Texas A&M Rush ??
 

Actually I know nothing about A&M's Rush. She should really look into it in the Fall though. There's nothing better to help you get acclimated to University life than going Greek.

That's just a common (the most common) excuse to put off going Rush.

A&M does NOT hold a spring recruitment, nor do we have any sort of organized informal delayed recruitment. Your friend's absolute BEST bet would definately be to go through fall formal recruitment. I'll try to describe the reason for this in the least confusing way: the way that the numbers work out, the only way there would be spots "open" after formal recruitment would be if a chapter did not fill every allotted spot for their new member class (aka: quota). Then, it is at the chapter's discretion that they are able to 'pick up' new girls. These spots almost always go to girls that the sisters already know. For example, the PNM could be a young woman who'd gone through recruitment before & just did not want to go through it all again. There is NO WAY to guarantee that ANY chapter will have 'open' spots after formal recruitment, and there is almost NO chance that you'll be able to know if a certain sorority that you're interested in will be able to take anyone after formal recruitment.

In the 4 years that I've been here, initial #'s for potential members going through recruitment have been anywhere from 800 to almost 1200 with resulting new member classes of 50-75 young women. With 11/12 sororities, (a few chapters have come & gone since then) that means that 550-900 women each year are finding a home in one of our 12 wonderful organizations! (every year quite a few young women 'drop out' of rush for one reason or another, so remember that these numbers reflect that. Quota, the number that determines how many new members a sorority may take is determined on the last night of recruitment by dividing the number of potential members still going through by the number of sororities. This way, there is theoretically a spot for everyone!)

As far as feeling the need to acclimate to college life before joining a GLO goes..... most people actually feel that the benefits of being involved in the greek system go a long way to helping to create an atmosphere of excellence, both in your studies and social relationships. Your Sorority becomes your home away from home, a welcoming place where you have over 200 sisters who are either going through the same things as you, or have already been through it and can tell you how to handle everything with grace & relative ease. Once again, I STRONGLY encourage your friend to give formal fall recruitment a chance. If nothing else she should just go through to see what it's all about. If she feels comfortable, then she should give joining a try! If not, she has the opportunity to withdraw from the process at any time! Either way, she'll have the chance to meet hundreds of new students like herself as well as tons of active Aggie Greeks!

In the meantime check out the Texas A&M Panhellenic Recruitment webpage:

http://studentlife.tamu.edu/greek/In...on/npcrush.htm

I also suggest looking here to check out each organization's chapter and national webpages:

http://studentlife.tamu.edu/greek/NPCInfo/npcmain.htm

Hey BlondeGurl-
Try to tell your friend that going through recruitment in the fall does NOT mean she is obligated to join a sorority! Maybe that will take some of the stress off of the decision. It is perfectly understandable that she may want to wait a while before she joins, but she should at least register and go through the process THIS fall, as a freshman, in order to really see what it is all about. She can go through & if it is too intense, she can drop out before she goes to Preference.

Informal/Spring recruitment at A&M is rare as my Aggie sister pointed out, and even still, choices are very limited if informal does occur. Your friend's best opportunity to learn what each of the groups is like and to get a handle on the Greek system at A&M as a whole is to go through formal recruitment. In fact, if she goes through with no expectations, she may be surprised at how clearly she sees things, and may, in fact, change her mind by the end of the week.

My SIL was a Greek at A&M, and I have had many friends who were as well--it's a terrific school (I didn't even go there!) and an even better Greek system. Tell your friend to get on this board if she wants more info--maybe hearing it from folks who have been through it will be a little more convincing!

Good luck to you--and be sure to keep us informed of your own Greek status!

I went through Texas A&M recruitment 10 years ago. One of my best friends from HS was an AGD there -I bet she knows your sister N law (or I might). Anyways, I went through as a junior and already knew what to expect. To me it was laid back though competitive. Maybe aggieDZ can answer what the requirements are as far as a recommendations-but these were very important back then. Some of the houses would not invite you to first round without recs (maybe this has changed?).

Tell your friend she needs to go to fishcamp-that was the best time of my life. She will meet so many new people with fishcamp (though some of the sessions conflict with sorority rush so you have to find out which ones don't).

I regretted the fact that I did not rush as a freshman or at least as sophomore b/c I only got to spend 2 years with my chapter and sisters. Rushing was one of the best choices I made.

Did she register with the local alum club? If she did then they will sometimes write recs for those that are rushing. I would say go through rush anyways-she may not get invited to some of the houses but I doubt that all of them require recs. I did not go to 3 of the houses b/c I did not bother to get recs for them and I really didn't care b/c I was not that interested in them. I still had 8 houses to attend. Has she gotten individual pamphlets from the sororities in the mail? That is how I knew which houses invited me to round 1-I don't know if they do this anymore.

Sorry to have been MIA for a bit!

To answer some of your questions:

It is definately NOT too late to send in rec's (we usually call them references)! Do your best to TRY, TRY, TRY to get at least one reference to each chapter at A&M. When there are so many young women going through recruitment each year, the chapters have a lot of incentive to be very selective & a reference goes a long way to help your image as a super-desirable PNM. Also, several houses have policies in place that do not allow them to invite a PNM to ANY rounds without a reference being recieved BEFORE RECRUITMENT BEGINS. It's really not THAT difficult once you get started. Let women in your family, your friends, and people in the community (high school teachers, youth group leaders, etc.) know that you are participating in sorority recruitment. Often, these women will be interested in writing a letter of recommendation for you. Usually, an Alumna will know other women from different organizations and can introduce you if you're having a hard time finding someone from a certain org.
A&M's official statement on references says:

"One of the most commonly asked questions of the Collegiate Panhellenic Council concerns references (also known as recommendations or potential new member information forms). The individual chapters are responsible for securing references, but recruitment is an extremely busy time for chapters. Therefore, you may have references sent to our eleven sororities on your behalf.
Many of our sororities require a reference form from an alumna member of their sorority before they can pledge a woman. References introduce a potential new member to the chapter telling more about the potential new member's personality, scholarship and activities. The alumna writing the reference is solely responsible for obtaining the appropriate reference form from her national organization, completing the form, and mailing it to the correct destination. You do not need to be involved in that process. The Collegiate Panhellenic Council does not have reference forms available nor can it obtain them for potential new members.
It is preferable to have references submitted to the chapters before recruitment begins. You want to provide them with as much time as is possible to become familiar with your information. References do not guarantee the potential new member a bid, nor are they essential for every sorority. References may be sent to the chapter house address"


Letters of recommendation can be mailed directly to the chapter houses at Texas A&M. Addresses are below:

Alpha Chi Omega - 1505 Olympia Way, College Station, TX 77840
Alpha Delta Pi - 1500 Athens Drive, College Station, TX 77840
Chi Omega - 1501 Athens Drive, College Station, TX 77840
Delta Delta Delta - 1503 Olympia Way, College Station, TX 77840
Delta Gamma - 1120 University Oaks, College Station, TX 77840
Delta Zeta - 1501 Olympia Way, College Station, TX 77840
Kappa Alpha Theta - P.O. Box EA, College Station, TX 77841
Kappa Delta - 1010 University Oaks, College Station, TX 77840
Kappa Kappa Gamma, 1502 Athens Drive, College Station, TX 77840
Pi Beta Phi - 1601 Munson, College Station, TX 77840
Zeta Tau Alpha - 1403 Athens Drive, College Station, TX 77840
Please address all envelopes "Attention: Recommendation Chair"

**(I just realized that I'd forgotten to post the link to the Alumnae contact info, so here it is.) Letters of recommendation are simply a letter of reference written by an alumna of a sorority to her sorority’s chapter at TAMU. Texas A&M does not have a generic form to be completed. Many local Alumnae Panhellenic Associations will provide forms to women, as will the national sorority headquarters. Go here for a list of Alumnae Panhellenic contact information.

http://studentlife.tamu.edu/greek/In...eaddresses.htm

too late to register
 

Hi, my daughter has sent in all her recs and has done so much work but forgot to register on time. She is telling me that it's too late and that she cannot rush now.

Is there anyone out there who can help her still be able to rush at A&M? She is heartbroken and I really want to help her in any way I can. Thank you so much.

I looked on the website and it was posted on May 18, 2009 that Formal Recruitment Sign-Up would be closed on Friday, August 7, 2009. She will only be eligible for Continuous Open Recruitment (COR) if she contacts tamurecruitment@gmail.com. This usually starts right after Formal Recruitment has ended and not all of the sororities participate.

http://cpc.tamu.edu/
http://cpc.tamu.edu/recruitment

Thanks for your response. I really appreciate it. Hopefully she will get in to a sorority at some point if it was meant to be.

I do find it odd that they closed sign-up so early with recruitment not starting until August 24, 2009.

Yes, it was very upsetting - she was out of town volunteering her time in Colorado and got back to her internet to find out she had failed to register. What a blow. Thanks again.