Informal Recruitment at UGA?
 

I'm a freshman at UGA. I rushed unsuccessfully this past August, and today I filled out the form "to be placed on a list of interest" for spring 2013 recruitment. I am almost completely in the dark about how this works. Can anyone shed some light on the subject? And does anyone know which houses are participating? There was an article in the Red and Black that said DG, AGD, and GPB had confirmed that they would be doing COB and that there were two other unknown houses that would also be participating. If you go on the UGA Panhellenic website it has Phi Mu under the Recruitment 2013 tab, but I'm not sure if that's just a fluke or if they're participating. Can anyone shed some light on this for me? Thanks!

You need to call the Greek Life office and talk with them. They are your only reliable source of information on groups who are doing COB. And I mean actually call or go by - not email. Do it in person.

^^^jinx! buy me an iPad mini?

Thanks! Do you think they'll actually tell me? I have no idea how it works.

Sure you don't want to wait for retina display?:eek:

We are sincere and taking you seriously: indeed, they will answer your questions; that is why they are there!

adiucf has a wonderful thread on recruitment - have you read it? I link to it every chance I get. LMK if you can't find it.

My recommendation to you is to focus your energies on the three confirmed sororities. If they're advertising their participation, they likely have more open slots to fill and will be hosting more activities for you to attend. The unknowns may have one or two spaces, and chances are, they have people in mind to offer bids to.

Granted, it's been awhile since I lived on South Milledge, but I've said before, and I maintain that if you had put every sorority in a hat and picked one out for me at random, I'd have been fine. They all have a diverse group of women who bring a lot to the table.

If you know anyone at GPhiB, DG, or AGD, it might benefit you to casually, in a non-stalkery kind of way mention that you signed up for Informal and are looking forward to it.

BTW, I agree with the others' advice; go over to the Greek Life office and get the skinny firsthand. And enjoy - Informal is a whole different feel from what you went through in August!

The two others may not know if they'll be participating until after the spring semester begins. It may very well depend on the number of members graduating and/or not returning in January.
You can always participate but decide to wait until fall to pledge.

Thanks for being so helpful, everyone!

Here's the article if anyone was wondering. I don't know where they get the "nearly 1800 girls" number, maybe it's a typo.

http://www.redandblack.com/news/cont...9bb30f31a.html

I truly LOVED two of these three "confirmed" houses during recruitment (for what little time I had with them), and I have met many nice girls in the other one (I won't name sororities). If I'm invited/contacted by ANY organization I'll definitely give them a shot.

Wait... I guess COB is different than Spring Rush... I'm confused.

If I'm not mistaken, a few years ago UGA had a semiformal Spring Rush (i.e. parties were coordinated through Panhel, there was a "bid day" etc). I'm not sure if they're going back to doing this - you need to ask the Greek life office. COB or the giving of open bids in general can happen ANY time a chapter is below total.

This article is from September. More than likely the sororities mentioned (and the 2 not mentioned) have done all the open bidding they're going to do until next semester - and by then the groups who are doing so could change.

According to their website:

The UGA Panhellenic system does not host a formal recruitment process for the Spring semester. Opportunities for sorority membership during this time are coordinated through each individual sorority, depending upon spaces available in their chapters."

The form of interest you filled out is the right step for now,but as advised, check with Greek Life about which chapters are participating. All of the sororities at UGA have much to offer. Best of luck to you!

No need to share specifics, but are there chapters at UGA that are significantly below total? Looking just at the numbers, it seems total is high relative to quota (and high regardless). I've been expecting (again, based solely on the numbers I can see) that they would be looking to expand, but if there are 1 or 2 that are 20 or 30 off the others, then that might not be the way to go right now.

The point of my question is not to point fingers at anyone. I'm just trying to get a clearer picture of the campus situation.

They raised total this year.

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.