To comment on why allow women to go through recruitment with awful GPAs is because (IMO) they want to give those freedoms to the chapters to make the decision overall (via Panhellenic minimums). While my chapter had a minimum of a 3.0, another could easily have one of a 2.5, and that's why Panhellenic set the standard at that. I think the reason why it was increased is because every chapter had a minimum GPA of a 2.7, and wanted to prevent unnecessary sign ups from women who were just going to be cut the first round... And possibly to raise the standard for the overall Panhellenic GPA.
Just my two cents
