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Florida State Panhellenic Recruitment Florida State University currently has 17 active chapters, or sororities, on campus. Although each chapter has its own unique letters and rituals, they are all part of a community bigger than themselves; a community called “Panhallenic.” The Panhellenic council can be described as the entity that represents all sororities on campus. With that being said, Florida State’s Panhellenic Recruitment takes place one week before classes commence and lasts one full week as well. Each year, the amount of girls who sign up to go through recruitment increases. This past year Panhellenic had over 2,000 women sign up to take part in recruitment process; these women are referred to as Potential New Members (PNM’s). The PNM’s are given a Recruitment Counselor, or Rho Gamma, who act as a guide, friend, and mentor throughout the week to help the PNM’s in whatever way they may need. From directing the PNM’s to each chapter to counseling them through this emotional week, Rho Gamma’s help alleviate the recruitment process tremendously. Throughout the week-long recruitment process, the PNMs undergo four different rounds: Scholarship, Investment, Leadership/Service, and Preference.

Scholarship Round
Scholarship round takes place the first two days of recruitment (Monday and Tuesday). Over the span of these two days, the Potential New Members (PNM’s) are taken to each of the 17 chapter houses, which means the PNM will have what is called "17 parties" to attend. The parties in this specific round last for 20 minutes. This round can be described as the icebreaker round and is used to get to get a brief preview of the PNM; the deeper and more intimate conversations occur later on in the week. During Scholarship round, the PNM’s are given a sneak peek of what the chapter is about. It can be expected that the PNM will talk to at least two sisters during this round. Conversations are very lighthearted and consist of small talk; topics may range from hometowns, hobbies, past involvement, or even college majors. After this round is finished, the PNM's go to a computer lab on campus and rank the houses from one to 13, which means that they have to eliminate five houses. In other words, after the PNM has gone to all 17 chapters, she then cuts down her list to 13. On Wednesday, which is the start of round 2, the PNM's Rho Gamma informs the PNM of which houses she got called back to. Sometimes women get a full schedule of 13 houses and others do not.

Investment Round
Investment round, taking place on Wednesday and Thursday, provides the PNM’s with a better insight about the chapter, and more specifically, the fiscal responsibility that comes with joining a sorority. A presentation is given and in this presentation, the PNM’s are informed about the cost of their dues as well as what their dues do and do not include. The duration of each party during this round is 30 minutes and as a result, the conversations last a tad bit longer. The questions asked are used to get to know the PNM on a somewhat deeper level. Sometimes the conversations are similar to those in round one; however, more often than not, PNM’s open up much more in this round than in the first. Once this round is over, the PNM's go to the computer lab on campus again on Thursday night and rank the houses from one to five. In other words, the PNM must cut eight chapters. On Friday morning, the PNM's Rho Gamma presents the list of houses to each of her PNM's. Similar to round one, some girls may get a full schedule of five houses while others may not.

Preference Round
Preference round is the fourth and final stage of Panhellenic Recruitment. Taking place on Saturday, this round is the last round before bid day. This stage of recruitment is unlike the others because the Potential New Members (PNM’s) are having longer and more intimate conversations with the sisters. During this round, which is often referred to as “Pref,” the PNM’s who are asked back to a chapter are asked back because the chapter wants to extend said PNM an invitation into their sisterhood. The week leading up to Pref is used to get to know the PNM’s, determine their values and evaluate whether or not their values coincide with those of the chapter. Every PNM who attends a chapter on Preference round is on the chapter’s bid day list; however, what determines if they run home on bid day is up to how they rank the houses and how the houses rank them. For example, PNM Susie has three houses that asked her back for Pref: house AAA, house BBB, and house CCC. All three of these houses want to see Susie on bid day; however, she felt the most at home with house BBB. With that being said, when she goes to rank her houses that Saturday night after Preference round, she puts house BBB first, house AAA second, and house CCC third. House BBB loved Susie just as much as she loved them and ranked her high on their own bid day list; therefore, Susie ended up in the house she wanted: house BBB. However, had they not ranked her high enough and house AAA did, she would have gotten her second choice, which was house AAA. Each chapter has to reach a quota of X amount. This past year, for example, the quota was set to 90 girls. If house BBB ranked Susie 107 and house AAA ranked her 7, she would have gotten house AAA because she was higher on their bid day list and was ranked high enough to where she fit into the set quota. Overall, this is the most important round of Panhellenic Recruitment because this is the round that determines what sisterhood each PNM may potentially enter.