Though more women registered for Panhellenic Council (PHC) recruitment this semester than in fall 2003, the number of bids received by potential sorority members has decreased.

This year's changes could be because of the switch to online registration and separate sorority chapters becoming more selective, assistant director of fraternity and sorority life Jane Neitz, said.

This year, 635 women registered for sorority recruitment compared to 559 women in 2003. Neitz said online registration might have caused more women to register because signing up was faster and payments could be made by a credit card.

"We made the process to register an easier thing to do," Neitz said. "One click of a button, you can be on the page to fill out the information, and five minutes later you could be ready to submit your information, 24 hours a day, seven days a week."

Nia Ashby, PHC vice president of recruitment, said the council's efforts might have caused the registration increase.

Although more women registered, about 100 did not show up for the first round of recruitment, Neitz said.

"While we had a big jump in the number who registered, we didn't have a big jump in the number of women who came out to events," she said.

Ashby said those who dropped out of the process might have changed their minds because they realized they did not have time to join a sorority.

"It's a really intense process, and it gets overwhelming for everyone," Ashby said.

Of the women who showed up to the first round of recruitment, 72 percent continued the process until bid day, compared to 84 percent in 2003.

"I would like to think it's lower because our chapters were being more selective of the women they hoped to bring into their chapters," Neitz said. She added that chapters are looking for quality women who will promote the image of the greek community.

Ashby said PHC made more cuts the first round this year than it had in previous years, following a new system that is being implemented nationally.

By cutting more girls in the first round instead of waiting until the third round, there is less of a chance that girls will get their hopes up about joining a sorority that may not give them a bid, Ashby said.

Neitz said 15 girls were not given bids this year as opposed to four girls last year.

Ashby said the "very small number" of girls who are not given a bid include those who do not get asked back by sororities and those who try to cheat the system by choosing more than the allowed number of sororities.

"It has definitely been a huge misconception in the past that you are absolutely guaranteed a bid," Ashby said.

Audra Schaeffer (sophomore-elementary education) said she went through the process until the very end and then decided to quit.

"I didn't get back any of the sororities I wanted," Schaeffer said.

Schaeffer said some girls were upset when they did not receive a bid to the sorority of their choice.

"Nothing really bad happened until they started cutting," Shaeffer said. "All these girls were heartbroken and everything because they didn't get their no. 1 [choice]."

Samantha Marten (freshman-early childhood education), who finished the process, said she got a bid to the sorority she wanted. She said she thought recruitment was worthwhile and knew people that were both upset and happy about their bids.