UW rush
 

Hi everyone! i am new to greek chat and was wondering if anyone could give me any information at all about rush at the University of Washington in Seattle. i am currently a freshmen right now just finishing up my first semester and am thinking of transferring to UW for my sophomore year. i got in last year but decided not to go and now i think i may be regretting my decision! i was looking around previous threads about UW here on greek chat and they were all from 2002 or 2003 so i was wondering if anyone who is currently in the greek system at UW or knows a lot about it could help me out! does anyone know if rush at UW is pretty competitive? is there a good amount of girls who do not receive bids? are letters of recommendation pretty important? what about rushing as a sophomore? any help or advice would be great! thank you so much!!!

Hi! Just wanted to bump this, because I will be a freshman at UW next year and am considering rushing.

Well, I was hoping someone who actually went to UW recently would chime in here, but I guess I will have to do for the time being.

I want to preface this by saying I did not attend UW, my children did not attend UW and I have never been in a sorority BUT we lived in WA for quite awhile and my kids grew up there, so around 40 of my daughter's friends attend or recently attended UW and probably 30 were in sororities or fraternities there. What little I know (and it is very LITTLE) is based on that.

The first thing anyone on here will tell you is to do the following:

1) Call or email the Greek life office at UW and ask them the questions you asked here.

2) Talk to friend or friendly acquaintances you have who are in sororities and ask them those same questions.

3) Go on the sorority websites and public FB's for those that have them. Find out about the sororities (just like you would find out about a company you want to work for). Pay attention to their GPA requirements and their avg GPA (above their average is what you're shooting for).

So having said that....UW is considered competitive for the NW and probably fairly competitive for the country as a whole. They have a large number of girls going through every year (1000 to 1200 on avg I believe) but also a large number of houses (16) since it is a big school. The good news is, out of 16 you will probably find many you like, but they have to like you too, so you need to keep an open mind and not cross anything off the list based on a first impression (kind of like dating).

It is LONG week. They move into dorms on Friday, go through recruitment all week, and move into houses the following weekend. You do get a two day break before school starts.

I THINK (not sure) that all 4 schools in the region (UO, UW, WSU, and OSU) have guaranteed bids. This means IF you go all the way through the process, IF you maximize your options, and IF you sign a preference card, you will get a bid somewhere.

That I know of, none of her friends had recs. That being said, particularly if you are a sophomore, and if you know alums already, get one. Again, it is like a job - why not do everything possible to have an edge? On the other hand, do you need to go through alum organizations and get 4 recs to every house - no. This is not SEC competitive.

The most important thing you can do is have a high GPA and be active. You will be competing with girls who all had pretty good ones and probably pretty strong resumes on top of that.

A sophomore will face heavier cuts than a freshman, so don't take it personally when that happens. It doesn't mean you won't get into a house, it just means some houses can take all freshman and they will do that.

I can't speak to the dress code issue. My daughter didn't ask for a daily "what I wore to recruitment" bulletin from her buddies (LOL), but I would guess that due to the time of year it falls (September) it is probably somewhere in between WSU (August/sundresses every day) and UO (October/jeans and cute shirts/1 dressy night). Ask your friends and the Greek life office.

On a good note - All of my daughter's friends were/are very happy in their houses, and I think they were spread out through 6 or 7 of the 16.

Sorry for being so long winded. Good luck and let us know how it goes. :)

Since no one with first hand knowledge has chimed in - here are some old threads that deal with UW. My daughter joined two years ago and is still very happy. I know she has had upper classmen receive bids from her GLO, but I don't know any of the details (friends already in chapter, transfer?) and I never got the impression that it was that unusual for some upper classmen to received bids. I don't believe they have a separate upper class quota.

Recruitment Stories
Some have happy endings; some don't. Obviously the 2007 stories are more accurate as to the process. I think the 2003 girl got to see all her invites and choose which no longer happens.


First from 2003
http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=38808

then from 2006
http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=77659

three from 2007
http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=89800

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=89819

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=90189


My advice is to go into those first two days with an open mind and not to set your heart on just a few groups. Some groups must make heavy cuts after those first parties and you don't want to be disappointed about who you don't get back, instead be excited by who invites you back.
You do have to rank them, so I suggest as you walk out think - Did I like them, think they were OK, or need to meet them again to decide? That way if you rank - need to meet again at the bottom and are invited back you are already thinking that you need to meet them again, not the chapters I didn't like invited me back. Because as everyone here on GC will tell you, your opinions can change from day to day.

I suspect AXOMOM is correct about the bids. Quota additions have been up to ten girls in the past few years. But, I haven't seen any thing in writing or be told that they have guaranteed bids.

In the past, they gave you a T-shirt to wear to the first round. As it gets closer to recruitment, panhellenic usually puts pictures of suggested outfits on the website with a recruitment guide. Keep checking the website for the guide.

Good luck, it is definitely worth the effort and UW has beautiful houses! They should hold a Panhellenic fundraiser giving tours. I know I would fly up to see them all.

Just thought of something else by the way - I know WSU has two or three Greek fairs throughout the state (Seattle, Spokane, and maybe Vancouver). I am pretty sure (NOT certain I emphasize) that UW does this as well. Again, check with the Greek Life office. If they do - I would strongly suggest going to one of them. If helps you learn more, you get a chance to meet a few people, and the more they see you the better (dress well - it doesn't have to be fancy - just cute and neat).

Doublerose is right - EVERY house on Greek Row (which is more like many blocks) is beautiful.

I kept meaning to respond to this thread, then would forget as soon as I remembered...

AXOmom and DoubleRose have it right. I'm going to break it out so it's easier to read.

- For the NW, UW is a pretty competitive school, though not nearly as much as some schools in the South.

- While I have seen girls come through who do not have recs, it certainly doesn't hurt to have them.

- Freshmen do have a bit of an advantage. There is an upperclassman quota, but it only applies to Juniors and Seniors. I have seen many sophomores have successful Recruitments, though it definitely helps to have friends in chapter and a high GPA.

- Greek Fairs: I'm actually not sure that UW has this. The Overlake Panhellenic Association (comprised of alumnae) does host a Greek info session, but that was on March 4th. UW's Panhellenic hosts a Greek Weekend for incoming freshmen, which is held in April. I would highly recommend that for any freshman even contemplating going through Recruitment. For upperclassman, I know a couple weeks ago there was an informal Recruitment "fair" of sorts, where anyone interested in informal could go and meet the chapters who were informaling. Not sure if they're going to do that for Spring Quarter.

- UW does do guaranteed bids - this applies if you make it to preference and rank all the pref parties you attended on your card. Most girls going through make it to this point, but there are some who are dropped during the process (I'm going to guess maybe 3%-5% of the women going through). Over the past 3 to 4 years the number of PNMs has been hovering around 600.

- What to Wear: Panhellenic does put together a guide, with example pictures of what to wear for each round. Those are pretty spot on from what I have seen. One of the most important things - wear comfortable shoes! You will be doing a lot of walking during Recruitment and will still want use of your feet at the end of the week. If you're going to wear high heels, bring flip flops for in between parties.

- While it's definitely good to visit websites and FB pages and whatnot (and this goes for any school really), DO NOT get your heart set on a chapter ahead of time. Wait until you meet each chapter before deciding, and even then it's best to keep an open mind. All of the chapters at UW have many wonderful things to offer (including very beautiful houses).

- Recently UW added a local sorority onto Panhellenic: The Jewish Sorority (what they named themselves). UW is currently open for extension (expansion? I always confuse the two) with the intent to affiliate The Jewish Sorority with an NPC sorority. I'm not exactly sure of the timeline, but I would guess that there could be a colony recruitment happening after Fall Formal Recruitment this year, which is very exciting and another option to consider.

Good luck to both of you if you decide to go through Recruitment! And Go Dawgs!

This is where the lack of "J" in the Greek alphabet really screws things up.

Iota Sigma maybe?

Iota would make sense actually... maybe just in my linguistically twisted mind though. Some people pronounce it "eye-ota" and others "ee-ota", which winds up sounding more like "ee-yo-ta"... I think the first may be more common but the second is more accurate.

In thinking about the letter J, it's spelled "Jota" in Spanish and Portuguese. Pronounced "Ho-ta" by the former and "Jo-ta" in Portuguese (the J is kind of like the word "je" in French, not like the J in Joe). Not THAT far off from ee-yo-otah. Especially considering some of the more lispy European accents (like Spain).

So... I could see them as being linked at some point in time. Of course, I could be completely off base but it's fun to think about.


And to OP2, good luck at UW!

wanted to bump this for fall recruitment!