Kitemom can probably answer more in detail. But, I know that in Houston, the Panhellenic council has a meeting in the spring where they go over everything about general recruitment. Then, I believe, they break up into school specific groups to go over the details of that school's schedule and to answer school specific questions.

I only heard through friends with daughters about the meeting, so I can't give specifics.

When I taught at a private high school in Houston, I held a workshop every spring for senior women interested in rush, er, recruitment. One of the things we discussed was conversation skills. I had a 100% bid rate for the girls I coached - I'm very proud of that. But this was a small private school - probably no more than 10 - 12 girls a year.

full body shots
 

While there has been some arguement FOR full body shots, it still makes absolutely no sense to me.

How about inserting the phrase "no glamour shots" into the photo statement instead since that seems to be the big concern of people not looking like they do in the photo? I think that is what the Panhel states in my alma mater's recruitment info.. and *gasp* that school is in Texas. We had absolutely no problem telling which girl was which and we all used head shots.

I don't really see what other distinguishing parts of the body (besides a face obviously) are neccessary for members to "tell who the person is"... unless you want to refer to them as "the girl with the big boobs and tiny body" or the "girl with big hips and tiny midsection".

Really.

What if the girl gains 15 lbs between the time she took the picture and the time recruitment rolls around? Will those full body shots be helpful? Probably not.

It's quite possible that they want a full length photo so that its not a close up of the woman's face--so that it really is for identifying purposes rather than for judgment purposes. Close ups show a lot of flaws--but who knows?The school where I advise takes group photos of Rho Gamma groups and gives those to the chapters with women identified, rather than having them submit photos. It works for us.

Yes, recruitment in Texas is brutal and judgmental--the stories I've heard are really incredible--but it gets the job done and I don't think many could argue that the greek systems in the state are strong. Recruitment in general isn't always fair--no matter where it is so I am not sure what all the hullabaloo is about. Picture or no picture, people make judgments.

Then why not just tell everyone to submit their high school senior yearbook picture? That's usually head and shoulders and they'll all pretty much look the same. Sorry, I don't think there's any reasonable argument for REQUIRING a full-length body shot. So sure, the more gregarious, self-confident larger-frame women may still go through rush, but you know there will be way more self-and-body-conscious teenagers that will get "the message" from that requirement and not even bother. And from an outside perspective, that seems to be the goal. There are plenty of northern schools that have hundreds and hundreds of girls go through rush that don't require any kind of picture, much less a full-body one. And they manage to remember and identify the women and have big chapters. Making your rush a more complicated, involved process does not automatically make it more "competitive." In a good sense, anyway.

That's how my school did it too and it eased the judgmental factor of FR a little bit :o Fact is, if you have enough girls going through, you need pics to help identify the women you talked to, index cards between rounds simply isn't enough. And why not allow the PNM to pick their best picture to send in with their application to maximizee their chances?

Of course it's voluntary. But a lot of the NPC women here seem to be interested in attracting MORE women to the system, instead of thinking it's dandy that women can just choose not to participate. They are saying that maybe the system as a whole is missing out on women who are being scared away by the photo requirement. Sure, maybe those women would never have what it takes to be in XYZ southern belle house, but they might be a great fit for other chapters if those chapters only had a chance to meet them.

No one doubts that UT, like its peers, has strong NPCs, but it's also true that a system with only 14 chapters on a campus with 15,000 female undergrads has a lot of room to grow if it wants to make itself attractive to different types of women.
________
LollyDolly

Not to nitpic--but you're assuming everyone gets those pictures taken. In my case, I looked NOTHING like the photo I got taken the summer before my senior year by the time I was a freshman.

The reality is, that full length requirement is probably something that started a billion years ago and no one has thought to change it. Change is very slow in this state--especially when it comes to recruitment because no one wants to rat on anyone else or tell Jane $1Million alumna that she can't have teas with the pnms.

although i have not been through recruitment, i know that most of the girls going through a big southern rush know what they are getting themselves into. they have been prepped by their mothers and friends for a very long time ,know all the songs and symbols of their legacy sorority. some of my friends mom's even hired Rush Consultants, which i thought was extremely bizarre. but now they are in " top houses" in the SEC.

and yes some girls are scared off by the whole thing, but if you never try you dont know what a beautiful thing you could be missing.
... i always thought of rush as survival of the fittest!

and you may disregard this because im not even in a sorority...yet. but i feel like ways of southern rush isnt something that can be explained ; its a very strong tradition that is changing very slowly, but like Just Interested said, old habits die hard.

(runs for cover) =)

But I don't understand the need for full body shots. Like others have said it just stops the girls (that could be great assets to a sorority) from even submitting an application. Plus, asking for a full body shot doesn't stop the "Glamour Shot"-esque photos from being submitted.

And just a side note. Can we please say UT-Austin? Cause UT is a system and there is more than one campus, and "Texas" is a state with many universities. lol

It's generally known that in Texas, it's either UT or Texas. You never hear anyone referring to UTSA or UTEP as UT, or at least I don't. The same goes for A&M and Tech. Just a thought.

True - and everyone knows that recruitment at UT is a world unto itself.

Those of you slamming our recruitment process here have never experienced it and have no idea what the members and PNMs face. True, we are very steeped in tradition and have a very old and established Greek system. But we also deal with some issues similar systems do not face to such an extreme.

It is a EXTREMELY difficult to get accepted into Texas. In essence, every PNM was in the top 10% of her graduating class, so grade cuts are almost non-existent. We're talking high achievers here with loads of activities and involvement. They also come with lots of recs and it sometimes seems like everyone is a legacy.

Without going into membership selection details, I will tell you that it is unbelievably difficult to differentiate between PNMs and make cuts when we're starting out with 800 girls and release numbers are extremely brutal. Every year there are tons of wonderful PNMs who get cut hard and early.

The good news is that we do have guaranteed placement, so if a PNM gets to pref, she will get a bid. However, so many PNMs decide beforehand that they must be a member of a particular group of seven sororities, so they do not give the others a chance. It's a vicious cycle. With the exception of two, all the chapters here are huge. Almost everyone can find a home if they keep an open mind and

And yes, it is either Texas or UT. No one familiar with our university or any of the other public schools in Texas would know it by any other name or refer to any of the UT system schools as such.

One last thing ... not all of our chapters have web sites and the ones that do don't show photos of every member; not even close. Please don't pass judgment based on a small snapshot of the sororities here simply because you've seen something on the internet.

Ummm...well technically it isn't that hard. I was guaranteed acceptance because I was in top 10%.

Please don't generalize. Maybe people in East Texas have always referred it to "Texas" or "UT." I've lived in Texas all my life and I've always heard it as "UT-Austin." No one that i've known has ever called it Texas or UT....not even the UT-Austin representatives that came to our high schools called it UT. Plus, all my friends at A&M call it "TU"

That's exactly what I said. It's nearly impossible for someone from Texas who is NOT in the top 10% to be accepted.

That's weird because I have lived in Texas all of my life (and not anywhere near east Texas) and have never once heard it referred to anything but UT or Texas. And of course those Aggies are a different thing all together! :)