Jo Malone Recruitment
 

This is a thread about recruitment at The University of Texas. I’m writing this thread for three reasons: (1) to thank all those who give advice on this site; (2) to help those who may go through recruitment at UT in the coming years; and (3) to get advice I know I will need to pass along to my daughter along the way!
Some background: Thirteen sororities participate in formal recruitment at UT. The first convocation was Wednesday, and open house was Thursday. After open house, the PNMs may be invited to a maximum of ten houses for philanthropy round, which spans two days with a max of five houses on Friday and five houses on Saturday. Skit night is Sunday night, and Pref is Monday night. Bid Day is on Tuesday.
I’ve decided to use Jo Malone fragrances as code because I bought my first bottle on the day I moved in my daughter at UT and love it.
After open house, my daughter was invited to ten houses. That means she has a full schedule, and she and all of us cheering her on are so very grateful and excited about that! She will visit, in no particular order, the following houses:
Grapefruit
Orange Blossom
Pomegranate Noir
Lime Basil
Wild Fig
Vanilla & Anise
Red Roses
Nectarine
Amber & Lavender
English Pear

My daughter’s code name will be “Malone.” Please send good wishes her way!

Looking forward to reading your daughters thread. Just out of curiosity, did she attend summer camp in TX? Amazing that she has full party list after round 1. Good for her.

AXOrushadvisor, that is a very good question. Connections through camps are really important at UT. Unfortunately, she does not have an affiliation with any of the camps. If I knew then what I know now, she would. However, I was advised by --let's call him an academic -- man when Malone was in junior high to diversify her experiences. Without revealing her identity, I can tell you that she did attend one of the camps in Texas during her junior high years. After that, we tried to "diversify," but I don't think that matters! Regardless, we did not list any of "the camps "on her resume.

And, so sorry about those typos.
I'll make sure my reading glasses are on my nose next time I post!

already loving this thread! good luck to texas daughter.

Looking forward to hearing her story! So awesome that she got a full schedule!

I was just curious. I don't live in TX, but my in laws do and my daughter attended Camp Mystic and my son is a Camp Stewart guy. I know that there are so many girls at Mystic with sorority affiliations at UT. Especially nice if you are one of their M Girls- at least that is what they tell me.

I will also share with you that one of my Niece's BF's went to UT (a CA girl) and actually pledged AXO there. She was really unfamiliar with the whole process and I had to really push her to get recs.

Wishing your daughter tons of luck. I hope it is a great experience for her.

Does anyone know what percentage of girls Kappa and Chi-O were required to release?

The biggest chapters at UT are usually required to cut HALF of the PNMs after open houses.

Like the cookie thread wasn't bad enough making me hungry, now this makes me want to shop. Thanks a lot, TexasMommy. :p

Release figures are determined by the chapter's return rates from previous years' recruitments - not necessarily the current size of the chapter. A chapter that had 100% of women want to return to this or that round will have to release more women than a chapter who only had 60% of women want to return. That being said, no one will discuss return rates of specific chapters on here.

Good luck to your daughter TexasMommy!

Thanks for the good luck wishes! She will need them all.

Malone visited Grapefruit, Red Roses, Orange Blossom, English Pear, and Amber & Lavender. Grapefruit has been her favorite from the start. Malone met a lot of girls in Grapefruit at Roundup last spring and even more at summer orientation. She has said from the start that she can see herself as a Grapefruit and that she would love to get a bid from them. She said some officers spoke with her at Grapefruit and that she enjoyed talking with them. She also said that "EVERYONE" in her dorm wants Grapefruit.

She also visited Red Roses and absolutely fell in love. She was rushed by a girl she knows from our community and was later passed to some officers. She said she loved everyone she met at Red Roses. Last night it scared me to hear so much hope for Red Roses in her voice. I also heard a bit of over-confidence: "I think I will really have a hard time choosing if I'm invited back to Red Roses and Grapefruit for pref." Let me assure you that she was the recipient of a very swift. stern, and cautionary lecture.

Orange Blossom is the house I have thought for a while that Malone would fit in best. She was not, however, encouraged after her visit. Her experience at the house contrasted sharply with that at Red Roses and Grapefruit. She was rushed by a girl she described as "a bit dull." Malone said the conversation was really awkward and that she (Malone) struggled to keep it interesting. She said she tried her best and would love an invitation back to skit but that she feels that they may cut her.

Malone enjoyed the girls at Amber & Lavender, but she doesn't think she will fit in there and does not expect a return invitation. She enjoyed her visit at English Pear very much during open house but did not feel as enthusiastic after philanthropy. Because of some twists I can't really explain on this thread, she does not have a letter of recommendation to one of these two houses. So, the return invitation was a surprise. She assures me that she is grateful for all the invitations she has received and that she was gracious at both houses, but she says she just has a feeling that she won't have the opportunity to return to either house. I am also doubtful that she will get return invitations to either of the houses, but we shall see . . .

Almost forgot --yes, AXOrushadvisor, Camp Mystic seems to be the camp of choice for the current UT sorority population!

As far as cuts, I think Pi Phi, Theta, Kappa, Chi O, and Tri Delta (in that order) must make the biggest initial cuts, but I could be wrong.

This is what I have been hearing as well

Partially true. There are 2 other chapters who have had 100% returns from open houses and philanthropy round the past 2-3 years and 2 on your list who haven't.

That is good to know LOVEinZTA!

Malone updated me just a bit ago about today. She feels as though her day went well. Today she visited Pomegranate Noir, Nectarine, Lime Basil, Wild Fig, and Vanilla & Anise.

Pomegranate Noir and Nectarine were her favorites today. She thinks she really likes Pomegranate Noir and feels she did well and was well received at the house. She also enjoyed the conversations and likes the house itself. On the other hand, she has started to have some misgivings as to whether she will fit in well there. While she would be more than grateful for a return invitation to learn more about the house and meet more of the girls, she is not sure she is a perfect fit for the house.

Malone also likes Nectarine. I think this may be one of the houses left off that biggest cuts list above that LOVEinZTA is referencing. Malone did not think she would like this house prior to recruitment, but she is really smitten by them. She said that the Nectarine girls did something different the first night that none of the other girls at the other houses did, and she found it really endearing. I don't want to say what it was on this thread because that house may be known for this. Anyway, she is surprised that she likes the house as much as she does, and she is hoping for a return invitation. She said the girls told her lots of things that make her see Nectarine as a great house for her, but she did not know anyone at this house prior to rush, so she is nothing more than hopeful.

Malone also enjoyed her time at Lime Basil. She knows a couple of girls at the house and likes them and enjoyed her time there but is not sure this is the perfect house for her. She would like a return invitation to learn more about the girls.

Malone did not circle Wild Fig or Vanilla & Anise today at convocation. She just doesn't think either house would be a good fit. She also said, however, that she could be wrong and is keeping an open mind and will do her best at either/or house if invited back.

This will be my last post until pref. The next cuts will be harsh, and I wonder what the return invitations will be like for Malone. Because her list may be drastically shorter, I fear I could compromise her identity if I post before pref.

So, until then, please send some positive energy her way. Malone is hopeful for return invites but she is worried too.

If you have powers to bring lower temps to Austin, that would be great too!!! The girls were literally melting by the end of the day.

Just want to clarify about Nectarine. Prior to rush, Malone wasn't sure about Nectarine because she didn't know any of the girls at the UT house or any other campus house, and she just didn't know a lot about it.

Best of luck to you and Malone!

It's too bad she wasn't feeling the figs because I am absolutely craving them now :D

Best of luck to her!

I hope we have an update soon and that everything went well in Austin today!

Bless her heart. I'm thrilled to think she beat the heat. Good luck to her, and I hope she had an AWESOME Bid Day!

I returned home from Bid Day today after congratulating Malone at her new "home." In short, it was definitely an experience with extreeeeeme highs and lows. We were/are grateful that Malone had a full schedule for each round. After being cut from her legacy house, she picked herself up, faced a bit more heartache, picked herself up, faced a bit more heartache, picked herself up, and landed in a great house. It was a difficult week balancing the heartache she was experiencing with the news of girls who, despite great resumes, etc. -- they all have them at UT -- being released prior to skit and then pref.
Lots of bloodshed amid the horrible heat.
Malone landed in a place that she may not have foreseen herself landing, but she is so very happy, and we are so happy for her. This mommy is also so happy that the process has ended!

Malone pledged Nectarine. She did not know much at all about the house prior to philanthropy round but really liked them. See above. Although she went back and forth and back and forth and thought she would fit in best at another house, in the end it is Nectarine that she will call home. I am very proud of her for enduring such a tough recruitment, and I am excited to watch her flourish in her house with her new sisters! It's been a lot of fun to read her happy texts tonight! Thanks again for all your well wishes!
Please now send well wishes to those girls who were released. My heart aches for them.

Best wishes to your daughter, TM ... but who is Nectarine?

If cuts were that bad, maybe it's time UTAustin brought another NPC group on campus?

Congrats to both you and your daughter for surviving the process!

I'd be interested to know about the cuts at UTX since I read quota was only 45. This just sounds a bit strange for that university.

As for adding another group, I wouldn't count on it happening because of the expense, etc. When Kappa Delta went back on campus 30 years ago, it was a tremendous financial undertaking that would not have happened without some wonderful ladies who had been planning ways to return for a very long time. It was incredibly expensive then.

Every year, some girls go throuh and will only accept XYZ, etc. and find themselves dropped. Still, I have two former students who participated one as a sophomore and one as a junior transfer. Both were the first in their families to pursue membership. They found a good home and a wonderful sisterhood.

Quota was only 45? Can someone confirm?
Cuts are always bad at UT, but I agree with TXalunm1 -- sometimes girls do not find a home because they will accept membership to only certain houses.

Congratulations to "Malone" on finding a home, and on continuing to pick herself up and move on through the recruitment process This is a great skill to learn and use at a young age; it will stand her in good stead the rest of her life.

And to you, congratulations on sharing your story with us; it was a well-written "read" from start to finish. HOwever, thanks to you, now I think I've found something else to investigate and possibly buy - those fragrances are enticing.

Will be interested to hear what quota is; the number that's been quoted seems quite small, but I'm an outsider and only know my own system.

So happy to hear that Malone is in a house she likes. Sounds like it was a tough week for many. My rec girl said many of the girls she met were cut and ended up without a house. I am sure as stated here some of that happens because of girls wanting the big 6 houses and not keeping an open mind.

Oh and did I miss what house was nectarine? Any way congrats to Malone

My rec girl had a full schedule for philanthrophy (10) and a full schedule for skit night (6) then was released before pref. She really was an amazing girl who had an open mind and a positive attitude. I know I can't know exactly what happened during the parties for these decisions to occur - but it does break my heart for her. The idea that quota was as low as 45 just makes it even more wrenching.

quota
 

I don't know what quota was exactly this year but I know that one chapter took 57 and another took 54.

Kappa Delta pledged 60. Beautiful group of KD ladies. We are so very proud.

Bumping . . . .

bumping to stomp down the spam!

Bump