Even in the rain, sorority recruitment had to go on.

More than 500 female students participated in the first night of Panhellenic recruitment Thursday, carrying umbrellas to keep them dry while waiting outside to enter each house.

About 550 women registered this year, said Assistant Director for Fraternity and Sorority Life Jenni Glick, a slight drop from last year’s record of 577. Although a majority are freshmen, some are transfer students or upperclassmen.

This year, Zeta Tau Alpha, a new sorority on campus in 2007, increased the number of sorority houses from 11 to 12.

Interested students registered online and attended an informational forum about the different chapters and policies. Recruitment consists of ‘sets,’ or days in which the students visit different houses and select the ones they like most.

Each night they must drop a few houses off their lists.

During recruitment, women in the sororities also discuss which students would best fit their houses. On bid day next Tuesday, potential new members will receive invitations to join a sorority.

Weinberg sophomore and sorority member Alexis Hymen said she is looking forward to a new and enthusiastic pledge class, although the recruitment process could be draining.

“I am excited for the process, but I’m nervous about getting my work done because I am going to be very involved,” Hymen said.

Thursday night was the first opportunity for some students in sororities to meet the new students who are going through recruitment, Medill junior K. Aleisha Fetters said.

Fetters said she is eager to begin recruitment because she studied abroad in the fall , and couldn’t meet any of the women who are going through recruitment during Philanthropy Round, which took place in November.

“I’m just looking forward to talking to them and getting to know them today and over the course of recruitment,” Fetters said. “After the course of the week I will be able to welcome another class of beautiful, intelligent, wonderfully spirited women in my sorority as sisters. That culmination is the ultimate joy of the week.”

Recruitment is an emotional time for both active members and potential new members, Fetters said.

“Everyone is building friendships, learning what makes them tick, and either planning for, or reminiscing about all of the fun of sorority life,” she said.

Many of the students who are undergoing recruitment said they are excited to join a sorority, although for different reasons.

Weinberg freshman Margaret Truesdale said she is hoping that membership in a sorority will broaden her horizons and social network, but family is another reason why she is rushing.

“I guess it’s because my sister is in a sorority and loves it,” Truesdale said. “She says great things about it so I wanted to see what it’s all about.”

Sometimes, geography plays a role in why women rush, like for Weinberg freshman Elizabeth Clark.

“I’m from Texas and it was always kind of assumed that I would rush because everybody rushes in the South,” Clark said.

Students that have already been through recruitment have some advice for those students rushing this week.

“Shrug off preconceptions,” Fetters said. “You don’t really get to know a sorority until you meet its members, and that’s what recruitment is all about.”

Reach Lauren Levy at [email protected].