General Questions
Q. What is a sorority?
A. A sorority is a group of undergraduate women bound together by common goals, values, and friendships. Together, women in a sorority commit to scholastic, philanthropic, and social development and participate in numerous event, service projects, and activities like other clubs at Miami University. Though Miami has 17 Panhellenic sororities, they all share common founding principles, (earn more about our chapters here) and can have lifelong impacts on their members, lasting far beyond graduation.
Q: What is the Panhellenic Association?
A: The Panhellenic Association (PA) is the largest women's organization on Miami's campus. It is the governing body of all 17 National Panhellenic Council sororities overseeing almost 3,000 women. Panhellenic promotes excellence in academics, community engagement, social responsibility, involvement and sisterhood. The Panhellenic Association offers a wide variety of educational and leadership development programs for its members. PA also sponsors and coordinates Miami's Sorority Recruitment program every January.
Q: How many chapters do you have on campus? Are a lot of people involved?
A: The founding of five social Greek-letter organizations here at the University has earned Miami the official recognition as the "Mother of Fraternities". Today, the University hosts over 50 fraternity and sorority chapters. Approximately one third of Miami's undergraduate student population are members of the fraternity and sorority community. Our members are involved in and are leaders of many University events, programs, and student organizations.
Q: What leadership opportunities will be available to me if I join the Fraternity and Sorority community?
A: There is a variety of programs offered by the Cliff Alexander Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life. Acropolis is a high potential leaders weekend for students that have been recently initiated. This program examines personal leadership initiatives that serve as foundation for future leadership opportunities within one's chapter and the community. Advance is a three-day leadership experience for chapter presidents and council officers. This values based program is intentionally designed for students to work together as a community and to set goals and action plans for the advancement of their chapters and councils.
Q. What is recruitment?
A. Recruitment (formerly known as “rush”) is the membership intake process for sororities. Formal Recruitment is an event held each Spring when all of the Panhellenic sororities come together to meet Potential New Members in a structured fashion. You must be registered to participate in Formal Recruitment. For more information on Spring recruitment refer to our Formal Recruitment page.
Q. Does being in a sorority take up a lot of time?
A. While each sorority’s membership requirements differ, a general range for commitment is anywhere from 2 to 8 hours a week. Whether it be helping with a community service project, planning an event, or regular weekly meetings, members have learned to manage their time wisely with other commitments such as schoolwork, a job, friends outside of their chapter, as well as other organizations that they are involved with.
It is important to note that during the initial New Member process more time will be required. At the same time, each chapter understands the importance of scholarship and respects each New Member’s need to study. Time management is important during this stage!
Q. Are there any GPA or credit requirements to join a sorority?
A. Yes, in order to go through the recruitment process you must obtain a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher. You must have have earned 12 credit hours at Miami University or another college or university. In addition to the Panhellenic GPA requirement, individual chapters also have GPA requirements to join their chapter, ranging from a 2.5 to 3.0.
Q. Aren’t sororities expensive?
A. Many clubs and organizations at Miami University have yearly or semesterly dues to help pay for their events and activities for their members. Sororities are no different, with dues being used to pay for the upkeep of the chapter’s suite, community service events, scholarships, intramurals, and many of the social events offered. Annual membership dues vary per chapter, but an estimated range is anywhere from $350 to $800 each semester.
During Formal Recruitment, chapters will disclose their financial expectations to Potential New Members before extending an invitation to join. You can also find details about each chapter's dues on their individual chapter page.
Q. Do sororities at Miami University have houses?
A. No. Each sorority lives on Sorority Quad in residence halls, commonly during the member's sophomore year. Sororities have large suites in respective residence halls on the Quads. Sorority members use their suite for meetings, recruitment events, sisterhood events, studying, and hanging out.
Q. How do I join?
A. Every Spring, the Panhellenic Council hosts Formal Recruitment, a period when all of our chapters come together to meet Potential New Members and extend invitations to join. In order to participate in Formal Recruitment, you must register.
After Formal Recruitment in the Spring, and during the entire Fall semester, some chapters participate in “informal recruitment.” This process is much more relaxed and not structured by Panhellenic; rather, it is coordinated by each individual chapter. For more information about informal recruitment, visit our informal recruitment page or contact our Vice President of Recruitment
If you’re interested in joining one of our chapters, be sure to check out our Recruitment FAQ!
Q: Do people haze at your school? What is your stance on hazing?
A: Miami fraternities and sororities define hazing as mandatory restriction of a person's freedom to leave the house, i.e. taking of keys and lock-ins, scavenger or treasure hunts unless approved, false threats to withdraw membership, calisthenics, excessive mandatory hours per day of study time for fraternity material, verbal harassment such as yelling, screaming, or calling new members degrading names, mandatory personal errands for a brother, tests of courage, bravery, or stamina, assigning tasks such as stealing, painting objects, or harassing another group, paddling, whipping, beating, forced consumption of any food, liquor, beer, drug, or other substance, providing alcohol or any other drugs for consumption, sleep deprivation, blindfolding, kidnapping, transporting new members against their will, allowing another chapter to engage in any unacceptable activities with your new members, public embarrassment, requiring new members to "entertain" or perform for members or others, mandatory summoning to come to the house at inappropriate hours of the night. To learn more visit our Hazing Resources page.
We absolutely do not allow or condone any hazing on our campus and encourage members to stand up and lead by reporting incidents of hazing. For more information about how to report, please see the Cliff Alexander Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life's Hazing Prevention and Reporting Page.
