<p>As for what happens in a sorority: that's kind of a little vague, but I'll try my best. This may end up being multiple posts.</p>
<p>First rule of fraternity/sorority life is that it is very different from campus to campus - what's commonplace on one is absolutely unheard of on another - even if the schools are geographically similar or similar in overall atmosphere (for example - Dartmouth has a phenomenal tradition of Greek Life, but many of the of the other Ivies don't).</p>
<p>There is a set processes by which new members are asked to join. This is the Recruitment/Rush portion. For girls, recruitment is very highly structured. It's complicated but bear with me as I think it'll help your understanding. I think a hypothetical example will help. Lets say we have a campus which has 10 sorority chapters. Over the course of several days or several weekends in either semester (again depends on where your daughter goes), the girls will begin the first round of recruitment and have a chance to see most if not all the chapters (most schools it's all of the chapters - my alma mater it wasn't). Your daughter will get to meet the members, talk with them about their chapter, learn about what sort of things they do, what sort of personality the chapter has. After seeing all 10 chapters (round 1), the chapters will go through and decide which potential new members they wish to invite back to round two. The girls who are being recruited will find out the next day of recruitment who has invited them back. They will then take their invitations and be forced to cut down their list. So perhaps the for round 2 in our hypothetical example, they are only allowed to re-visit 6 chapters. If your daughter got more than 6 invitations for round two, she'll have to choose her top 6 and cut the other two from consideration - they are not allowed to return to these houses again during the formal recruitment process. Round two is more of the same sort of meeting with the chapters, again providing a chance for the girls to meet the sorority members and decide how they feel they would fit in with this particular group. Again at the end of the day the sorority members go through and choose who they would like to return for the next round. The next round the potential new members will only be allowed to visit their top 3. Round 3 (or whatever the final round is) is commonly called "pref day" because at the end, the girls must preference their choices in order. Round 3 is usually a fairly emotional day as the chapters typically perform rituals unique to that organization to try to explain what it means to be a "sister" in that organization. Again at the end of the day, the potential members rank chapters 1, 2 and 3; while the sorority chapters must rank all the girls that came to their chapter that day #1 through n...There is then a computer program, or the alumnae members of the sororities who go through a process called bid matching, trying to place each girl in their most preferred chapter. It's a long process that I won't try to explain. Just know that the process is a mutual selection one aimed at putting the new member into their most desired chapter.</p>
<p>I think that's an okay description of recruitment...Being a fraternity guy I never had to go through anything remotely similar, and am thankful I got to go through a much more relaxed fraternity rush. But I was president of a student organization my senior year that tried to get incoming freshmen to go Greek, so I did have to learn. Again though, that's just a general framework and there can be slight differences everywhere. There are a lot of special circumstances that I won't get into at the moment, as well.</p>
<p>Once a girl has been matched to a sorority, she is extended a "bid" which is essentially an invitation to join the chapter. She can accept or reject the bid. We'll just say that your daughter got an invitation to her #1 choice.</p>
<p>Once in a sorority, there is a period called the "pledge" or the new member period. It can run anywhere from 8 weeks to a semester depending on the organization and the chapter. Most sorority new member periods are closer to 8 weeks. During this time your daughter will learn about her new organization, what its values, history, and traditions are. The point is to teach the new member the things they need to know in order to be a good member in the future. It's also a time period to start building those friendships that are so close. It's that common experience which brings individuals closer together.</p>
<p>At the end of the 8 week period, the chapter will initiate your daughter. Here they will use a highly symbolic ritual to impart the "secrets" of the organization to the new members, sort of "exposing them to the light" if you will. Things like the meaning of the organizations name, the meaning of the badge, the handshake, the signatures, the passwords, and so on are explained. For example in my fraternity we learned meanings of things like "Wooglin" and "<strong>kai</strong>" which don't mean much to most people but have a lot of meaning for me personally. </p>
<p>Once initiated she's a full member and able to participate fully in the running fo the chapter including holding office and helping make decisions. </p>
<p>Activities of sorority chapters include philanthropy events, community service days, taking part in campus activities like Homecoming and Greek Week, co-hosting parties, sisterhood retreats, leadership conferences, and a variety of other things. Some of it is dependent on whether your daughter attends a school where the chapters have their own houses for members to live in or not. But the main thing is the friendships and the personal growth. Your daughter won't like everyone in her chapter, but she'll learn to work with them. </p>
<p>Okay...that's all really long. If you have any more questions I'd be more than willing to answer.</p>