The Panhellenic Council reported a slump in total sorority rush numbers and an increase in dropouts for this year's winter rush.
Overall bid numbers were unavailable Thursday, but Panhell did not offer bids to several women who went through the rush process.
Panhell officials said the overall process, however, transpired smoothly and successfully.
Panhell attributed the smaller number of women pledging to a smaller 2006 class.
"I think that it's a product of the '05 class being bigger than any other class at Dartmouth. It's dissimilar to last year because the '05 class is such a big class. Therefore, more girls went to recruitment [last year] and we had raise the quota," Panhell public relations chair Rebecca Aledort '04 said.
Panhell expects a higher-than-usual number of women to rush next term.
"I think that we'll probably make up some of the gap in the spring,"
A smaller pool of '06 women aside, an unanticipated number of women dropped out of the rush from when it began with round zero through preference night.
"Last year the total number of people who withdrew was only 13. This year we had 39 people withdrawing," Panhell President Julia Kean '04 said.
"The number of people who withdrew was really surprising to me. I'm not sure what that indicates, if anything," Keane added.
Initial estimates for each house's new pledge class hover around 30, although women have until the end of the term to accept their bids.
Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority has the largest class of 33 women. Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority has 32 and Sigma Delta sorority has 31.
Having fewer than 30 are Delta Delta Delta sorority with 28, Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority with 27 and Alpha Xi Delta sorority with 26.
Rush participant Meredith Raucher '06 had mixed reactions to the process.
"On the one hand, it was a great way to meet other 06s' and upperclass women. On the other hand, rushing becomes a stressful process because it is drawn out and can get competitive," Raucher said.
Raucher accepted a bid from EKT citing "a group of girls who exemplify a strong sisterhood."
"While I feel that there were some negative aspects, I think it all worked out in the end for most people," Raucher said.
Aledort confirmed that despite falling numbers, rush went relatively smoothly.
"I think that the houses were happy with a more spread out schedule," Aledort said, "I thought that overall it went pretty well. I think that most of the girls were happy with their placement."
Panhell was unable to provide information on how many bids each house gave out or how many girls "preffed" each individual house on Preference Night.
