University of Texas Recruitment 2017
 

UT Austin Sorority Recruitment starts today with Convocation - about 1,100 PNM's registered. 13 sororities participating in Formal Recruitment (Sigma Delta Tau will conduct recruitment starting in September).

Here is the schedule:

Monday, August 21 - Opening Convocation, 6 p.m. & 8 p.m.
Tuesday, August 22 - Open House, 10:00 a.m.
Wednesday, August 23 - Open House, 9:00 a.m.
Thursday, August 24 - Philanthropy, 12:00 p.m.
Friday, August 25 - Philanthropy, 8:30 a.m.
Saturday, August 26 - Sisterhood, 12:30 p.m.
Sunday, August 27 - Preference 3:30 p.m.
Monday, August 28 - Bid Day Convocation, 5:00 p.m
Tuesday, August 29 - Day off
Wednesday, August 30 - Fall semester classes start

Good luck to all PNM's and Actives!

Comparatively speaking, that's not an enormous number. I think the brutal rep Texas has earned among PNM's may have become a factor?

Assuming every single girl pledges, which we can safely say will not happen, that would be a quota just under 85.

And given the number of legacies to certain houses, I wonder how happy Bid Day will be.

All true, although this is actually a large(r) number for Texas. If I remember correctly, 5 years ago the number was more like 7-800. Quotas are usually in the 60's and 70's. Early 90's it was more like 45.

UT gets it's brutal reputation from it's archaic tier system that is stupid and outdated. :rolleyes:

Last year I remember quota being much higher than in years past. I checked-last year it was 48+13=69, which I feel is a big number for upperclassmen.

This.

So ridiculous and so sad that so few girls are rushing at such a large school.

^^^

True, but I would also guess that since UT has a lot of different student organizations, there is probably no social pressure to "have to" go greek.

I don't have firsthand knowledge of their system, but it seems strange. You hear that house ABC recruits from private school X or one house recruits from summer camp Y. I stopped going to summer camp after 8th grade so it seems foreign to me. Or sorority XYZ recruits from so-and-so zip code. And there was the dumb article from the 60s or 70s.

As someone who had a daughter that went through successfully at UT, I can tell you that all that you mentioned above is correct. The greek system there has some serious issues for such a large school. Honestly, I think that one of the reasons for the smaller percentage of incoming freshman women going through recruitment is due to the top 10%, 8%,7% rule.
My daughter went to a very competitive high school that sent 25 students to UT that year. Of the 13 or so girls that went, only 5 of them went through recruitment. The other 8 or so simply weren't interested in greek life. They were definitely more focused on academics or other endeavors. At the time that she was there, I think the percentage of students involved in fraternities or sororities was between 9 and 12% of the total student body, which is very low for a large southern school with very deep traditions. Texas A&M is very similiar...very large school, relatively small greek system.

I think part of the reason that the upper classmen quota is high at UT is because of the CAP program. The CAP program allows students who were not able to get into the flagship campus to attend one of the satellite campuses for freshman year. If they make a predetermined GPA, then they get automatic admission for their sophomore year...thus more sophomores who have never rushed before. They are trying to allow those students more of a chance.

Quota was much higher last year, but the numbers were much higher. More like 80. ADPi actually had 95 NEW MEMBERS last year. This year we're expecting 85 girls in our new class.

Also, each sorority has a different quota for sophomores going through recruitment! 13 really isn't very high

I understand alum towing the company line that "all chapters are just as good" and that rankings are archaic, outdated and "mean nothing today".

I also hear the girls themselves saying the opposite.

There are certain chapters that seem to have trendier/prettier/cooler/more out going girls. No amount of denial by alum can change what the girls themselves pick up on. That being said, no one is denying how great all girls in UT chapters are. While all chapters are not the same in character, strength, looks or popularity, all of the girls are certainly smart and accomplished.

Even before that Texas Monthly article became well known, the tiers outlined in it were totally evident to all familiar with the UT greek system back then.

The role of connections in rush is not "strange". While certain sororities recruit from certain high schools and camps, there is more cross rushing now. For example, PiPhi/Kappa/Theta all pull from Memorial HS, Highland Park HS, Ursuline Academy, Camps Mystic/Waldemar/Longhorn, Hardin House/SRD dorms but Alpha Phi gets those girls, too. AXO takes suburban girls but PiPhi/Kappa/Theta have plenty of girls from the 'burbs, too. And all houses take wealthy OOS girls now. All of them.

And no, the UT greek system does not have "serious issues". The UT student body is very diverse with many other interest groups, both inside and outside of UT. Schools like Alabama and Ole Miss seem to attract students because of it's greek life, especially for Texas kids unable to follow in their UT parents' foot steps. UT attracts students because of it's academic reputation first and foremost. UT greek life is strong, yet exclusive and that's OK. They like it that way.

I couldn't agree more with Ladybugmom. In Texas, you have to be in the top 7 percent of your class to get automatic admission, and if you want to major in Business or another impressive major, it's even more competitive. These days UT attracts highly academically focused students, and Greek life just doesn't appeal to them much. The girls it does attract must be somewhat intimidating, most of them probably have everything in the world going for them!

But weren't the chapters also smaller (as compared to Bama/Arkansas etc) even before the top 10% thing went into effect?

The Bama and Arkansas chapters were a lot smaller before the Texas rule, which caused Texas to lose some of its finest.