2013 University of Texas Recruitment Thread
 

Since the 2012 Recruitment thread was so well received, I have decided (a bit later this year) to update this for 2013. I have expanded the Social Media Sections and updated all the dates. So let the games begin and my the odds be forever in your favor.

Registration

Make sure you register for recruitment. Online recruitment registration begins Monday, May 20, 2013 and concludes at 5 p.m. on Monday, August 12, 2013. Paper applications will not be accepted. This is very generous window. Don’t come here on August 5 and ask about letters of recommendation, etc, because it will be too late. The time to do that is now.

Letters of Recommendation

YES you need them. So this does not turn into a three page post, if you don’t know a soul who was ever in a sorority (not likely, but there is always someone that comes here and claims that) register with your local panhellenic organization and they will help you get a letter for each house. Greek Chat is NOT the place to hunt and gather letters. In Texas, the UT Office of Greek Life lists these local organizations here…

http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/gli...pc_alumnae.php


Now go register with them and again…THEY will help you. Please do not confuse registering with them and registering with UT as the same thing. They are different. You should register with your local alumnae first, UT second. Why? Because your LOR should be written before UT registration even opens.

Even more about LOR

Please make sure you take the resume you used to apply to UT and fancy it up and have it ready for your local panhellenic. You will need at least 14 copies of it. They are here to help you but they are not your administrative assistants. You need your transcript too. Grades matter and to UT sororities they matter even more. If your GPA is below 3.5, you will already be on the short list before recruitment even starts. You will also need two photos of yourself. A close up. A full body shot. If you are sending hard copies to someone who is writing your LOR, they will need your resume, transcript and both pictures. You will probably not get them back so do yourself a favor and upload good photos of yourself to Costco and have plenty on hand. (This should be less than $20 and if that kills your budget, you may want to rethink sorority life) Put your name and contact information on the back of each and every one. (Note: some ladies will have you email your photos, transcript and resume. If you don’t know how to attach things to an email, you need to learn this skill A.S.A.P.)

One last note about LOR.

Please take the time to thank each and every lady that writes a letter for you. The letters take time and the good ones take research. Not thanking them is bad form. Also, make sure you drop a note after recruitment to the person who you now share a sisterhood with. She should find out from you. And if you really want to be like Emily Post, a quick email to every lady that wrote for you telling them where you pledge is always welcome.

Contact with Chapters (New for 2013)

Sorority women that hold leadership positions in their respective chapters are very busy women and even more busy during the sorority’s respective work weeks and of course during recruitment week itself. So why do I mention this? You do not, in any way, increase your odds of standing out in a positive way by sending emails to Presidents, Vice Presidents of Recruitment or Directors of Recruitment. 95% of questions that come from PNMs can be answered with the world’s most basic research. The women in these positions are bright, intelligent women, and they expect the same standard from you.

The When and Where:

Formal recruitment always occurs the week before classes start in the fall semester. For 2013, recruitment will be held August 20-August 27, 2013 and the schedule will be as follows:

Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Opening Convocation @ Hogg Auditorium
8:00 PM-9:30 PM

(If you are living in SRD or Hardin, this will be your move in day also. Get to your dorm early..if they say move in starts at 9:00, get there at 8 or earlier, get your stuff done and find time to chill before convocation. Look nice, but you don’t have to get dressed up. Girls will be in everything from Nike shorts to sundresses but make sure your hair looks nice and you have make up on if you normally wear it.)

Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Open House Day 1
10:00 AM-7:00 PM

(For both Open House days, you will be given a T-shirt to pair up with khaki shorts. They recommend tennis shoes, but many, many girls will wear sperry’s or sandals, and wear a belt. It just looks more finished)

Thursday, August 22, 2013
Open House Day 2
8:30 AM-2:30 PM

First Round of selections this afternoon

Friday, August 23, 2013
Pick Up schedules from counselors @ 11:00 AM (Your counselor and your group will have pre-determined meeting locations….typically in or around Hogg)

Philanthropy Day 1
12:20 PM-9:35 PM

(Sundresses)

Saturday, August 24, 2013
8:30 AM-4:15 PM

Second round of selections this afternoon. This selection narrows the houses down to a maximum of 6.

Sunday, August 25, 2013
Pick Up schedules from counselors @ 12:30 PM (again, max schedule of 6 houses)

Skit Night
1:45PM-10:15PM

(Dress like you would wear to a graduation or early evening wedding)

Third round of selections this evening. PNMs are deciding which houses they would like to preference. This of course does not mean this is what they get.

Monday, August 26, 2013
Pick up schedules from counselors @ 3:30 PM (max schedule of 3….but remember…it only takes one)

Preference Night
4:45PM-9:45PM
(Black Dresses….think “Little Black Dress” think classy)

PNMs make their final selections after the parties. Rank houses 1-2-3 if applicable.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Bid Day @ 5:00 PM Hogg Auditorium-
Recruitment counselor’s house affiliations will be revealed and girls will join their new member classes and walk as a group to their respective houses. (A note about Moms. UT has not branched into family bid day as of yet, but more and more moms have been attending as of late. Mainly for a quick house visit and a few pictures and then the NMs attend bid day activities with their new sisters. Trending off of 2012….more Moms than ever showed up for bid day.)


Cost

How much does it cost to be in a sorority at UT?

For the first year the cost range in dues is from $2600-$3900 in the new member year (Fall & Spring) For the following year, dues will fall to $2200-$2600. If you live in the sorority house, the cost to live in most houses, plus meals, plus dues will cost just a tad more than room and board at SRD or Hardin. So the first year is really where the majority of the costs are. There are also other costs for merchandise and t-shirts. It is easy to spend $500-$1000 your first year on this stuff alone. Of course that is optional, but the fact is most girls buy the stuff.

What are the best Sororities at UT?

No one on Greek Chat will answer that question, because no one here, or at UT, or in Austin, or Dallas, or Houston, would ever agree. The best sorority at UT is the one that you feel like you can grow as a person and have a great time. DO NOT GO INTO RECRUITMENT HAVING TO BE AN ‘ABC’. If you do that, it will end in failure. It does not matter if your best friend is an ABC and all of her sisters “love” you. She has 200 sisters (and you can't know them all) and the process is so more complex than that, so don’t drink that turnip juice. Also don’t go into recruitment just knowing you have to be ‘AB’ because your mom was an ‘AB’ at Northwestern in 1985. Being a legacy can matter, but the reality is there are more legacies going through UT recruitment than there are spaces for all the PNMs. All that legacy status will do is keep you in the game an extra round but the reality is if you aren’t a match for ‘AB’ then you just aren’t a match, you just get to carry the hope stick around an extra day. Now if your momma and your grandmother were involved Texas ‘ABCs’ then your legacy status probably holds a bit more water. And that is just the truth. Not all legacies are created equal.

Updated for 2013: Chapters are continuing to get stronger and stronger and the lines between the majority of houses are starting to blur more than ever.

The Six Elephants in the Room

There is not one conversation about UT recruitment where the term “Big 6” does not come up. Full disclosure. I don’t like the term. It was created by a lady named Prudence Mackintosh who at the time was writing for Texas Monthly. She named names and called out 6 sororities at UT (it was the 1970s people) and what made them special or not so special. Each of these houses is still special today and so are the 8 others that form the University Panhellenic Council.

There have been many young PNMs who have come and gone pledging their faithfulness to only accept a bid from a “Big 6” to only be disappointed by what they got. The same can be said about the other 8 too. On the other hand, there have been girls that have been disappointed in the moment, that all of the “Big 6” released them, only to pull their head out of the sand long enough to realize that an amazing sisterhood wanted them to be part of their group and her experience was life changing.

Updated for 2013: Like I stated above the lines between houses are really starting to blur. Frats that use to never mix with “non” Big 6 houses are branching out and continue to do so because the quality of women that are woven through the majority of UT chapters is so strong.

This will NEVER change: Reputation is a tricky thing. A good one can cover a flawed sisterhood and a bad one can cover a good one. Step wisely. Trust your heart.

Round Up

It over for this year so what’s done is done. I’ve been really busy and I am behind, but hopefully if you are reading this and you are in high school, you didn’t go and if you did, I hope you behaved.


Social Media-Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat

I am really going to expand on social media this year. Social Media can 100% make or break you. CLEAN UP YOUR FACEBOOK. If you have anything questionable in your photos, make them very private or better yet delete them. Same thing about comments. Not sure what about hiding behind a glass screen makes people throw their social filters out the window…but find yours and use it. A great number of women that attend UT know someone else at UT or went to High School with someone at UT. Bottom line, friends, friends of friends, people who ask your “friend” to show them your FB page…well they all exisit.

If you think that a sorority women can’t find you on facebook, instagram or twitter, you live in the land naïve and sheltered. You will be stalked, hunted and researched before you ever step into the first chapter on Open House day. If you would be unhappy if your grandma saw it, then don’t post it.

Twitter-Awwww…..Twitter. I don’t know what about twitter makes people spew off their lips some of the ugliest things or racy things or drunk things I have ever read. And then they compound that by taking a picture of a night they will only remember by that exact photograph. The delete key is your friend. Use it. Or better yet, find your inner filter and use that so you don’t have to use your delete key.


Just for Moms

This will be a long week for you. Your daughter has left the nest and has been thrown into a stressful and gut wrenching situation. She will survive. I promise. And when the week is over and if she kept an open mind and properly prepared she will more than likely receive a bid....and when your baby girl has that bid card in her hand...what do you do? Celebrate her choice with her and don't micro-manage her recruitment. Now go buy her something. Here are the new kids on the greek merchandise block:

Melissa's Custom Gifts (Super close most of the chapters)
2116 Guadalupe Street
512-480-0305

Greek & Unique (you have to drive here from campus)
4107 Marathon
512-206-0011

2013 promises to be another blockbuster year for the Greek Community at the University of Texas. Best wishes for a successful recruitment goes out to all the PNMs, the sisters and advisors of all the chapters, the recruitment counselors, the young women in Panhellenic who run this week like a well oiled machine and roll with the punches and take things in stride.

Excellent, Pinapple! Thanks so much. Now, the PNMs have to pay heed!

This is wonderful, if only someone was as dedicated as Pinapple for all the major recruitments! Or at least the one I'll be going through

This thread is AWESOME!

I want to expand a bit on Social Media

The best thing you can do when you create your resume is to actually list your twitter, facebook and instagram handles or links. Why? Because if you leave it up to any of the various houses and the girls that might be researching you, what if they get the wrong Jane Doe? What if that Jane Doe is questionable in nature and determined to not be a good fit for that chapter, yet the "real" Jane Doe is a perfect match. It can cause Jane Doe to be released from chapters for no fault of her own, but because her name was similar to someone else's and there is a case of mistaken identity. So in closing, clean the social media up, list your handles so there is no mistake as to who this girl on paper is.

A Happy and Successful recruitment to all....

pinapple

My daughter is not going to UT Austin, but we did list all of these on her resume for the exact same reason. I was surprised when I put her name into twitter up came a picture of a girl who looks surprisingly similar to my daughter. I actually had to blow the picture up to make sure it wasn't. The Chapters may stalk away. As soon as we send out our resumes to our rec writers the lock down will ensue on all her social media accounts until after recruitment. She has been instructed not to post a single thing about recruitment on any site until after recruitment is over.

I might need an IV drip of alcohol to get me through the week. UGH!

Pinapple, what an awesome post. It is so right on!

As a reference board member for my chapter in a large city in Texas, there is an area I'd like to address. LOR, RIF ??? I would love to see a uniform term for what is needed. I know this sounds picky but I cannot tell you how many letters of support we get for young ladies with no form (required) because the pnm's asks for a letter instead of a reference. How many phone calls and back tracts we have to make. Probably an education on our part but when a board is dealing with several hundred references it can be an issue.

No big deal but a point for discussion. We run 125+ references through our board each year for UT alone and I'm sure others handle more than we do. The requirements for different chapters at UT is mind boggling.

I don't know if LOR or RIF will ever streamline but it would be easier across the board if the entire Greek Community would go to standard forms....but for now....

Alpha Chi Omega
Letter of Recommendation

Alpha Delta Pi
Letter of Recommendation, PNM Profile, Legacy Introduction Forms

Alpha Epsilon Phi
Recommendation Form and Legacy Introduction Form

Alpha Phi
Recommendation Form

Alpha Xi Delta
Letter of Recommendation

Chi Omega
Letter of Support/Recommendation

Delta Delta Delta
Letter of Recommendation with Letters of Support as a supplement.

Delta Gamma
Sponsorship Form & Legacy Form

Kappa Alpha Theta
Letter of Reference and Legacy Introduction

Kappa Delta
Recommendation on PNM form and or Legacy Introduction Form

Kappa Kappa Gamma
Reference Form with Letters of Support as a supplement

Pi Beta Phi
Recruitment Information Form (Primary), Letters of Reference and Legacy Introduction Forms

Sigma Delta Tau
Letter of Recommendation and notification of legacy (email or letter)

Zeta Tau Alpha
Member Informaton Sheets

OK, I am going to out myself here but Kappa Delta requires a Reference Form, not a letter of recommendation. Yes, a legacy introduction form is required.

Ok so here is the underlying issue. I will out myself as not being a Kappa Delta...lol but gathered the information from each house's individual website with confirmation from each Chapter's National Website. So if these websites are giving incorrect information, how is a PNM to know what she needs to present to each house? Maybe that is where the problem is.

Straight from KD's UT website:

And as an added FYI, Delta Gamma will take a letter in place of the actual sponsor form. However, we do not call it a letter of recommendation or reference but consider it to be a sponsor form in letter format.

Your right, pinapple, it is recommendation form not reference form ( I'm bad) but it a form not a letter. Sorry about that.

Thanks for all your post.

I dream of the day where all of these forms are available online in the sisters-only section of the website and transmitted to the sorority directly.

I have changed it the KD section to correctly reflect the terminology.

For some of us that day is here, and has been for quite a few years. :D As someone who writes up to several dozen recs a year, I REALLY appreciate the work that my organization has done to make that a reality.

Bravo Pineapple! Excellent post as usual! Thanks so much for taking the time to post this!! One thing that I recently read..."choose the chapter that you are going to be happy at in the long run..not the house that will only make you happy on Bid Day". Sometimes it is easy to get sucked into the percieved glamour of a certain chapter only to be completley disappointed once all of the hoopla is over. Be true to your self and try not to let others influence you.

That is fantastic! I'm very jealous!

Great posts! My daughter went through UT recruitment last year. All of this advice is correct. It is very hard not to get caught up with your friends and tent chatter.... Go with your gut, not the hype. All of these sororities have intelligent, personable and beautiful young ladies sitting next to them in their chapter..... you can't go wrong if you trust your instincts.

Sophomore rush
 

Hello everyone! I'm (hopefully) transferring to UT in the fall and would love to have the experience to be part of a sorority. I don't find out if I'm accepted to UT until late May or early June. I've read that sororities want LOR due June 1st. If I haven't heard back from UT by then, should I wait and send them in later? I've already talked to my local panhellic group and they are willing to start on my letters before I found out my acceptance decision. Any help would be appreciated!

If you're not sure where you're attending school yet, your sponsors can send the recs to all the schools you are considering. This happens a lot. So yes, have them send the recommendations to UT, even if you haven't heard yet. At best, they will be used; at worst you will attend another school and its extra paperwork the UT sorority won't need.

Just a reminder that registration for the University of Texas is now open :)

There are record numbers already registered! The first orientation session started yesterday. All of the campus organizations have tables set up during the first day, including panhellenic, IFC, and all of the individual chapters. Be sure to visit each one of them and introduce yourself! It is not uncommon for the chapters to have very important people "manning" the tables:) and a good impression goes a very long way!

This is VERY true. It is not uncommon for the Vice President of Membership, President, Director of Recruitment, etc, to be at those tables. Also, be careful not just what you say to a specific representative but also who is in ear shot. Houses share tables so if you are talking XYZ, you better believe ABC is listening too.

And a bit of advise, your behavior at orientation can 100% break you. Attend bar tabs and parties at your own risk. It is so easy to make a critical mistake when alcohol is involved (whether you are drinking it or not---example....drunk frat guy hits on you, yet his active girlfriend is watching. Is this your fault? No. But did it just become your problem? Yes.). IMO, your best bet is to socialize inside your orientation group and meet and greet sorority women at the tables. If you play your cards right, you will have plenty of opportunities to socialize with frat guys. If you play them wrong you will be a GDI and hang on the fringe the next four years. (***Note to the super-sensitives...I am not saying being a GDI is bad choice, I am saying if you are here, looking for recruitment advise, the general idea is that the person reading wants to go Greek, therefore not being Greek would not be their preference)

Hello,

I am transferring to the Cockrell School of Engineering in the Fall, and I have become interested in joining a sorority. I have a high GPA, and I am involved in extra-curricular activities and volunteer work, but I am the first person in my family to go to University for a Bachelor's degree, so I have no legacy whatsoever. I would really like to join a sorority, but I don't know if it's too late for me. I've been researching, and apparently I need letters of recommendation before I ever even go to the events the sororities have planned for learning about the girls interested in joining a sorority. I think joining a sorority would be very beneficial and fun, but I am feeling a little lost...

I guess I'm asking, am I too late to join a sorority since I would need to be asking for letters of recommendation now?

Thank you so much for reading my post.

Not if you get them in ASAP.

How do I get people to write them for me though? I registered with Austin Alumnae Panhellenic Association (at http://www.austinpanhellenic.org/index.html), but I honestly do not know a single person in a sorority, unfortunately. How would I go about getting some people to fill one out for me?

There are many, many threads on this site about how to find recs. Start there.

So you don't know a single woman who went to college? none of your teachers went to college? None of your parents' friends, parents of your friends, SS teachers, employers, Girl Scout mentors, athletics coaches, etc? Really odd that all those women could get to those positions without stepping foot on a college campus. Seriously, you know them - you just don't know that you know them. NETWORK! Make a list of every adult female you know that MIGHT have gone to college. Call every one. If she wasn't Greek, does she know anyone who was? If she was, does she know anyone in the other groups you need?

People. People. People.

I keep on telling you: DON'T tell PNMs to clean up their social media. I LOVE discovering the naughty pix and bitchy convos on Facebook/Twitter/Etc.
We sorority women NEED to know this stuff about our PNMs. :rolleyes:
KEEP THEM IN THE DARK, PLEASE!!;)

You will have to do more than that at this point and do it fast. Send an email to the "recruitment" link under "contacts" on the above site. Are you on campus right now? If yes, go visit the tables during orientation today (@5:00 PM). You don't have to be a freshman attending orientation to do this. Talk to the girls at the tables. Tell them your situation (but don't be weird about it, tell them you are considering going through recruitment and then approach your concerns about LOR), you might be surprised who can get you in contact with who. You can also call the Office of Greek Life @(512) 471-9700. Or go visit them in person. You will have to put yourself out there, but it sounds like you are motivated and I think you will find it is worth it in the end. With that said you have to be your own advocate.

Not to worry we will probably still have the googly-eyed-duckface-selfie-with-shirtless-boyfriend profile shots to look at
In the SLIDESHOW

Just a reminder: Today is the last day to register at the current rate. The price goes up tomorrow, Monday, July 22nd. The cost is 85.00 if received/postmarked by today, Sunday, July 21st and goes up to 100.00 tomorrow. Here is the recruitment guide:


http://issuu.com/marilynr/docs/panhe...855211/3923627

This is a great introduction to rush! Can someone check out my thread regarding international students and sororities to help me out? http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...43#post2226743

:D xx

That goes for the young ladies already in a sorority. Lots of PNMs are looking at the sororities too. Looking at social media this summer with the daughter and some of her "friends" who are in various sororities across the country - WOW. One would put Snooky in all her glory to shame. Ladies - wake up. The internet is forever and even if you delete a picture somebody else may have already taken a screen shot of you in all your inglorious drunkenness (is that a word?).

I feel it is just a matter of a year or two before chapters will start having Director's of Social Media who will report to the VP of Social Standards. These women would be in charge of updating chapter twitter accounts, FB accounts, instagram, etc and would be a report person for photos or posts that put the sorority in a poor light. Most chapters I am aware of have a "no alcohol picture policy" but that does not mean all pictures posted are in good taste.

AMEN!!! If sororities do not already monitor member's FB & Twitter posts, they better start doing it.

Do you guys know how hard this is for a chapter of >200 women? Seriously, it is a full time job and no active(s) have the time to devote to monitoring accounts. What usually happens is that the really egregious posts/posters get called out by their sisters. Most FBs are clean, and that speaks well to the chapters. BUT there are those wacked out twitter/instagram/vine/whatever posters, who just don't get it.

Our chapter actually has one (though she reports to VP Communications not Social Standards), but she only does the bolded. I have heard of other chapters who do have people that check out everyone's FBs but I'm not sure exactly what their policy is on how to notify members of taking things down and how that is handled.

I find it interesting how, for recruitment week, some schools *STILL* don't have all their Actives' facebook pages deactivated. My school was incredibly adamant about deactivation, and I'm pretty sure we did it for two full weeks (work week & then rush until like Noon on Bid Day).

Did you all have to deactivate? It was always so cute to see all the posts when you log back in and re-activate your account, and all of your friends who might not be involved with the Greek system are all like "we thought you died!" and tons of facebook boyfriend/girlfriend relationships are temporarily brought back to "single"... hahaha

Our chapter has one as well. They also go through Facebook posts