The White Dress- UCF
 

Hey GCers. I've seen in numerous threads women suggest buying a white dress and shoes NOW if you plan on going through recruitment in the fall as you'll need one in basically any chapter for initiation/ritual/and so on...

But question: could anyone at UCF let me know if there are requirments (length, straps, neckline) I know it will vary by chapter but maybe a few Chatters will know about a couple of chapters as well as there own.

I know to use common sense: church appropriate. I figured I would look for a tea length (mid calf) with a v-neck and about two inch thick straps.

I know I would be happy with any Greek home at UCF so I want to be prepared... I just don't want to prepare and be told its not appropriate!! :) Thanks for any imput!

I didn't mean to sound that way, Im just trying to follow advice that I read from a woman who came out of Orlando. Thats mainly why I began looking.

I would wait until you're actually part of a chapter before buying your dress. To be completely honest, I borrowed a white dress that fit chapter regulations for a couple of semesters before buying my own.

I know I've posted this before, but I have seen girls who were forced to buy another dress (which sucks if you can't return the first one) or turned away from ritual because they were not wearing a dress that met ritual standards. You don't wanna be that girl.

UCFlove, I don't intend to sound mean or out of touch but I doubt that you'll have any trouble finding an appropriate dress as approved by an organization once you are extended a bid. It just seems weird to me to worry about the details now. I'm sure that you wouldn't purchase a wedding gown before an engagement or a baby crib before a pregnancy so why get a ritual dress before you are extended a bid?

I was able to find a white dress 15 years ago (pre-Internet) while in a small rural 10,000 person college town 100 miles away from a mid-size city. I'm confident that you will not have any problems with a similar task when the time is right.

Oh no I didnt think you were mean! I just didn't want you to think Im one of those who gets on here "knowing" I will be Greek. I know to not offend those I want help from :)

You guys are probably right. Im just nervous and ready to get recruitment started! Thanks for the advice!

It's totally fine to be excited! (nervous, too) Why not? This is going to be a thrilling time for you. You just seem to want to be prepared. lol

Granted, it's been a while since I needed my first white dress, but I wish someone had told me (this time of year) to have one ready. I needed my whites the day after bid day (heck, it might've even been bid day itself, I don't remember).

I had no idea I would be needing one, and was really stressing about finding a white dress in September! I don't think it's presumptious of the OP to want to be prepared.

I agree that finding a dress now is actually a good idea. Maybe it's different down south, but when I went through, we had recruitment really late and bid day ended up being during the first week in October. Finding a white dress then was SO HARD; the only one I found was strapless and several sizes too big. I spent my initiation praying that I wouldn't end up flashing everyone.

I agree with the above couple posters, I needed a white dress for many occasions and searching in November was horrendous (and I live in a huge California city). OP, even if you don't go Greek, a white dress can be worn to other occasions. You are smart for thinking about this kind of stuff early.

i say go ahead and get the dress. when i went off to Fl. State back in the 70's i had a white dress-not presumptious, just prepared. so did my daughter when she went off to her college 3 years ago. choose a conservative style, all white just as you described above. you can always leave the tags on and keep the receipt to return it later if your chapter requires something different.

you may not have time to go shopping on bid day, and some chapters may want to hold their pledging ceremonies on bid day, so between receiving your bid and the ceremony there would be no time.

Actually, I beg to differ. I am a UCF alum and I know how difficult it is to find a white dress. By September, most of the stores have their Fall line in. White becomes an impossible color to find other than what's left on the sales racks. Mix that in with almost a thousand girls all trying to get a white dress at one time and...well...you can see the problem. I went out to the Altamonte Mall to find my dress which anyone who lives in Orlando knows is not at all nearby the UCF campus. I thought that by going out there that I'd have a much better chance of finding a dress than at the nearby malls such as Oviedo or Fashion Square. I was wrong. I recognized at least 30 other girls from my school there who were all trying to find a white dress.

I ended up with a dress from Contempo (does anyone remember that store???) that was about 2 sizes too big. I had to put safety pins on the back of the dress to get it to fit....sadly, I was able to fit into the dress by my senior year, though. Damn sorority meal plan.

Moral of the story: buy your dress now while the stores are still selling white and before you're competing with a thousand other girls for the dress.

Thanks to everyone! It's great getting some more outside advice.

ZTAngel, when you were at UCF would a style like I described be acceptable as far as you know??

Holding on to tags and receipts are a GREAT idea. I will have to do that :)

I've heard some sororities/chapters requiring a dress with sleeves (as opposed to a strapless or spaghetti straps) ... not full-cover-your-arms-to-the-wrist sleeves, but sleeves nonetheless.

Maybe find a really lightweight white cardigan too in case

I'm not sure about the other chapters but I know with mine it had to be knee-length and the shoulders had to be covered.