College Panhellenic Council

• There is a $55 fee to participate in recruitment. The fee provides one shirt to wear on Bid Day.
• An important thing to consider when deciding to join a sorority should be whether or not you are able to meet the financial obligations. Both you and your parents should be aware of the fees, dues, and other expenses.
Each sorority charges a new member fee when you join. At initiation time, you will be charged an initiation fee. As your membership continues, you will pay regular dues, either monthly or per semester throughout your college career.
• The cost of extras, like t-shirts, pictures, jewelry, and stationery varies with each individual. Although you are not required to purchase any of these things, most women choose to do so. A photographer will be present at most sorority events, and t-shirts and sweatshirts are usually available for events as well. In addition to purchasing shirts for themselves, many women also choose to purchase one for their date. Pictures usually cost about $2 and shirts can be anywhere from $12 to $17.
• If you have any questions concerning the cost of belonging to a sorority,a breakdown of all fees for each sorority will be given out during the week of recruitment.
• Here is an estimated average of sorority costs: Total cost of first year: $1,400.00 (Includes new member fees, initiation, national dues, semester dues and miscellaneous expenses) Total cost of each other year: $990.00

Although it is a small proportion of our potential members, the women released from recruitment are a very important population to us. Here are some of the scenarios in which a potential member might be released:

• Some potential members will reach a point in the week when no chapters invite them back for the next round of Recruitment events. Be aware that this might happen at any time, and she could have been invited back to the maximum amount of parties the night before.
• The other way that potential members are released from recruitment involves not receiving a bid through bid matching. When a potential member submits her preferences, Panhellenic uses a system that will work to place her in her first choice. If we are unable, we will then begin trying to place her in her second choice. Most potential members who are not matched with a sorority are left unmatched because they chose not to list a particular sorority. In most cases, women who are released in this way would have received a bid had they maximized their options by indicating a preference for every chapter they attended for preference round. Please know that the sorority they would have matched would be the one they chose not to list, but they still would have had a bid. It is a misconception that listing a chapter you truly don't want to join will help you get a bid into the one that you want. This is not true. Listing all of your options increases your chance of getting a bid in general.

Please know that the potential members who are released from recruitment are still important to us. We have recruitment counselors (Pi Chis) who will work closely with groups of 10 to 15 potential members throughout the week. When a potential member is released from recruitment, she is notified one on one by her Pi Chi at the earliest opportunity so she does not find out while others are present and accepting invitations. Her Pi Chi will still try to involve her in group activities outside of recruitment. Some released potential new members do choose to stay involved with their groups. The Pi Chis also make a special effort to keep in touch with all group members and to help them get involved with other things on campus as the year goes on.

There is currently no GPA requirement to participate in Formal Recruitment at UAB. This does not, however, apply to the chapters' individual requirements to extend a bid. Women who have below a 3.0 GPA are advised that they are at a greater risk to be released from the process. Because academics are a priority for our sororities at UAB, GPA often plays a role in a chapter’s decision to extend an invitation or to release a potential new member. Being released from recruitment or receiving a bid through the process is due to a wide variety of factors that are ultimately individual to each chapter. While exceptions made be made to these ranges in individual cases, they are rare. Any individual choosing to move forward with participating in recruitment will not be refunded based on release because of academic qualification.

Grade Zones

• Green Zone = Your options are not likely to be limited based on your GPA. (3.0+)
• Yellow Zone = Your options are more likely to be limited by your GPA. (2.51-2.99)
• Red Zone = Your options are very likely to be limited based on your GPA. (2.5 and below)

Panhellenic tries to make the recruitment process as flexible as possible for our students who are involved in other activities on campus such as but not limited to: the Honors College, Band, Athletics, or Spirit Teams. If you foresee a potential scheduling conflict, please reach out to our office as soon as possible so that we can find a way to help on our end!

Recommendations are letters of introduction from sorority alumnae endorsing a potential member for membership into her sorority. Some sororities require recommendations to consider a potential member for membership, while others do not. It is the responsibility of the sorority to obtain a recommendation if necessary. However, if a potential member knows a sorority alumna of one of our sororities, she is encouraged to request that a recommendation be submitted. The potential member may provide the alumna with a photograph, scholarship information, and activities. It is best to have recommendations submitted during the summer in advance of recruitment week. A recommendation does not guarantee the potential member a bid, nor are recommendations essential for every sorority.

Alumnae should mail the recommendation directly to her at the address below:

Currently, there is no housing specific to fraternities and sororities on campus.

Early Move-In Housing

This year we will be hosting Primary Recruitment the week prior to the start of the Fall 2019 semester. The Residence Hall Staff has graciously offered to allow any person hoping to participate in the recruitment process to move into their residence hall early, on August 20, 2019. This option is only eligible for women planning to live in the residence halls for the Fall 2019 semester and that have applied for housing through UAB Housing and Residence Life. The check-in time will be from 9am-12pm. Those who wish to commute to recruitment will still be able to move into their residence hall on the Freshman Move-in Day, which is Saturday, August 24, 2019. If a participant chooses to move in early, they will be charged for a one-time, one-night rate. This charge will be simply be added to your student account, which will be paid the same way as full time housing.

Yes, if you need accommodations for the recruitment process or for any summer events, please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

While recruitment is stressful for our potential members actually participating in the process, it can be equally stressful for their parents, who care about their children. Some parents are well acquainted with the Greek community and are sorority members themselves, but to others it is a completely foreign concept. For both groups, it is important to familiarize yourself with the process before it begins so that you will be prepared to help your daughter as she participates in recruitment. Below are some important points for parents to remember:

Let this be your daughter's project and help her keep an open mind

Coming to college is an important time for a young person. These women are taking the first steps toward entering adulthood. Our registration process in online and easy. The best way to make sure that your daughter's information is correct, and is what she wants to send in, is to let her do it herself. Also, let her make her own decisions as to what sorority she would like to join and encourage her to keep an open mind.

As communicated before, the worst thing a potential member can do is approach recruitment with the attitude that only one or two chapters is "good enough" for them. Most often, this attitude is not learned during the recruitment week but rather has been ingrained by friends, family, and neighbors who have told potential members which sororities are “good,” “bad,” “acceptable,” and placed other labels on these large groups of women. The truth is that each sorority has something unique and wonderful to offer and it’s up to the potential member to decide what she thinks is best with as little help from us as possible.

Panhellenic can't answer questions about your daughter or make the sororities reconsider invitations

Your daughter's journey through recruitment is her own and it is up to her to share her experiences with you. We can't tell you which chapters invited her back and we can't tell you why a particular chapter released her. In fact, we aren't privy to that information either. Each chapter has its own selection process that it follows with direction from alumnae advisors who are well versed in Panhellenic and sorority policies. They simply submit their invitations to us and we process them. Once preferences are made, we can't tell you which choices your daughter made and we can't tell you where your daughter placed on any certain list. What we can tell you is that each chapter has a democratic process of membership selection and that the lists are checked multiple times before submission to our office. In addition, each potential member makes her own selections and, once made, they are final. Potential members are not allowed to go back and make their own changes to their choices and preferences, so we will certainly not allow any changes to be made upon instructions from a parent.

All applicants must submit an application fee of $55.00 in order to participate in recruitment. This fee covers the costs associated with recruitment including transportation between Recruitment Buildings, as well as a t-shirt.

You will not be officially registered to participate in sorority recruitment until the payment and registration forms have been completed. The deadline for payment and registration is Saturday, August 17, 2019 at 11:59pm. If you are interested in early move-in for your residence hall, you must be registered for recruitment, have been accepted for housing through UAB Housing and Residence Life and have indicated that you would like to move in early no later than August 1, 2019 by 11:59pm.

REGISTER HERE

REQUIREMENTS

• Full-time student enrolled for the Fall 2019 academic term at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
• Have not been initiated into any women's fraternity or sorority at the University of Alabama at Birmingham or any other campus