This school year, sororities campus-wide will once again welcome hoards of Penn women to become a part of campus Greek life.
But freshmen women will have to wait until spring.
Several sorority chapters across Penn will be participating in the informal fall recruitment process beginning at the end of this week.
"Fall rush is a very informal process," said Panhellenic Council Vice President of Recruitment Anu Singla. "Recruitment consists exclusively of upperclassmen and transfer students."
Alpha Phi, Sigma Kappa and Phi Sigma Sigma are among the chapters expected to participate in this semester's recruitment.
Fall rush allows chapters to fill vacancies in their organizations with female upperclassmen who were either unable to or chose not to pledge a sorority last spring.
This fall's process will begin with a general information session conducted by the Panhellenic Council on Sept. 19 that will provide interested women with a sense of what life is like in the Greek system.
Following the session, nearly all aspects of recruitment -- including contacting those women who attended the session as well as planning and conducting activities -- are left almost solely up to participating chapters.
"Panhel doesn't really have much involvement in fall rush," said Singla, a College senior.
Singla predicted that activities such as getting to know the sisters in each sorority, participating in community service events and hearing guest speakers should be fairly uniform from chapter to chapter.
She explained, however, that the newest sorority on campus, Sigma Kappa, which was colonized last spring, will most likely conduct a fall recruitment of a different nature.
"Because they are a new chapter and are looking to increase their members, they might do a slightly more formal process," Singla said.
In addition to a less casual recruitment, Sigma Kappa expects to welcome a much larger body of women into the organization than the typical amount for fall rush -- generally less than 10.
"We're doing a pretty structured informal recruitment this fall," said Sigma Kappa President Risa Forish, a Wharton senior. "We're hoping to get somewhere between 20 and 30 girls."
Despite the fact that Sigma Kappa hopes to accept more numbers than is customary for the informal recruitment, Forish predicted a more intimate rush than that typically experienced in the spring.
"Rushing in the fall presents a unique opportunity because it's a smaller setting," she explained. "It gives you an opportunity to have a lot of one-on-one time with the chapter you're interested in."
Forish added that Sigma Kappa likes "to give everyone as much of this time as possible."
With over 109 chapters nationwide, Sigma Kappa hopes to firmly establish the organization within Penn's Greek community during the upcoming rush process.
Additionally, fall rush will allow the chapter to experience an organized rush for the first time since its colonization at Penn.
According to Sigma Kappa chapter consultant Jenna Meriwether, the fall process not only allows the chapter to accept "quality women who bring excitement and enthusiasm to the organization," but the "opportunity in the fall will also prepare [Sigma Kappa] for spring recruitment at Penn."
During the process, the chapter also hopes to introduce possible new members to the organization's philanthropic endeavors.
While Singla was unsure of the numbers of women who would be participating in this semester's rush process, she explained that fall recruitment is constantly being improved through "the positive and negative feedback" received from previous years.
Panhel requires all informal fall rush activities and procedures to be completed by Thanksgiving break.
The general information session -- open to all women at Penn -- will be held from 8 to 10 p.m. in the Terrace Room of Logan Hall Thursday evening.
