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The size of the Greek recruitment class generally mirrors that of the incoming freshman class. This year's incoming freshman class will be larger in number, so it only makes sense that the Greek recruitment class will be bigger than in years past.
"Most of the numbers start coming in right at the beginning of the fall," said Greek life assistant director Ryan Williams. "We won't know actual numbers until August."
For the past few years, the recruitment class has grown by about 100 people, what many are anticipating again this year.
"We're expecting basically similar to last year," said Anna Alston, a fourth-year business student and vice president of recruitment on Sorority Council. "We can't really judge how the economy is going to affect numbers."
Williams said they are now providing cost information at freshman orientation, which is a first, but that it isn't in reaction to the economy.
"That's one of the things we thought was very important - getting that information and making sure we're providing it to students about to join our community and giving them the best information possible," he said.
While Alston does not know if or how the economy will affect recruitment, she is hoping for the best.
"If we have larger numbers, we can accommodate them," Alston said. "There's no reason to expect an enormous increase that we couldn't really handle."
Alston said nearly 1,000 women registered last year.
Ashley Hinson, a fourth-year business student, is Sorority Council president. She said she was looking forward to the upcoming recruitment.
"Hopefully, we'll have a bunch of girls coming to recruitment and a bunch of girls who join sororities," she said.
Russ Purdy, a second-year international business and finance student and the assistant vice president of recruitment for Fraternity Council, said that about 600 men registered last year, which is about what they are expecting this year as well.
Fraternity Council President Donovan Wade also expects that the incoming recruitment class will follow the trend of previous years.
"We expect to have an even larger class," said Wade, a fourth-year history student. "We've had the numbers go up these past semesters and hopefully that trend will continue. Each freshman class has gotten, I feel, bigger and smarter so hopefully we'll be getting even better and better people to join our Greek program."
The Greek community is expanding with the new additions of sorority Phi Mu in the fall and fraternity Beta Theta Pi in the spring.
"We're really excited about them coming," Wade said. "They do a lot in terms of leadership development for their members."
Definite numbers of the incoming Greek recruitment class will not be available until registration closes on Aug. 15 for sororities and Aug. 16 for fraternities.
USC Greek Life Fast Facts
Total number of chapters: 33 Number of Fraternities: 19 Number of Sororities: 14 Percent of student body who are Greek: 16 Average fraternity size: 64 Average sorority size: 116 Greek Village residents: 750 Fraternity Houses: 11 Sorority houses: 9 All Fraternity GPA: 3.09 All Sorority GPA: 3.40 All Non-Greek Men: 3.01 All Non-Greek Women: 3.18
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