I lol'ed when I read that the sororities are "required" to have 225 members.

Is that the new total? Good lord. I filled out an interest form AND emailed my info to the VP of recruitment (there were instructions to do that on another page), and it said that I would be notified of any sororities that had openings by Feb. 3rd. Say a little prayer for me! :)

Maybe I’m reading this incorrectly, but when does Georgia’s Spring 2013 semester start?

The reason I ask is that I think most SEC schools (including UGA) start a week or so after the New Year. As such, I suspect that most chapters would start COB as soon as the semester starts - at least by mid January. So February 3rd seems kind of late in the game to be notified about openings.

Maybe Feb 3rd is the latest any of the sororities would have their pledging ceremony or something along those lines? I don't know if all sororities even do one, but if they did, this event would probably be the deadline for signing a bid.

ETA: That new total is huge. I would think if all the houses were around that number, a good number of girls from each pledge class would not be able to live in the house for their sophomore year (typically it's sophomores and exec in the houses, and maybe others if there is space) :(

That makes sense.

That is the figure listed in the article and the reporter said the sororities are required to have 225 members. I chuckled because it is just another example of a reporter not finding out all the details before running with a story.
If 225 is the new total (and the article never specifies) that is one thing, but sororities are NOT required to have 225 members. It is up to each chapter whether or not their membership reaches 225 members, and in fact, some chapters will (or already have) exceed that figure, because chapters are allowed to pledge quota-the maximum number of new members a chapter can take-which could put their membership above that figure.

Also, a lot of sororities are likely to quietly take new members whom they already know without giving a big public party.

True. I know a lot of them have already done that some this year because of the total being raised right after rush. I have friends in sororities who told me they had girls quietly added to their pledge class after total went up. Some sororities went for girls who had rushed and not found a home but others picked girls they knew who hadn't rushed ever because they thought it would be less awkward than picking girls they had cut at one point. One very "popular" house even took a junior who hadn't rushed.

I'm trying very hard not to get my hopes up and am already preparing as if I will have to rush fall 2013 as a sophomore (getting good grades, joining clubs, presenting myself well, etc.) but I assume that at least some of the sororities will look at the list of interested girls. I hope the fact that I was released won't be a turnoff to the sororities.

Thanks to everyone who replied!

Hey, everyone! I just finished informal recruitment! I'm going to post my story soon. :D

Sounds like things went well! Can't wait to read it.