After two years of holding recruitment during the school year, Panhellenic recruitment at UNK has returned to its traditional summer schedule. Panhellenic recruitment is the formal process used by sororities to gain new members.
Formal recruitment took place the week before classes began, allowing potential new members to move in early and focus on building connections.
“We moved it back before school for a few reasons,” said Raylee Smith, Panhellenic President. “I know a lot of chapter members who went through recruitment during the summer felt that it created a special opportunity for the potential new members and the chapters so that they didn’t have to focus on school, and they could focus on creating connections with one another.”
The decision to move recruitment back to the summer was based on feedback from students, alumni and chapter members who preferred the opportunity to form relationships without the added stress of schoolwork.
Recruitment data reveals a change in retention rates between summer and fall recruitment. In 2021 and 2022, when formal recruitment was held in the summer, only 5% and 7.2% of potential new members withdrew from the process. However, when recruitment occurred during the school year in 2023 and 2024, withdrawal rates increased to 50.8% and 57.6%, respectively.
These high withdrawal rates can be associated with students being overwhelmed while trying to adjust to college life. Smith said that recruitment during the academic year often conflicted with students’ class schedules, particularly for pre-professional students. The change in scheduling helped maintain Panhellenics’ commitment to scholarship.
Participants in summer recruitment arrived on campus on Aug. 17, moving in earlier than the rest of the student body.
“(Potential New Members) also get to move in early, so that’s really cool,” said Whitney Uelmen, a sophomore in Alpha Phi. “Doing recruitment during school this past year was just a lot. It was stressful to adjust to classes and then rush afterwards to get to all the sorority stuff.”
Katherine Vandenberg, vice president of external recruitment, highlighted several other benefits, including giving incoming freshmen a head start in adjusting to campus life.
“It gives them more time on campus to get adjusted before classes start,” Vandenberg said. “Going into Blue Gold Weekend, you can do a lot of the activities with your pledge class and with your Pi Chi groups. So I think it’ll be really good for them because they’ll get to establish more friendships and connections beforehand.”
Resources are already in place to support potential new members through the process. Each student going through recruitment will be put into a Pi Chi group to guide them, answer questions, promote bonding and offer emotional support.
“Their Pi Chis are their biggest resource,” Smith said. “They can ask them literally anything that they have questions about, like what they want me to wear those days, what to expect coming to campus or like even where to park when they move in. They can ask them anything.”
Smith said she was excited to see how the energy shifted during the summer.
“I want it to feel special for all the (potential new members) in the chapters because that’s what they deserve,” Smith said. “When I went through recruitment, it was in the summertime, and it was really special because I got to focus on just creating those connections, and it really changed how I viewed myself. So, I hope that we can create that environment again for girls to go through that.”
Vandenberg encourages every woman to get involved in Greek life to make connections on campus and find a community in Kearney.
