Skip to content Skip to main navigation Report an accessibility issue
2023 Panhellenic Executive Board Team

Panhellenic Recruitment

Panhellenic sororities offer many opportunities for membership throughout the year.  The most opportunities for membership happen during Primary Recruitment, which typically occurs near the beginning of the fall semester. Students not interested or unable to participate in Primary Recruitment may also have opportunities throughout the fall and spring semesters to join a Panhellenic organization through the Continuous Open Bidding (COB) process.  It is important to note that not all Panhellenic chapters will participate in COB.

Spring 2024 Continuous Open Bidding process will begin the January 23, 2024. If you’re interested in learning more about Continuous Open Bidding throughout the year, please submit your interest below.

Spring 2024 COB Interest Form

Fall 2023 Recruitment information is listed below! Registration for Fall 2023 is closed. Fall 2024 Registration will open on May 1, 2024.

Primary Recruitment will begin with an in-person orientation at 8pm on Monday, August 14th, 2023 and will conclude with Bid Day on Tuesday, August 22nd, 2023.

Priority Registration for Primary Recruitment will begin on May 1st, 2023 and will run until June 23rd, 2023.  Any student that is moving into an on-campus residence hall and needs an early move-in appointment must be registered for recruitment by this date. University Housing will provide registered students with information on how to select a move-in appointment. Early move-in appointments will be available on Sunday, August 13th and Monday, August 14th. Please note, if you have already scheduled a move-in appointment prior to June 23rd, that appointment will be canceled so that you can schedule your Sorority Recruitment move-in. 

Registration will officially close on Saturday, July 15th at 5:00 p.m. EST. Early move-in appointments for on-campus residence halls are NOT guaranteed past June 23rd and students registered after that date may have move-in appointments that conflict with recruitment. Students participating in Panhellenic Recruitment that register after the priority registration deadline will be responsible for coordinating their move-in appointment during regular move-in times and will be responsible for any housing needed to participate in Panhellenic Recruitment.

The Fall 2023 Primary Recruitment registration fee is $200.00; this fee will cover all of the costs associated with running Primary Recruitment.

Registration for Panhellenic Fall Recruitment Opens May 1!

 

Dates  Recruitment Round Things to Know
August 14th PNM Orientation

 

During the orientation, participants will receive vital information for the upcoming week as well as meet their Gamma Chi group. This event is mandatory for everyone participating in Primary Recruitment and is only for PNMs.
August 15th Go Greek Round During the first round of recruitment, the PNM will be introduced to each of the 13 chapters and begin to learn more about the organizations and their members via a video that they will watch with their Gamma Chi groups.

After viewing all 13 videos and doing a tour of Sorority Village, PNMs will meet with their Gamma Chi who will walk them through the preferencing process. Ranking certain preferences does not guarantee that she will/will not be invited back to a particular organization.

For more information on videos and how to submit yours, please visit the UTK Panhellenic Website.

August 16th – 18th Philanthropy and Service Round

 

Philanthropy Round allows PNMs to be invited back to up to 10 chapters. Not everyone will be invited back to all 10 and it is completely normal and okay if a PNM does not receive invitations back to all 10 chapters. Broken up over three days, PNMs will learn about the philanthropic organizations and foundations that each of our chapters support on a national and local level. They will get to learn about these causes and the opportunities to be involved in raising awareness and funds for these organizations. 

After PNMs meet with up to 10 chapters, they will again list their preferences. However, this time they will list their top 6 preferences and rank their bottom 4. Ranking certain preferences does not guarantee that she will/will not be invited back to a particular organization.

August 19th & 20th Sisterhood Round

 

Sisterhood Round will be over the course of two days. During this round, PNMs could be invited back to up to 6 chapters. Again, it is completely normal and okay to not receive 6 invitations.

PNMs will learn what it is like to be a member of each chapter during Sisterhood Round. She will learn about their chapter values such as scholarship, leadership, involvement, and sisterhood. She will get to talk to members about commitments such as financial costs, housing requirements, and time obligations. This is the opportunity for PNMs to see what it is really like to be a member of that chapter, and it is a great time for her to ask more specific questions. 

At the end of the day, PNMs will list their top 2 preferences and rank their bottom 4. Ranking certain preferences does not guarantee that she will/will not be invited back to a particular organization.

August 21st Preference Round

 

Preference Round is the final and most formal round of recruitment. During this round, PNMs could be invited back to up to 2 chapters. It is not uncommon to be invited back to only 1 organization during this round. Chapters will show a more serious side of their organization, often revealing some ritual and having conversations about what the chapter means to them personally.

After attending all events they were invited to, PNMs will rank their choices in preferential order. They may only rank the chapters whose preference events they attended, and they may not go back and change their rank order after it has been submitted. They will also be asked to read and sign an MRABA, or Membership Recruitment Acceptance Binding Agreement. To learn more about the MRABA, visit the NPC Women Website for more information. This is a binding agreement and will not change even if a PNM is unhappy with her options.

Suggested dress for the day: Attire appropriate for a nice dinner. A dress, romper, or skirt appropriate for a cocktail event or wedding is suggested.

August 22nd Bid Day

 

This is an exciting day! Women who have submitted their preferences and signed their MRABAs will be emailed their bids at a designated time. PNMs will have the option to meet with their Recruitment Counselor on campus, who will allow them to open their physical bid card and find out which organization is extending them a bid to membership! Over the following few days, PNMs will then spend some time with her new organization and get to know her new sisters.

No guests are permitted on this day, students only. This day is for the student to spend time with her new sisters. Parents and guests will have future opportunities to visit their student’s sorority, such as Family Weekend or Parents Weekend, an event typically hosted by each organization.

Suggested dress for the day: Shorts, Panhellenic t-shirt received at convocation, and comfortable shoes.

Grade Requirements

As required by the National Panhellenic Conference, there is not a GPA requirement to participate in Primary Recruitment at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

The typical average to extend a sorority membership invitation is a 3.00 cumulative GPA. Women who have below a 3.00 GPA are advised that they are at a greater risk to be released from the Formal Recruitment process due to their academics.

To help students understand how their GPA may affect their Formal Recruitment experience, the Panhellenic Council at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville has adopted grade zones to show how academics may factor in Formal Recruitment. Please note, grades are only one of many factors that chapters will consider in membership selection.

GPA Zones

  • Orange Zone = Your options are not likely limited based on your GPA. (3.0+)
  • Grey Zone = Your options are more likely to be limited by your GPA. (2.80-2.99)
  • White Zone = Your options are very likely to be limited based on GPA. (2.79 and below)

 

GPA/Transcript Information


The GPA information that will be verified after your registration has been processed may be different from the one provided on your high school transcript.  The University of Tennessee has an adjusted GPA scale that is based off of common core classes.  This means that your GPA that is entered into our recruitment system is based off the grades earned in things like math, science, English, etc., and may be different than your high school transcript which also counts your non-core classes.  If this is the case, you are more than welcome to provide our office with your high school transcript, and we can notify our sorority chapters what your high school transcript says your GPA is in addition to the official UTK GPA.  You may do this by emailing a copy of your transcript to John W. Keith, Director of the Office of Sorority & Fraternity Life at panhellenic@utk.edu.

A Recommendation/Reference (also called a REC or RIF) serves as your introduction to the sorority, so their members can get to know you in advance of primary recruitment in the fall. These official forms, which are unique to each individual sorority, are provided by the national organization for their alumnae members to fill out on behalf of potential new members. Please note that each sorority has its own policy as to whether or not they require a recommendation/reference and that the University of Tennessee Panhellenic does NOT have access to individual sorority Recommendation/Reference Forms.

Only a sorority alumna, or potentially a collegiate member of a sorority, can write a recommendation to her sorority. It is also recommended that the alumna use her sorority’s official recommendation form, which can usually be found on the sorority’s national website or in the sorority’s national magazine. 

Securing letters of recommendation is ultimately NOT the obligation of the potential new member, so below are a couple of things to keep in mind if you choose to seek out letters of recommendation:

  • If a PNM decides she wants personally seek out alumnae to write a rec of her behalf,  she need only secure ONE recommendation for each of the 13 NPC chapters at UTK that participate in primary recruitment. More than one per chapter is unnecessary.

If a PNM is struggling to find alumna to write letters of recommendation, we encourage reaching out to a local alumni chapter, searching the national website, or contact the Chapter President by email and asking for recommendations on local alumni who would be willing to write one. 

While there are 26 NPC sororities, when seeking letters of recommendation for recruitment, you ONLY need letters for those 13 National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) sororities participating in formal recruitment at UTK. They are: Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Omicron Pi, Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Gamma, Delta Zeta, Kappa Delta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Phi Mu, Pi Beta Phi, Sigma Kappa, and Zeta Tau Alpha.

 

If you cannot find a letter of recommendation for each of the 13 NPC sororities participating in primary recruitment at UTK, please do not worry! Recs are like extra credit—it’s great if you can get them, but they are not required. If a sorority really wants to pledge someone and they have a policy that requires a PNM have at least one recommendation/reference form in order to be eligible for membership, they will find a recommendation for her. They won’t let her get away just because she can’t find her own recommendation

 

While chapter specific letters of recommendation are preferred, for women unable to find an alumna from each of the recognized sororities at the University of Tennessee to write a letter of rec, we have added a new option to the recruitment application. This year as part of the recruitment application, women participating in recruitment may elect to submit a generic, supplemental academic letter of recommendation from a teacher, guidance counselor, or principal. The individual writing the letter of recommendation does not have been a member of Greek organization; however, the letter should speak to your character as it applies to leadership, scholarship, community service, and friendship. Please note that this is an optional feature and as such, is not a required part of the online application form. The weight by which these Supplemental Academic Letters of Recommendation is up to each chapter’s discretion. 

 

Traditional Recommendation Letters can be submitted either through the Sorority’s National Website or to the Chapter President’s email directly. Click here for the chapter information list that contains this information. Supplemental Academic Letters of Recommendation can be submitted directly through CampusDirector during registration.

 

There is no hard submission deadline for recommendation letters. However, we encourage women to turn in recommendation letters for Formal Recruitment by August 1st.

Information below is for 2023, stay tuned for 2024 move-in information.

Moving into University Housing requires students to make an appointment to move in.  Those that are registered for Primary Recruitment by June 23rd are guaranteed an early move-in appointment from Sunday, August 13th – Monday, August 14th. Those registered after June 23rd may still eligible for early move-in appointments as they are available, however spots will not be guaranteed.  For more information about Move In, please visit University Housing’s website and be sure to check your Volmail account regularly!


After Formal Recruitment, please see below about Continuous Open Bidding (COB) opportunities!

Throughout the year, some Panhellenic sororities participate in COB, known as the Continuous Open Bidding process.  COB is less structured and informal way to join a sorority.  It is important to note that not all of our Panhellenic chapters may participate in COB.

If you are interested in learning more about COB opportunities, please submit your information below.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD EDITABLE COB MRABA FORM

COB Submission Form

This form serves as the official submission for a COB for the Panhellenic Council at The University of Tennessee.

  • Drop files here or
    Max. file size: 2 MB, Max. files: 3.
      This is where you will upload the completed & signed PDF's of the COB Recruitment Packet.

    If you have extended a COB, please notify OSFL within one (1) business day. COB forms will be available during that time of year. Any questions can be directed to Panhellenic Advisor, Michaela LaFountaine.

    Contact us!

    Any general questions regarding joining a Panhellenic sorority can be directed to our Vice President of Recruitment, Caroline Hayes, at utkrecruitment@gmail.com or to Michaela LaFountaine, OSFL Panhellenic Coordinator