Bid Day is a big deal for Penn State sororities. It’s that special day every year when each chapter officially announces its newest class of sisters after a ten day recruiting process. It’s a day full of emotions, lifelong memories, and really loud chants. We sent three writers in different states of mind to check out the spectacle that is sorority Bid Day on Old Main Lawn.

Drunk

By the time we arrived at Old Main I was significantly inebriated. There were only two questions on my mind: When does the crying begin, and does Old Main have a bathroom? The former was quickly answered when a girl in a floral headband began bawling about five minutes in for reasons unknown, the latter may remain a mystery for the rest of my life. I’ll tell you one more thing I learned though; no matter how drunk you are, you’re never drunk enough to be a GDI at Bid Day.

My notes from the evening include, “Old Main lookin’ hot doe,” “so many colors,” and, “Somewhere Betsy Ross is crying because these girls are wearing American flags as scarves.” I also took a nice photo of the sorority included below. They seemed like a nice group that I’d really like to join, until I realized that they were not actually a sorority, but just a group of juggling bystanders. In fact, there were hundreds of bystanders — mostly Greek men — just watching the commotion ensue.

Girls who were super bummed with their bids were not impressed when I offered the sage wisdom that tiers cause tears. But it wouldn’t be Bid Day without tears.

Congrats to all the ladies who got the bid they wanted. I hope you learn your sorority’s chant soon because that seems to be a really big part of the process. Sorority Bid Day should certainly be on every Penn Stater’s bucket list to attend before you graduate.

Sober

This was quite the experience that one must see in person to truly understand the borderline insanity that is Sorority Bid Day. High, drunk, and myself arrived to the sight of all the different sororities, dressed in different outfits, with yoga pants as far as the eye can see. This was, without question, the most attractive group of women I have ever been in the presence of. We camped out right behind the commotion, with front row seats to the show. Unfortunately seats this close to the action meant that I would be continuously glared at by every sorority sister in my vicinity.

Everything seemed reasonably normal until one of the sisters closest to us broke out into a chant that was impossible to make out at first. Soon after the first, a second ear-piercing chant arose from the next group of girls. And then the floodgates opened as the rest of the lawn took up their chants as well, all overlapping each other. The more I think about it, the greater the possibility that this was actually some mass-scale Scientologist convention.

Soon, the frat bros began to approach the Old Main lawn — sheepishly at first, but more confidently as the crowd began to gather. Everybody knows that they were there to cheer on their sister friends as they start an exciting new journey together! I’m kidding, they were just there to ogle at the girls as they walked by. Suspense started to build, as all of the girls rushed to the center of the lawn. There the moment everybody has been waiting for finally came: The bids came running out of the HUB to meet their new sisters.

The sisters erupt in cheers as the freshmen hopefuls bull rush the center lawn in a state of pandemonium. Tears of joy are shed and loud, piercing screams batter my eardrums.

Just another Bid Day at Penn State.

High

I’m not really sure why I’m here. The sororities dot the Old Main lawn with clusters of bright neon shirts and Greek letter cutouts. It’s a beautiful day to be out on the lawn, but I somehow feel out of place. It’s not just the fact that I’m a little stoned – although that probably didn’t help. Accompanied by my friends Drunk and Sober, the three of us sit in a small circle about 30 feet from the crowd of sorority sisters.

The atmosphere is eccentric. Each sorority has some kind of chant or song or something. Maybe I’m just too high, or maybe it’s too loud or there’s too many people yelling at the same time – but I can’t make out a word of these chants besides the Greek letters. I think the theme is generally “Yay, we’re sisters and we’re gonna be friends forever!”

As more sisters pile onto the lawn, the chants get louder and louder. The chants of one sorority begin to overlap the chants of another, and within a few minutes the lawn seems to break into chaos as a mass of girls suddenly stream onto the lawn from the HUB walkway.

Screams and tears echo across campus from the new sisters. Looking at the scene from the outside is kind of surreal. The people here will remember this moment for the rest of their life – the day they were accepted into a sisterhood. A lot of these girls had their dreams of getting into their top tier sorority come true today, and that’s great for them.

Maybe I’m just cynical because I didn’t get a bid, but I have no interest in Greek life. Today was a day of celebration for some people, but what struck most was the lack of anyone else. I would expect that the entire sorority population of Penn State being on one lawn at the same time would attract some attention. But that’s the thing with Greek life – it seems very isolated. You’re either in or you’re out. You hang out with sororities or you don’t.

So congrats to the girls who got into their top sororities. I’m sure you’ll remember this moment forever. But for me, I’ll just stick to those assholes at Onward State.