The nearly two-week-long sorority rush process formally ended Thursday night, with 76 women receiving bids of membership from the six College sororities.
The number of bids offered by each house varied largely, ranging from Sigma Delta sorority's eight to Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority's 19. Eleven of the 90 women who initially rushed dropped out before the end of the process, equaling the number of dropouts last spring.
An additional three women were not invited to Preference night April 12, effectively forcing their withdrawal from the process.
Theta's 19 bids were followed closely by Delta Delta Delta sorority, which gave out 17. Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority both gave out 11 bids, while Alpha Xi Delta sorority gave out 10 bids.
Last spring, 61 women received bids, which were distributed much more evenly.
The Panhellenic Council was pleased with this spring's rush process, especially after a winter rush that saw 40 women drop out.
"We are very pleased with how it went," Panhell President Krista Sande-Kerback '05 said. "We are relieved it's over because it's a big time commitment for '04s and '05s with so much behind-the-scenes preparations for the parties and deliberations, but it's definitely worth it."
Panhell Vice President of Recruitment Meredith Willsen '05 said she thought rush went surprisingly well considering the high number of dropouts Winter term. She said that Panhell had expected more dropouts this term as well.
Bid acceptance, the formal end to the rush process, took place Thursday night, although not all women who intend to sink their bids did so then.
At press time, every bid offered by Sigma Delt, Tri-Delt and KDE had been sunk, according to Sigma Delt new member orientation chair Kristin Burdge '04, Tri-Delt Rush Chair Carolyn Steinmetz '05 and KDE President Katherine Heyman '05.
Bid acceptance parties were Thursday, but rushees still have time to sink their bids at some houses. For instance, Theta president Elizabeth Chambers '05 said that 14 bids were sunk Thursday, but other outstanding bids have until Monday to declare their intentions.
Although only 10 of the 11 bids given out by Kappa were sunk on Thursday, Kappa President Valaer van Roijen '05 said she was not surprised.
Unlike the fraternity rush process, the Panhellenic Council regulates the number of bids per house, which usually leads to a balanced number of bids among the sororities. Panhell uses a quota number, which is traditionally the total number of girls who rushed divided by six, give or take a few, to determine the maximum number of bids per house.
This spring, however, Willsen said that the original quota number of 11 would have meant that houses that women preferenced on Monday would not match offered bids. She then raised the quota so that Tri-Delt and Theta received more bids. Willsen added that these two sororities both had relatively small classes in the winter, thus the high quota number this term achieves balance over the two terms.
Although some sororities gave out far less bids than others did, Sande-Kerback said that it is preferable for women to be in the houses they wanted rather than achieve balance throughout the system.
According to Willsen, Alpha Xi was the only sorority to express dissatisfaction with the high quota number.
"Sigma Delt wanted a small number of girls, same with KDE and Kappa," Willsen said. "Alpha Xi is a little upset with the turnout, because there was less interest in the house this term."
As for the three women who were not invited to Preference night, Willsen said that it is not unusual. This term women who had conflicts with rush events were put at a disadvantage because they did not get a chance to meet house members, according to Willsen.
