Fall semester at Maryland is pretty much when people who WERE freshmen the spring before but didnt join go through. There won't be any freshmen to compete for spots with. Maryland has deferred recruitment for freshmen. You cant join until you have 12 credits and a 2.5 GPA. Everyone else going through with you will be a first semester sophomore and up. Here's the greek life website for UMD
http://www.greek.umd.edu As far as I know (I have been out of school for about 7 years now) all fraternities hold recruitment activities in the fall. There are over 20 fraternities at Maryland, each with their own style. There is definitely something for everyone among the fraternities at Maryland.