informal recruitment

Informal recruitment is when a sorority can give out bids at will to reach the campus total (the maximum amount of members allowed in a chapter. I think it was in the mid 160s last year). During informal recruitment a house will plan its own events and it doesn't follow a structured format like primary recruitment.

The houses that typically do informal recruitment in the fall are the ones who didn't make quota during primary recruitment or their membership was well below total.

Dropping out of recruitment to try to get the exact house you wanted is a bad idea, especially if it's considered one of the top tier houses on campus (Chi O, Tri Delt, DZ, etc). Usually a good chunk of the sororities are going to be at total or 1-2 people short, in which case they'll already have some people in mind to fill those spots.

Please stick it out through recruitment, the mutual selection process really does work. You might not think it now, but in the end it will!

I did informal to join my house, you can do it if you've dropped out of formal recruitment, however I would not reccomend dropping out of formal recruitment just to COB at a specific house, especially if they dropped you. Not every house does informal, only those who need the numbers after formal recruitment. If you drop out of formal, houses may snap bid you after preference night if they are low on numbers. Informal is way more casual, you meet a few girls from the house, you may do a house tour or meet for dinner. Any house you visit can extend you a bid at any time, so you have to really think if the house you are at is good for you.

Stick with formal until the end, give the houses you have left a chance, if the house you wanted dropped you it probably wasn't the house for you.

If you do informal you’re only options are most likely only bottom houses like AOPi. Stick through formal so you get a chance with all of them.