UT Austin rush
 

Hey everyone! I'm an out of stater just returning from orientation. Never was interested in sorority life but after hearing all the buzz about recruitment at orientation, I'm gonna go for it!

Do you all think it's a real disadvantage to be starting so late on registration and all?? The talk at orientation puts the houses like this: PiPhi, Kappa, Theta, Tri Delta, Chi O, Zeta, APhi, AXO, AEPhi, DG, KD, ADPi, AZD, SDT

What are the strongest houses at UT to consider as an out of state student? I'm going to start getting rec letters together but do I really need to have them for the lower houses? I think I can skip AEPHI and SDT because I'm not Jewish. Thanks in advance for the help!!

You may want to look around this site a bit and read some of the threads for PNMs...I'm sure you're going to get some responses and if you really are serious about going through recruitment, well, then, good luck. Just know that there are representatives of all the sororities on here and it's kind of bad form to refer to any of them as "lower" or anything like that. Think about how you would feel if you and your friends were labeled as such. You'd be very lucky to be in ANY sorority at UT or any other school, and if you ask someone for a recommendation and refer to her sorority as "lower," you're probably going to be out of luck.

You need to be prepared for recruitment AND have an opened mind. Tiers are the imagination of someone but I personally have no idea who. All chapters are wonderful. Each chapter of each sorority is different than every other chapter of that sorority. There are different women in each chapter and everyone of those women are different. Now, multiply each personality by the number of chapters on every campus and then multiply that by 26 NPC sororities. You may be comfortable with ABC on the U of State A while you'd be a better fit with XYZ had you attended U of State B.

Don't rule out houses because of their religious founding. You just may find your best fit is at that house. I AM Jewish but I belong to a house that was not founded on Jewish practices. Had there been a Jewish based house on campus when I attended, would I have joined them instead? Who knows.

Get your recommendations in line, have at least 1, maybe 2 for every house, have an open mind. Make your own decisions as to where you are most comfortable, don't base your decisions on tent talk. Member, numerous personalities.

DaffyKD

BlueCarnation and DaffyKD, you get high marks for your gracious responses.

Paging AZTheta and her new signature!

You're rushing at Texas and you're just now getting recs?

I concur. A bid to any group on any campus should be treated respect and graciousness. Every group at UT is a quality organization. Keep in mind that membership is not just for the 4 years of college but rather for a lifetime. You will find sisters wherever you go.

Get your recs and letters of support in order and put your best foot forward.

Yes, you are at a very large disadvantage starting so late. You should probably also delete everything but your first paragraph from your post as soon as humanly possible.

Sidebar: I thought that most schools with a large Greek presence sent out some sort of info to incoming freshmen in the spring so they did hear about it before orientation.

33girl - she said she wasn't interested in it before - not that she didn't know about it

Oh. My. I sure hope that you let your OWN experiences with each chapter guide you in your decisions, not just tacky gossip from some other people that you don't even know.

If you choose to go through recruitment at this late date, you should be gracious and enthusiastic about EVERY SINGLE party invitation that you might receive.

Yes, you need to get recommendations for every single chapter. You already have strikes against you. There is no such thing as a "lower house" at UT. You need to understand that in very large part, THEY are doing the choosing, not you.

ETA: read this thread Not So Mutual Selection

Right, it sounds like she got excited about joining a sorority after hearing about it during orientation. I don't mean to side track the conversation but I am sort of wondering out loud if we do ourselves a disservice by making it difficult for students to participate in recruitment. Of course, she could wait until the spring or just rush anyway and hope for the best. Not to minimize all the legwork and time people put in to prepare, but it is a pretty tough situation when people decide to join but don't because they feel like they can adequately prepare or would be at a big disadvantage.

UT's recruitment is brutal. You will be LUCKY to get a bid from any house. They are all wonderful chapters. Every single chapter is FULL of smart, beautiful, accomplished women. Every chapter has OOS members. Narrow minded pnms usually end up withdrawing from recruitment midway through the process. It is not a campus where sophomores going through for a 2nd time have much success - your first, best chance at a bid is as an open minded freshman.

Please find at least one rec for every house. Every chapter has its own rec policies and a few chapters (spread across the popularity "tiers") have national policies that pnms must have a rec to pledge. Don't be thinking it's a cakewalk to get into some of the chapters because IT. IS. NOT.

I have a daughter who successfully pledged at UT from OOS. You need to be getting letters of rec ASAP. Within the next week. If your rec writers are unfamiliar with the process, tell them to go to their National website. All the information should be there. There are certain sororities who have more OOS than others - you will figure this out as you meet the girls during recruitment. Be open to all sororities - many girls in Texas have been preparing almost all their life for Recruitment so are well positioned and prepared. Good luck!

Assuming this poster isn't a troll, here's my two cents.

SarahE (please don't let that be your real name): first things first. Read like crazy in the recruitment forum, especially everything you can find on UT

Next, ignore all the "ratings" and "rankings". Pay attention to what TXDG wrote to you.

So, what do my Panhell sisters think of me telling the OP to sit out a year? I know it's Texas BUT she's so unprepared... my rationale is this: that gives the OP time to get the lay of the land, make friends in and out of sororities, and get a killer freshman GPA which will make her a desirable member as a sophomore. It is my belief that UT chapters do have the option of "upperclass quota". Is that true? Also wondering: what's the status of spring rush for UT?

(AHEM: LadyLonghorn, where are you???????????????)

If you do want to wait out, my rec girl from a couple of years ago had a successful rush at UT her sophomore year. However, get those recs in ASAP if you want to rush and prepare.

All of the sororities at UT are great. Don't listen to tent talk.

UT has a sophomore quota, and many girls have found success pledging as sophomores (even a few juniors). From my limited exposure, it seems that it doesn't hurt to go through as a freshman and try again as a sophomore if it doesn't work out. Often girls will make friends with a group of girls in a sorority and don't have too difficult of a time pledging that sorority as a sophomore. It's still competitive as UT has many girls that transfer in as sophomores. I believe ~300 girls drop out of Recruitment every year.

A few sororities do COB or Spring recruitment, but it is informal and not publicized.

Yeah, I'm not sure I'll able to get everything done on time. I will jump on this and hope I have letters for as many houses as I can get!! I have a lot to do omg :eek:.

SarahE (as AZTheta said, hoping this is not your real name), in addition to the very wise counsel provided by my Panhellenic sisters earlier in this post, you might want to see if there is a Panhellenic alumnae association in your area. Depending on where you're located (please don't post it here), they may or may not know anything about recruitment at UT specifically, but they may be able to assist in tracking down recs and/or answering general questions.

You are getting a very late start for this process. That being said, I wish you much success at tracking down the recs you need, and with recruitment. And as many have stated previously, ignore the opinions of others as to tiers. Keep an open mind and be thankful for every invitation you receive.

I'll share a few thoughts and comments about Texas recruitment. My daughter is a junior at UT and had a successful recruitment. She is in-state but never planned to go Greek until senior year of high school, so she was not preparing for it all her life as mentioned previously.

UT has a sophomore quota and most houses take advantage of it. I actually heard one active say it's easier to get into a sorority as a sophomore than a freshman. However, I wouldn't squander your first opportunity at recruitment now, just to wait and see what might happen next year. Do the best you can, get as many recs as possible, and see what happens.

UT does not send any sort of recruitment brochure to incoming freshmen. There is usually an online recruitment guide but it hasn't yet been updated for 2017 so perhaps they have discontinued that resource. There's a lot of good information on the Texas Panhellenic website, including the 2016 recruitment brochure and suggested attire for each round of recruitment.

http://texaspanhellenic.com/

UT does not have an organized spring recruitment. Most years 3-4 houses will add a few new members, but it's not an organized process and I believe the new members are often close friends of new initiates who joined in the fall, possibly those girls who withdrew from formal recruitment. (More on that later.) You can find more info about which houses have added new members in the spring by looking at spring grade rankings here. Choose a semester, open the document, and see which chapters have a GPA listed for new members. The chapter grade rankings online go back to 2014. You will notice that only 3 chapters added new members in spring 2017.

http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sfl...derankings.php

I know OOS girls who have had a successful UT recruitment, even starting this late in the summer. I recommend you get your packets and recs lined up ASAP. Recruitment is well under way for 2017 and you don't have any time to lose. My daughter just returned from work weekend in Austin, where she learned all about recruitment from the "other side." Her chapter has already received many sponsorship forms and letters of support for the 2017 PNMs.

Appreciate every invitation you receive during recruitment. Be a gracious guest at every party. Look at each chapter through fresh eyes each time you visit. If you've been invited back to a chapter, they see something in you and think you have potential to be their sister. As an OOS PNM your invitation list may be different than a Texas girl from an established area of Dallas or Houston. It doesn't matter. Every chapter has something to offer and you will have a similar Greek experience at any house.

Continue through recruitment all the way to the end, even if you *think* you don't want to join any chapter left on your invitation list. Attend preference if you're invited. It often changes the way a PNM feels about a chapter. If you attend pref and wouldn't consider joining either chapter you visit, that's the time to withdraw from recruitment. Often girls who drop from recruitment before it's over are offered a snap bid or COB after formal recruitment to the SAME CHAPTERS that were left on her invitation list when she dropped. So stick it out through preference and finish the job. Then decide if you want to drop.

Are you registered for Camp Texas or Ignite? It's a great way to meet Greek girls prior to recruitment in an informal environment. I heard that Camp Texas is full (ask to be put on the waitlist in case a spot opens up) and Ignite Session 2 is still available. Connections can be the key to a successful recruitment.

There are 14 UPC sororities at UT Austin and 13 participate in formal recruitment. The recruitment schedule is online at the Panhellenic website. Note that the schedule there is a little different from the UT SFL (Sorority and Fraternity Life) website. Refer to the Texas Panhellenic website as your "official" resource.

Remember to register for recruitment by next Thursday, August 3, 2017.

Feel free to send me a PM if I can answer any questions for you. In my role as an ambassador for Texas Parents, I have spoken to OOS moms about Texas recruitment. I would be glad to have a conversation with your mom (or you) if you're interested.

I hope to hear about your successful UT recruitment.

Good luck and hook 'em horns! \m/

Thanks for all this info. I'm doing as much email as possible for recs to speed the process but I can tell I will not have recs for every house by registration time. I'm still psyched to rush, though!

FloMo Mom
I have a question I will pm you

Don't stop trying to get recs, even if the deadline is looming. Even if a sorority chooses not to open a rec that arrives past the due date, at least you know you did all you could. And speaking only from my experience as an advisor, it made our jobs easier to have received all recs by a certain date, but we always opened and read late arriving recs.

Sarah E you have been given very good advice. If I were you, I would remove every thing but the first paragraph of your original post. What you have written could be considered very inflammatory by almost every chapter that you have listed. I would guess that it would be very easy to identify you at this point.

The ranking of chapters is extremely subjective depending on who you are talking to. There are no clear "tiers" at UT because ALL of the chapters are hard to get in to. This is especially true for an OOS PNM that has very few recs and contacts within the houses.

Every house has different strengths depending on what is important to you. If grades are important, look at the grade rankings of each house. Some of the houses that you listed as "lower" are actually top in grades. If intramural sports are important, look at those statistics or ask questions about what sports that particular house participated in last year. If religion is important, some chapters have very active bible study groups. There are so many important factors that go in to what makes a particular chapter "good" to each person. What I think is a good chapter for me might not be the same to you.

UT has a very good placement rate for the girls that are willing to finish the process and not drop out because the perceived "upper tier" houses have dropped them. I wish you luck and hope that you will take all of this advice that you have been given to heart.

Good luck on the 40 acres!

Thanks to everyone for this advice. I actually have 4 rec letters in the bag!! Not enough I know but I'm pushing through this whole week anyway. Fingers crossed that I can get 5 more at least. I hope ppl don't find me pushy but I'm going to keep at it until the end of this week.
Hitting the stores for some outfits that I'm hoping will work down in that heat. Trying to mix this all in with general dorm prep is really making my parents crazy. They already had to shell out extra for me to move in early.

Oh my... this concerns me. Are you familiar with what a sorority costs? It can be quite expensive. I would hate for you to go to all of this work only to find that the expense is more than you counted on.

The strongest houses at UT are PiPhi, Kappa, Theta, Tri Delta, Chi O, Zeta, APhi, AXO, AEPhi, DG, KD, ADPi, AZD, and SDT. There's no such thing as a "lower house".

What DaffyKD said, x1000. I wasn't Jewish when I pledged AEPhi. My chapter has active sisters and alumnae who are Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, Methodist, Hindu, and that's just off the top of my head. So, get recs for every chapter, including AEPhi and SDT.

And ditto what thetalady said about the financial obligations associated with sorority membership. You're looking at a few hundred dollars per semester even if you're not living in the house, and your first semester is going to be the most expensive as you will have to pay some one-time fees (e.g. initiation fee, cost of a badge).

A few thousand dollars, not a few hundred. The range of mandatory fees for the New Member school year is $2700-4700, varies by house. These estimates don't include paying for social events, tshirts, etc which can easily add a few hundred extra per semester.

I'm currently in a sorority at UT. I have to say that it isn't a good idea to come into recruitment with a ton of preconceived notions about the different houses. That being said, there are some things you should know.

1)Despite what was previously posted, AEPhi at the University of Texas is 99-100% Jewish. So many girls like them every year, only to eventually be cut because of this. It is apparently the only AEPhi chapter in the country that takes only jewish girls. That being said, girls who are jewish do not always go AEPhi at UT
2)There are sororities that will take you if you do not have a rec, but you may not feel like you fit in with those sororities, so try and do everything you can to obtain as many as possible.
3)You are at a disadvantage for starting so late. The unofficial deadline for recs is typically July 1st. We will look at them if you send them in after that though.
4)The rankings that you talked about were determined in the 70s, and it is archaic. Some of the top sororities you described are not widely liked, and some of the ones you listed in the middle are widely loved.
5)OOS girls get bids all the time. I would say there is a house with the highest concentration of them, but every sorority has OOS girls.

Also, a word of advice, rank is not everything. There are some snotty people that think it matters. Those people don't get very far during recruitment. Often times girls who only go for "top" houses end up miserable because they don't fit in, and they could've been really happy at a house they thought wasn't "top" enough for them. It also really rubs everyone the wrong way when you try and rank the houses. Even girls in "top" sororities get offended because they have friends in other houses.
All of the sororities who participate in formal recruitment are strong at UT. You couldn't go wrong with any of them. It is all about where you fit in.
It also does cost a lot of money. Be prepared to spend around 4000 for your first year, and this often does not include things like t-shirts, parent's weekend activities, possibly eating at the house, etc. UT greek like is expensive.
You should try and get a rec for every house you can!!

If it doesn't work out, plenty of girls go through as sophomores and find the process much easier. Every house has sophomore quotas.

As for general advice, don't worry too much about your clothing. Yes, it should be appropriate, but if a house is going to cut you cause you didn't wear the right brand or something, you don't want to be in that house anyways. Instead, focus on finding outfits that you feel comfortable in. If you're comfortable in your outfit, you are going to be more comfortable and confident in the houses. That will take you farther than a designer dress ever will.
You might already know this, but don't talk about boys, alcohol, religion, or politics.
Bring flip flops or something to walk between houses during the later rounds. Your feet will thank you.
Give every sorority a shot. You're there for a reason.

This estimate is from the University and can be VERY misleading. There is so much that is not included with these figures. Please use them as a rough estimate and assume they can be higher.

UT Austin sorority costs

"Additional costs throughout the semester may include parking at the chapter house*, optional meal plans, pictures, gifts, social events, T-shirts, etc. **parking availability and cost will vary by chapter"

I guess I'm showing my age, LOL. I can't remember dropping more than about $1000 in any given semester.

My chapter also did not have a house, which means I didn't have to pay parlor fees and the like.

Well, I have 5 rec letters total and 2 supposedly going to chapters in the next few days. Hope that happens because I've done all I can. My parents got zero financial aid on my OOS tuition so I guess that means they can afford the dues and extras haha. I owe them! We saw the chapter houses at night earlier this summer and I remember AEPhi's had some sort of new construction or addition out to the side. It was a really nice house. From Delta Glamorous' post, Jewish girls have other options besides AEPhi but not many non Jewish girls going into it. They're one of the houses I don't have a rec for, which is fine.

Thanks for the advice everyone!!!

Delta Glamorous, I have a question for you. Will pm u

One of the reasons that UT's sorority fees are so high is because Austin has become a VERY popular place to live and work, and property taxes have skyrocketed in the past two decades as a result. It is very expensive for UT sororities and fraternities to maintain their houses.

My sorority left campus in the late '80s, and there's always talk at alum meetings about how great it would be to be back at UT. And then we start talking about how difficult it will be for any house to come back--many old houses (including our gorgeous chapter house from the late 1950s) have been razed to build condos and high-rise apartments, and the cost of the land alone would be prohibitive for many groups. Anyway, that's part of the reason that UT Greek life can be more costly than at other campuses.

SarahE, have you had a talk with your parents about the cost of sorority membership? It might not be something else they can handle on top of your other expenses.... sorry, I worry. $4000 is a big chunk of cash :eek:

Oh yes ma'am. I would not have been able to rush if they had not agreed to pay, because I sure don't have 4000 dollars plus! I don't understand how anyone would go through not knowing how much it's gonna cost.

WHEW!! Glad to hear that! Unfortunately, I have seen it happen several times. It is really sad to have a good member forced to drop out, but sororities have big expenses that have to be paid.

I went through rush at UT almost 30 years ago, and everything said on this thread was true then and is true now — with the exception of meteoric rise of APhi out of the ashes. Many of the "top tier" sororities recruit almost exclusively from the wealthiest areas of Texas (almost all of those girls live in SRD and Hardin House) and have their fave PNMs picked out long before rush even begins. They come from the same areas, attended the same summer camps, etc. Don't even get me started on the number of legacies. Brace yourself — you'll be one among thousands. Look and feel your best and KEEP AN OPEN MIND and you should be just fine!

Sparkleberry, as a UT Alpha Phi, I couldn't be more proud of my chapter and am so tickled at your noting how we "rose out of the ashes." I went through rush in the early 90s when the rules in place did not foster equality among the chapters. I think, especially with the new RFM policies in place, there is truly not a weak chapter at UT Austin. That being said, if I were your mother, dear SarahE (and I have a sophomore daughter who is an ADPi at another school in Texas), I would advise you to wait a year. I know that Greek life is very, very fun and rewarding, but preparing for rush takes time. You are in for about a month of high level stress. I guess if you know that going in and have made your peace with it, that's okay. But I really don't think you'd have a disadvantage going through recruitment as a sophomore. And you'd have a year to get to know sorority women and to be known by them--that can only help you as an OOS student. Best wishes whatever you decide to do!

How did APhi do it, honestly? What is an RFM policy? I don't think I ever even saw an APhi, no less met one. I would love to know how things have changed.

One would have had to attended UT back in the day to truly understand how hard it is to "break rank." It hasn't changed in 50 years.

Those APhi girls are GORGEOUS! This is great news that they're are no more weak chapters — it was very tiered back in the day.

One more thing to keep in mind is that the university itself is nearly impossible to get into these days (only the top 7% of in-state students are auto-admitted), so not only are these girls beautiful, they're brilliant too.

Love this!

I was at UT in the late 70's and early 80's and if you were not a:
PiPhi
Kappa
Theta
Tri Delt
Chi O
Zeta
You were second tier and it was very sad, cause at that time the quota was always "50" not matter how many women went through recruitment!
I was not in one of those groups but many high school friends were and it was all Dallas, Houston private schools etc.
I understand that its' pretty much equaled out except for maybe PiPhi and Kappa! That is such great news and so wonderful for every chapter to be great!

The fact that the original poster came from out of state and was able to list that order tells me that things really haven't changed that much — there's just much more acceptance of all groups.

I just googled the APhi recruitment video and it was super-impressive. Makes me so happy!

I think APhi has done well by getting many OOS girls and making good use of COB. I think COB can be frowned upon at UT but APhi has gotten great girls this way. Super hard to get in to UT OOS and they are more likely to be looking for a group to connect, not as worried about tiers.