Alpha Chi Omega, located at 103 E 15th Ave, is one of 17 PHA sororities that can participate in continuous opening bidding if their chapter does not meet its quota of new members during formal rush. Credit: Brooke Tacsar | Lantern Reporter
The structured, formal recruitment process for Greek Life membership can appear daunting, but an alternative option dwells within the background at Ohio State.
Known as continuous open bidding or informal recruitment, COB exists as a more casual process for students interested in joining a sorority. The informal process begins after “bid day” — when those who went through formal rush find out which sorority they are a part of — if the required member quota for a specific chapter is not met, according to the Panhellenic Association’s website.
“Sometimes formal recruitment can be a very strenuous process,” Chandini Antal, vice president of recruitment information for Alpha Chi Omega, said. “It’s an alternative and [one is] not better than the other, but whatever preferentially works best for that individual who wants to be in a sorority.”
According to the Panhellenic Association’s website, “not every sorority participates and the chapters that choose to participate change per semester.”
“It does not operate on a set schedule like Primary Recruitment, so each sorority handles its Informal/COB process differently,” the website said.
Antal said Alpha Chi Omega typically recruits 60 girls during informal recruitment, 10 to 13 of whom will finish the process and become active members.
“Informal is a little more intimate,” Antal said. “It’s more of events like one-on-one; they’re more likely to get a bid faster that way and they have a bit more control over which chapters they choose from.”
According to the Panhellenic Association’s website, eligible students must be enrolled as full-time students, have completed at least 12 credit hours and have never been initiated into one of the 17 National Panhellenic Conference sororities at Ohio State or on another campus. In addition, they must not have received a bid during the most recent Primary Recruitment, declined the bid or broken their pledge.
COB is often sporadic in its availability because not every sorority chooses to participate in it. If they do, the chapter can carry out the process however they see fit, according to the Panhellenic Association’s website.
Taking a yoga course, attending a coffee date or painting a tote bag are examples of activities Alpha Chi Omega has hosted in the past for informal recruitment, Antal said.
Isabelle McBrearty, a second-year studying primary education and a current member of Alpha Chi Omega, said her decision to not participate in formal recruitment was a combination of fear that she wouldn’t get the sorority of her choice or form a connection with members right away because of the long process.
Some sororities participate in COB in the fall before formal recruitment begins in January or in the spring after it is completed, Antal said.
