Fall sorority recruitment, aka rush season, is upon us. This is a time when sororities across the country set out to recruit new members to join their sisterhood. This has been going on since the 1800s, but more recently, sorority rush has become a social media phenomenon, with many people from all walks of life becoming deeply invested in the recruitment process that college students are showing on TikTok. As such, most people have a pretty solid understanding of what happens during rush, the week- or weeks-long process when potential new members (PNMs) “speed date” all of the sororities at their schools to hopefully end up where they best fit in. But what a lot of people don’t know is that PNMs have an extensive checklist of things they have to do before rush even begins — and for many, that includes making a PNM video.
But first… what is a PNM video, exactly? The PNM video is one of the first things recruiters see in the recruitment process. According to Madison Hufstetler (@madisonnggrace), a popular college TikToker who posts advice about rush, your PNM video allows for current members of the sororities you’re rushing to see your personality, your hobbies, and what you hope to achieve in college — think Elle Woods’ Havard video essay, but with a lower production budget.
Tips For How To Make A PNM Video
PNM videos aren’t a requirement for rush all universities — at some colleges, it’s mandatory; at others, it may be option; and some schools don’t have an option to submit one at all. If a college’s sorority rush does include PNM videos, the requirements for them may vary. That said, a common guideline across schools is to have a clean background, good lighting, and clear audio. Some schools go light on the rules, but schools like the University of Alabama — which has arguably the most famous sorority culture — has *a lot* of instructions to ensure PNMs make the best videos possible.
Let’s take the University of Alabama — one of the most competitive schools for sorority rush — as an example. According to Bama’s Panhellenic Association’s website, “The chapters want to see the real you and want to get to know your personality. We recommend that you dress in something that makes you feel comfortable and confident, maybe something similar to what you might wear to a dinner with friends, or a fun day out on the town.”
Other guidelines from Alabama include stating your name and hometown, followed by answering prompts such as, “What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment thus far?”
Alabama also requires the video be no more than 60 seconds, no props are allowed in the video, neutral backgrounds only, and the video should not be edited — so you can only send in one take. Orientation and framing is important as well; all PNM videos have to be landscape and you should be framed in the camera so there’s only, according to Bama’s website, “a bit of space above your head and plenty of space below your chin.”
Of course, this is just one school’s set of guidelines, so if you’re going through rush, you should check your school’s PNM video requirements.
Why Are PNM Videos So Stressful To Make?
Although PNM videos are meant to be fun, they’re also kind of a big deal — which can make for a very stressful time for PNMs who are trying to film their own. Lexi Jorgensen (@alexis_jorgensen), a current PNM at the University of Alabama, shared on TikTok how painful the PNM video recording process can be by revealing her outtakes.
So many commenters agreed with her video, confirming that filming your PNM video can take hours upon hours. One commenter wrote, “268 videos and 4 hours later I finally got a good one. Def the most stressful thing ever.”
For many, the PNM video is a crucial part of the recruitment process, since it’s the first official impression sororities have with PNMs — which is probably why this 60-second video can feel like the longest part of sorority rush.