This was copied and pasted from the texasgreeks.com website. It looks like you have until the end of August, althought I would certainly NOT wait until then.
Recruitment registration begins on May 1, 2005 and ends August 23, 2005. Any registration form received before this time will be returned. Complete the downloadable PDF form or fill it out online. In order to complete the online application, you will need a digital or scanned photo of yourself for identification purposes.
My suggestion, don't wait until you are a sophomore, it greatly reduces your chances or being accepted, especially at a school like UT. My best friend rushed as a sophomore, with a high school activities resume that would put many people here to shame and she was cut by most sororities.

baylorgirl: Welcome to GC from a fellow Baylor Bear (alum).

i just have a general question - as I am not a member of an NPC sorority, but a multicultural one with a much smaller membership/pledge classes.

How do people in such a big pledge class at a school like UT really get to know each other and how do women in the sororities really get to know the girls in order to select them? I understand that there is the registration package and rush parties, but do people really get to know the girls with so many attempting rush?

Just wondering and I thank ya'll in advance for any insight you can give:)

THIS is the purpose of the recommendations, and why they are so important in a large recruitment. You may not get to spend very much time with a rushee, but you have this reference letter, written by an alumnae who you should hopefully trust, that says, "Hey, I believe that Suzy A would make a good XYZ because of A, B, and C reason!" Then some sisters meet her during a recruitment event, decide she was fun to talk to and not weird, and that's it. So you don't really "get to know" anyone at Recruitment- and this is actually not just a large-rush thing. My school usually has about 100-120 PNMs going through, but you still don't really get to know them. You just meet them and chat with them and get a feel for them, I guess.

Let me clarify....the registration process is still technically open...but you will need awesome recs and resume at this point...the chapters have been thinking about girls since the beginning of the summer.

AND MAYBE SHE HAS THEM.

Geez, no reason to get all Debbie Downer on the girl.

Not to mention if a chapter has their pledge class picked out before evaluating ALL the applications before the due date, not to mention before the women actually go through rush, I'd say that's violating a few NPC rules. We do not rush high school women.

Baylorgirl is right. And I feel qualified to speak on the matter since I went through Texas rush last year and I am currently in a sorority there. During the summer, the sororities look through all of PNMs applications, recs, photos, etc. As crazy as it may sound, many sororities already know who they want to cut the first round before recruitment week even begins. These cuts are usually based on GPA, rec letters, appearance, high school activities, sometimes hometown even. **I would like to point out that you sort of have to do this because it is impossible to decide in one night which 300-400 girls to cut!!**

HOWEVER, it is not too late to register for rush! If you have great recs and you actually know girls in the sororities, don't worry about it that much. And in longhrn_cutie18's case, I know that she's already turned in her app, and has been working on this for awhile.

I would NOT advise anyone at Texas to hold off from going through recruitment freshman year. First of all, you will almost automatically be cut from about half of the NPC sororities if you go through rush as a sophomore and aren't friends with the girls already in a sorority. Secondly, if you do go through rush as a freshman you WILL meet people in your recruitment group who are going to end up pledging a sorority. And that way, you'll actually know the girls in the sororities.

An option to not actually going through rush is waiting for some of the groups to do their spring recruitment. This year we had about 5-6 of the NPC sororities do spring recruitment. This is a LOT LESS formal than fall recruitment. However, be advised that our panhellenic does not sponsor this and that the number of sororities participating in this varies from year to year.

Please don't flame my post! I'm just giving information on how our rush process works. Yes, it is cutthroat. But we have about 600-800 girls come through recruitment each year! Oh and by the way, quota last year was 47.

longhrn_cutie18, you'll meet so many girls going through recruitment - it's an experience you won't ever forget! Don't feel discouraged about anything :)

Just curious...but I figured the #of PNM's would be greater than 600-800 @ Texas. I know it varies from year to year, but Texas Tech avereage b/w 600-800 women the 3 1/2 years that I was at Tech from '98-2001.

Last year the number of PNMs was a little over 700. This year I think there are about 550 girls registered so far.

It is not impossible as a freshman at this point as long as you keep your mind open. Yes, many groups probably already have a list of their top 150 women based upon recs, applications, and pictures but remember that recruitment is MUTUAL SELECTION.

If you have your heart set on a few particular groups then it will likely not be a great experience for you. Without quality recs or being a legacy to a group there are some organizations that, quite frankly, you probably wouldn't be considered for anyway. However, as I have stated before, every group on this campus is great, and, if you keep an open mind, you can find a home.

Do keep in mind that Texas is all about "the look". It is incredibly important that you put your best foot forward. Every group wants new members that they can be proud to call sisters. It can be very superficial. There are women that do get released from every group. In my experience, these are women that (a) don't meet the grade requirement, (b) have a bad reputation, (c) come across as rude or disinterested - can be an issue for shy women, or (d) don't take pride in their appearance.

On a percentage basis, there is a very small population of women who go all the way through the formal recruitment process at UT and do not receive a bid - VERY SMALL.

As far as numbers, typically a little more than 900 women sign up for recruitment at UT. Many women decide not to go through recruitment, quite honestly, because of the bad reputation that UT recruitment has - thanks to articles in Teen magazine and posts like some that are on this board. Panhellenic has taken great steps to make recruitment a better experience for women however the reputation is going to take a while to live down. Like someone else on the board said, recruitment in Austin Texas in mid August is never going to be easy - walking house to house in heels, full make up, and 95+ degree weather - but it is much better inside the houses now than it was 7-10 years ago.

GOOD LUCK!

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but -- is UT-Austin using the new release figures stuff yet?

Yes, they started last year.

As for the number of recruits, I'd say you have to compare the cost at the large universities. Schools such as UT and Texas A&M have very large houses and the dues are considerably higher at these schools than some that have lodges. Dues can range from $800 to $1200 a semester. maybe more now. With tuition at these schools rising about 20% this can be a factor in choosing to go Greek.

Thanks AlphaXiGirl for clearing up about it being too late to go through recruitment - I had to do real work and you beat me to it!

As we both said, UT recruitment gets a bad wrap b/c of articles and things that happened over 10 (OMG - it's actually been over 10 years since I pledged!) years ago. The horror stories of how tough UT recruitment was CAUSED the drop in our numbers. This wasn't the only factor but it was a big one.

Stories of how "it's too late" and "all the chapters already have their new members classes choosen" are what continue to feed these stories. I also don't think quota has been in the 60's since we went to setting quota the way the rest of the NPC world does (#of women accepting to second invite round divided by # of houses) instead of it just always being 60. I can remember when we had to change form a "set" quota to a "floating" quota. Everyone thought their houses would fall into decay b/c they wouldn't have enough new members to support them!

As was said earlier - this is still a MUTUAL SELECTION PROCESS. Like AlphaXiGirl said, they may have their top 150 - but how many of those are on 1, 2, 3 or 10 other lists chapters on campus??

It is never too late to sign up for recruitment. Waiting just makes you have to work harder to get all your stuff together.

Can we move this thread to the rush forum? The thread is more about UT Sorority Recruitment than UT Greek Life.

Do you mean every year that quota was 60 no matter how many or few women went through? So in other words - if there were 10 sororities and only 400 women went through, some groups were SOL because they couldn't get the 60?