Understatement of the year.

Having lived in Dallas for twenty years and serving as Alumnae Panhellenic Sponsiorship Chairman for Richardson /Plano, LadyLonghorn speaketh the cold truth.

haha yeah i've actually read a lot of similarly brutal, yet honest answers she's given so i think i have a pretty good idea of just HOW intense it is!

but right now, I'm kind of leaning toward michigan if i can get used to the idea of living so far from home. so i'm trying to find out as much about that school as possible!

I think your best bet would be to visit Ann Arbor to get a good feel for the campus, preferably before school ends because it "feels" very different in spring/summer term. While I'm pretty familiar with the greek system in general and the area, I couldn't begin to name which chapters would take sophomores easily and it probably wouldn't be very Panhellenic to do so either. There are 15 NPC groups, 1 of which is currently a colony. There have been a few recolonizations/colonizations over the past few years, which generally increases the likelihood of upperclassman receiving bids. Sometimes those chapters are looking to even out the number of women in each class.

Since the other schools you are considering are in warm climates, you may want to think about the climate! While we had less snow and warmer temps than usual this year (less snow than they had in Atlanta this year even!), it does get quite cold and we get a lot of snow up here :) I don't want to discourage you from Michigan, it's a great school and a great college town, the climate can be quite a shocker to people who are not used to it.

AGDee, thank you so much for your help, i think i will end up visiting the school. i get out earlier than most, so i will definitely have time.

And as far of the weather, i have DEFINITELY thought about that. as a southern california native, it would be quite an intense shock. but if i get a good feeling from the school, i think it'd be worth it :)

thanks again!

Surprisingly, since it is arguably the most competitive recruitment outside the South/Texas, sophomores getting bids at USC is routine. Even the most competitive chapters will have a third of their pledge class be sophomores. But don't underestimate the competition...I'd get recs to all chapters without a second thought. From what I understand, sophomores have a very hard timing getting bids at Texas. I have no idea about Michigan...a really close friend was a Tri-Delt there, I'll ask her if they ever take sophomores.