[honeychile]

Aoife, members are recruited for sororities and fraternities through Recruitment or Rush. You may want to look at the Rush Forum to get an idea of what goes on (to some extent). This is a VERY simplified account:

There are 26 National Panhellenic Council sororities, and many "locals" (sororities which are on one or two campuses). Different colleges have a different number of sororities, but during Recruitment, the PNM (Potential New Member) visits each sorority (or chapter), then decides which ones she likes. The sorority members also decided which PNMs they like, and invitations to the next round of parties are extended. This is done for how ever many rounds of parties that college holds, and then invitations to join (bids) are given. You can accept the bid and join, or decline.

New Members are given a probationary period before they can be initiated; mostly to see if they can keep their grades at an acceptable level and still participate in philanthropy, social events, and sorority-related events. You very rarely hear about how many thousands of dollars are raised each year by the different sororities & fraternities for charity, or that they also are many cities' major source of donations for blood!

Inititiation is, for the most part, a private and very nice ceremony when the New Member becomes a Full Member of the sorority. Afterwards, they can wear the sorority's pin and have full access to their resources. Most sororities provide a career networking program and scholarships to further the dreams of their members!

Yes, the social part is fun - but you can't participate in the socials if you don't have the grades. My grades actually improved when I moved into the sorority suite.

Keep surfing around this site, and keep your mind open. I think you'll find that the image most movies or programs have about the Greek System are cartoons, at best!