Approximately 74 percent of the 110 women who initially registered for rush received bids when winter sorority recruitment ended on Wednesday, according to Panhellenic Council vice president of recruitment Ellen Sandmeyer '12. Twenty-four percent of this winter's participants, or 26 girls, dropped out of the recruitment process, according to Sandmeyer.
The percentage of women receiving bids marks a decrease from last year's winter rush, in which 88 percent of participants were awarded bids.
The percentage of girls who dropped out of winter rush was double the percent of those who dropped out last January, Sandmeyer said.
Sandmeyer attributed the decrease in bids and increase in dropouts to the "fewer options" available to girls.
"More girls decided to rush [this past fall] than ever before," she said. "A lot of the spots were taken up by fall rush. Girls were receiving fewer bids, and most houses had already reached full capacity."
This past fall, 301 girls received bids, while only 229 girls were awarded bids in fall 2009, The Dartmouth previously reported.
Delta Delta Delta sorority and Kappa Delta Epsilon sorority extended bids to eight women, while Alpha Xi Delta sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and Sigma Delta sorority gave seven bids each. Alpha Phi offered nine bids, while Kappa Delta sorority gave 27 bids.
The number of bids extended by Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority was unavailable as of press time, Sandmeyer said. Eighty-one bids were extended in total, she said.
Eighty-five percent of the girls who received bids got them from their top-ranked house, Sandmeyer said.
"We had a very successful winter recruitment," she said. "It's great that we had such intense interest from the [Class of 2013]."
Panhell, which governs the sorority rush process, plans to expand the sorority system to increase the number of women able to participate in the Greek system, according to Sandmeyer.
"[The sorority system] currently doesn't have the capacity to have every single girl on campus," Sandmeyer said. "Expanding the sorority system is eventually our goal."
Panhell will attempt to alleviate capacity issues by bringing another sorority to campus, Sandmeyer said. The College offered Delta Zeta sorority a "stacked extension" after Kappa Delta was invited to become Dartmouth's eighth sorority. Delta Zeta will be given an invitation to join campus once the College approves the addition of another sorority, The Dartmouth previously reported.
Sandmeyer said she was "thrilled" by the number of bids awarded by Kappa Delta, a relatively new sorority that participated in its first recruiting term during fall 2009.
Representatives from Kappa Delta did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
The female rush process, which began Jan. 13, involves a series of organized meetings between groups of potential new members and current sorority members.
Preference night, the last evening of rush, was initially planned for Monday but was delayed by the College until Tuesday due to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day events. Sandmeyer said that the postponement of preference night did not significantly affect the rush process.
"The girls dealt with it really well," she said. "It was nice for the houses to have a day's break and have a chance to plan for preference night."
Winter rush was "much less stressful" than fall rush, according to Mary Rockwell '11, rush chair for Kappa.
"There are so many fewer girls so it's much more manageable," she said.
Students often choose to rush during the winter due to D-plan and athletic conflicts, according to Sandmeyer. Others opt to rush again in the winter if they are unsatisfied with the houses that offers them bids in the fall, Sandmeyer said.
