"Sisterhood Is Powerful" by Prudence Mackintosh (Texas Monthly, Sept. 1976)

[shirley1929]

Originally Posted by sigmadiva

/slightly off topic/
I've stopped buying TM because over the last few years the mag has turned to having more ads and fewer articles. I mean, for a while it seemed they were doing a Texas Super Lawyers spread every month!

So now I don't buy it unless there is an article I really want to read.

SO true! They're smart as a fox to create ways to make money, but it is annoying. I've (mentally) threatened to cancel my subscription on several occasions, but there's always at least one good article each month and that keeps me going...

[Eightisgreat]

The problem with the current PNMs reading this article today (and it comes up pretty quickly on any search for UT sororities) is that it is a catalyst for some disappointing recruitments. Is it not human nature to not want to be the girl with the gold bangle? But the article does not paint the picture of UT sororities today. When the Texas Legislature passed the Top 10% rule and then later revised that specifically targeting UT and tightening the auto admit numbers to a percentage that would be 75% of the entering freshman class (8% for the Class of 2015 and 9% for the class of 2016) it dramatically shifted the pool of girls that attend UT, and therefore shifted the dynamic of the PNMs. It was not good enough to be a top notch cheerleader, active volunteer and average student. You needed to be academically superior…top 10% to even get a date to the big dance. Houses that continue to target ABC High School, can still get the cheerleaders, debs and dancers from that school if the girl was in the top 10% or was granted admission from holistic review. But because of the top 10% rule, girls gaining admission on holistic review are down dramatically, and without stereotyping, most girls that are top 10% are a mix of every type of extracurricular out there. But my point is that fabulous HS ABC is not sending their entire cheer squad to UT and they are certainly not sending all the debs either. Because of this, the typical “look” that used to come from these schools has shifted and therefore the culture and “look” of each house (all houses, Big 6 included) has changed.

UT has attracted dynamic and deep resume loaded women who can’t be forced into a mold. But when PNMs go through recruitment with this article in mind and with posts on GC that the Big 6 are still in play (and of course they are still in play, but in no way do they resemble the stereotypes in this article) they have a twisted sense of what they think the perfect sorority will be. (And we all know no house is perfect)

So Suzy PNM pledges a Big 6 only to find out that her “must have Big 6” is on academic probation and their social calendar is highly restricted because the chapter GPA is bottom of the barrel. (She is shocked because how can a Big 6 have one of the lowest GPAs??) She has never read about that, but like I said, the rules have changed, but no one is willing to talk about that…it just seems so easy to talk about the way it used to be. And then Amy PNM also pledges her “must have Big 6” only to find out that this group of women who on paper are class acts (you know they were all raised that way…) behave in ways that embarrass her and in a million years she just can’t figure out how that can be. Then Brooke PNM who followed her heart and was not pressured to believe the Big 6 is all that and a bag of chips; finds a true sisterhood, in an academically excellent chapter and loves that her house focuses on excellence instead of slamming everyone else to appear better. No one can say one house is better than the other. To PNMs perception is reality until they get inside and realize some of this just a mirage.

A writer who is willing to get down and dirty about UT recruitment will find some Big 6 houses rely on their reputations and age old descriptions of who they are….or maybe who they wish they were, while other Big 6 chapters are far better than that TM article says they are. And for the houses that aren’t even mentioned, as if they don’t deserve a column inch, that is where much of the treasure of UT is buried.

[jenidallas]

Originally Posted by Eightisgreat

A writer who is willing to get down and dirty about UT recruitment will find some Big 6 houses rely on their reputations and age old descriptions of who they are….or maybe who they wish they were, while other Big 6 chapters are far better than that TM article says they are. And for the houses that aren’t even mentioned, as if they don’t deserve a column inch, that is where much of the treasure of UT is buried.

Very well stated. I find here in Texas some of the stereotypes for some schools (UT, Tech, TCU, SMU) run deep and ancient. I remember being in high school and told which sororities were "acceptable" when I was 14 or 15 - not by older girls, but by women in their 30s, 40s, 50s. There seems to be a lot of "living in the past" but some of these women wield a LOT of influence over the PMNs (and more so, their mothers) with the insistence that what sorority a woman ends up in will ultimately greatly affect her future ability to do well socially, romantically, and financially.

[Ladybugmom]

Originally Posted by Eightisgreat

The problem with the current PNMs reading this article today (and it comes up pretty quickly on any search for UT sororities) is that it is a catalyst for some disappointing recruitments. Is it not human nature to not want to be the girl with the gold bangle? But the article does not paint the picture of UT sororities today. When the Texas Legislature passed the Top 10% rule and then later revised that specifically targeting UT and tightening the auto admit numbers to a percentage that would be 75% of the entering freshman class (8% for the Class of 2015 and 9% for the class of 2016) it dramatically shifted the pool of girls that attend UT, and therefore shifted the dynamic of the PNMs. It was not good enough to be a top notch cheerleader, active volunteer and average student. You needed to be academically superior…top 10% to even get a date to the big dance. Houses that continue to target ABC High School, can still get the cheerleaders, debs and dancers from that school if the girl was in the top 10% or was granted admission from holistic review. But because of the top 10% rule, girls gaining admission on holistic review are down dramatically, and without stereotyping, most girls that are top 10% are a mix of every type of extracurricular out there. But my point is that fabulous HS ABC is not sending their entire cheer squad to UT and they are certainly not sending all the debs either. Because of this, the typical “look” that used to come from these schools has shifted and therefore the culture and “look” of each house (all houses, Big 6 included) has changed.

UT has attracted dynamic and deep resume loaded women who can’t be forced into a mold. But when PNMs go through recruitment with this article in mind and with posts on GC that the Big 6 are still in play (and of course they are still in play, but in no way do they resemble the stereotypes in this article) they have a twisted sense of what they think the perfect sorority will be. (And we all know no house is perfect)

So Suzy PNM pledges a Big 6 only to find out that her “must have Big 6” is on academic probation and their social calendar is highly restricted because the chapter GPA is bottom of the barrel. (She is shocked because how can a Big 6 have one of the lowest GPAs??) She has never read about that, but like I said, the rules have changed, but no one is willing to talk about that…it just seems so easy to talk about the way it used to be. And then Amy PNM also pledges her “must have Big 6” only to find out that this group of women who on paper are class acts (you know they were all raised that way…) behave in ways that embarrass her and in a million years she just can’t figure out how that can be. Then Brooke PNM who followed her heart and was not pressured to believe the Big 6 is all that and a bag of chips; finds a true sisterhood, in an academically excellent chapter and loves that her house focuses on excellence instead of slamming everyone else to appear better. No one can say one house is better than the other. To PNMs perception is reality until they get inside and realize some of this just a mirage.

A writer who is willing to get down and dirty about UT recruitment will find some Big 6 houses rely on their reputations and age old descriptions of who they are….or maybe who they wish they were, while other Big 6 chapters are far better than that TM article says they are. And for the houses that aren’t even mentioned, as if they don’t deserve a column inch, that is where much of the treasure of UT is buried.

I 100% agree with you eight is great...I would love to see an article written which included all of the 14 sororities at UT and all of the wonderful things they have to offer. In my daughter's case that is an unbelievable sisterhood, lifelong friends, and very, very little back stabbing and drama. This was not what she witnessed with some of her friends that got caught up in the "Big 6 " hype and later regretted thier decisions. I often wonder what some of thier retention rates are like..
Also, these opinions are carried on from generation to generation....this article has been around a long time and like you said, some of these descriptions are accurate and many are no longer true at all. The one thing I will agree is still true is the "camp factor" and coming from the "right" high school..those two factors are alive and well with UT recruitment.

[sigmadiva]

Originally Posted by Ladybugmom

Also, these opinions are carried on from generation to generation....this article has been around a long time and like you said, some of these descriptions are accurate and many are no longer true at all.

Same is true for the NPHC - both for the fraternities and sororities.

/lane swerve/

The one thing I will agree is still true is the "camp factor" and coming from the "right" high school..those two factors are alive and well with UT recruitment.

This makes sense to me. If you've known someone since going to camp from maybe elementary school through high school, then you've known that person for a long time, you know how they are, you are comfortable with them. Same with high school, where you've probably attended the same middle and elementary schools too.

I think the camp factor and hs factor are just that you've known that person for a very long time so you feel they are a safe bet / low risk for membership.

/lane swerve/

[shirley1929]

Originally Posted by sigmadiva

This makes sense to me. If you've known someone since going to camp from maybe elementary school through high school, then you've known that person for a long time, you know how they are, you are comfortable with them. Same with high school, where you've probably attended the same middle and elementary schools too.

I think the camp factor and hs factor are just that you've known that person for a very long time so you feel they are a safe bet / low risk for membership.

This. And the fact that if you've known them THAT well for THAT long, they're already like a sister in many ways. Just makes sense that you'd want to "formalize" that sisterhood. Many PNM's that are close friends from camp (but grew up in different cities) try to pledge the same group so they can be together all the time.

I haven't read the camp article (I linked earlier) in awhile, but I remember it does a great job of showing just how deep these ties run.

[carnation]

Originally Posted by Eightisgreat

Is it not human nature to not want to be the girl with the gold bangle?

I just reread this thread. I'm going to remember this quote this fall every time someone comes down on an 18-year-old for being shallow in recruitment; yeah, in a perfect world, they wouldn't be but it's the nature of the beast at that age.