More Texas Recruitement Info

[alum]

Do the Alumnae Panhellenics do the same for the Texas girls who don't go to university in the TX/LA vicinity? I can think of several schools that have a substantial number of Texans in the student body and those girls always seem to end up at the top of the heap, so to speak.

[LampLady]

Originally Posted by alum

Do the Alumnae Panhellenics do the same for the Texas girls who don't go to university in the TX/LA vicinity? I can think of several schools that have a substantial number of Texans in the student body and those girls always seem to end up at the top of the heap, so to speak.

Yes, Alumnae Panhellenics in TX send in recommendations to any school attended by an area girl who submits her resume to that group. In my suburb of Houston, we have many girls who attend OK, OK State, Old Miss, LSU, Alabama, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, as well as several per year that attend Northern or CA schools. Each of those chapters would get the same info on these girls as those sent to TX schools.

[Just interested]

We are equal opportunity. What goes to Texas, (resumes, photos, letters of support etc.) goes everywhere. You can imagine a chapter where references are "appreciated but not required" feels when they get a packet filled with info for one girl going through recruitment. She will probably get a lot of attention.

It is not the Alumnae Panhellenics who are in charge. They are a clearing house. This is handled by individual alumnae chapters.

[SWTXBelle]

After serving on two different Texas aphs, I moved to TN where there wasn't one. I founded one, and when we were discussing our first informational tea I talked about what we had done in Texas - and they looked at me as though I had sprouted a second head.

[Kitemom]

Ok I haven't been on the board in a week and when I posted this nothing much was said after. To my surprise when I checked today I was shocked there were 5 pages of comments. So here are a few of my thoughts:

I think the full length shot were asked for ( and this was ALL colleges in Texas not just UT) Is you are able to tell more about a person than body type. Lord knows my daughter isn't a size 2 but she is tall and you can tell that from a photo that is not a head shot.

Second everyone in Texas knows that UT is UT Austin. All the other are UT XXletters
UTA UTEP UTD its the state school system. Theres a UT in nearly every large town in Texas, Tyler El Paso Permian Basin.

As far as panhellennic we live in El Paso and no they didn't give us info as to what to put on resume except that did tell you to put your class rank, act scores etc. I had my daughter write one up and then I sent it to my friends to look at. I sent it to friends who were my mothers age and had grandkids in soroities who I am sure they passed to the grandkids to look at and people made helpful comments. What started out to be 8 pages was whitted down to two thanks to a clever friend who is good at pagemaker. All parent info was dropped and AP classes were added etc. I would say my daughter was very good in high school. But when she went to Baylor for summer camp she found everyone to be just like her. She came back and adjusted her resume some more.

Something else about UT no one really gets in anymore unless you are in the top 10% of your HS class. This pretty much applies to A&M too. I have plenty of friends who are alumni and there kids didn't get in. No one from my daughters high school of gradation class of 1000 got in except the top 10%. Ut will grant you admission your soph year if you go to one of the other system schools (not in Austin) and make grades then you are guarenteed admission next year. I know plenty of kids who are doing this an intend to go to UT next year. Also I remember when I first learned that there was another UT Univ of Tenn and low an behold there colors where orange and white too. It was a shock to someone in Jr High.

So Longhorn is right. They can't be cutting the first day on grades unless they just want prople with 4.0 etc. Frankley I think this makes UT very different these days. Not a real diversity of population. No more hippies etc.

I think the pictures do help when rush is sight unseen before school starts. Baylor rush is in Jan and I can tell you my daughter hair color and length had chaged and her tan faded. But people know she looked familiar to them when school started. Now I written my epistle I'll be done.

[Kitemom]

One other thing. We live in El Paso which is much closer to Az. ASU or UA than Austin. My understanding is at these schools you don't even needs recs, but it is nice to have them. Panhellenic takes no one to lunch etc here. Every year girls from here get into sororites at UT A&M and Tech. Not to mention LSU, ASU, etc. So don't be discouraged if you are not from a big city cause we are in the middle of no where.

[tx427]

As a proud member of the Texas Greek system, I can honestly say full body shots are in no way to "weed" or "cut" out people early on. As Zeta mentioned people do not look like their head shots always. In fact many of these PNM's have very professionally done photos that are show little to no resemblance of them at all, or are not very recent. Full body shots help chapters look at girl and recognize her with more ease.

Also there are numerous out of staters in the NPC sororities, and your state of resident has no weight on the recruitment process. We have girls from Chicago, Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi, New York and the list goes on and that is only in the handful that I personally know of.

Recruitment at Texas is one of the most complex recruitments because we boast overwhelming numbers in prospective new members. My pledge class year was a record at UT. Which is a reason why letters of rec are pushed so strongly and actually required by many of the NPC sororities.

But I urge those who doubt the sincerity of some of these comments to go and look up these websites of the sororities. Look at pictures of these girls and read articles about these people, and you will see that the sterotypical view of the sorority girl is not present at UT. These girls are brilliant, fun, and extremely involved in their communities. You do not have to be Cindy Crawford to do any of these things. When we interview PNM's we look for common interests. We look for previous activites from high school and other parts of their life. The recruitment process is about being yourself and finding the best fit for YOU.

I urge PNM's and their families to give recruitment open minds and open hearts and please do not take any of the negative views on this board seriously. I encourage you to speak with alumnas who have been there and gone through it, and decide for yourself.

UT is a big school, but the Greek system at UT is an amazing part of the university, and will stick with you for your entire life.

[epchick]

Ok, so a little more nit-picking...sorry

Originally Posted by Kitemom

I think the full length shot were asked for ( and this was ALL colleges in Texas not just UT)

Not all Texas schools require full length shots. UTEP doesn't (but that is probably because we only have 2 NPC sororities).

Originally Posted by Kitemom

One other thing. We live in El Paso....So don't be discouraged if you are not from a big city cause we are in the middle of no where.

I hope your not saying that El Paso is not a big city. Because just because we are in the middle of nowhere (which we are. PS. We are still closer to San Diego than we are to Austin/Dallas/Houston) doesn't mean we aren't a big city.

[Stef the Pef]

Unless they changed something (and they really should with all the girls who go through), I don't recall Baylor requiring full-length shots. If they do, that's something new.

[bejazd]

Thank you, tx427 for your positive comments. It's nice to have a confirmation, from a collegian, that when it comes right down to it, the women at your campus are, after all, just like most other NPC women, a bunch of nice, bright and normal students!

In any case, I have another question (and my reason for reading this thread.) I know a young woman who recently and unexpectedly moved to TX with her family due to a job change. She's now deciding which school among several to attend. Since I know her personally, I'll write her a reference for GPB, but she'll need some help getting recs for other groups. If she sends her info to her area Alum Panhel, and they farm out her info to other groups. will it hurt her that those references will be pretty much "info only" recs? I'd feel really bad if I told her to send her info, and somebody else gave her a reference with a low score just because she doesn't know anyone. Would she be better off just to submit her application to her college panhellnic and just go for it on her own?

[exlurker]

Originally Posted by bejazd

. . . In any case, I have another question (and my reason for reading this thread.) I know a young woman who recently and unexpectedly moved to TX with her family due to a job change. She's now deciding which school among several to attend. Since I know her personally, I'll write her a reference for GPB, but she'll need some help getting recs for other groups. If she sends her info to her area Alum Panhel, and they farm out her info to other groups. will it hurt her that those references will be pretty much "info only" recs? I'd feel really bad if I told her to send her info, and somebody else gave her a reference with a low score just because she doesn't know anyone. Would she be better off just to submit her application to her college panhellnic and just go for it on her own?

By "recently and unexpectedly" do you mean within the last year / year and a half / two years? (I'm guessing that you do.)

What do the TX alumnae and actives on GC suggest? I'm wondering if you could suggest to the young woman that she try contacting family friends, former teachers, church / synagogue members from her previous home town to get recs? They'd be able, I hope, to write them from a know-her-personally perspective. At the same time it probably wouldn't hurt to go through her Area Alum Panhellenic, too. After all, it's very possible that the local alumnae associations could contact alums in her previous home town to get a comfortable amount of info for a decent rec.

I kind of get the impression that at some schools and/or chapters in TX she'd be better off with even an info-only rec than none at all.

[srmom]

bejazd, if she is in highschool in Texas now, she has made friends whose moms might have been in sororities, or she has teachers, etc. Last year, I got calls from girls that were friends of my son's, that I hadn't met, asking if I would write a rec or letter of support. I asked them to bring their stuff by and give me a chance to talk to them. I didn't have a problem with writing on behalf of them, although I did want to meet them first. That might be a way for your friend to get her recs.

Local alumni assoc's can help, but she might try the above first.

[ComradesTrue]

As someone who went to college in Texas, I would say that srmom and exlurker have given you some great advice. I did not attend UT, but I did attend a school with a competitive rush.

An info only rec is better than no rec.

A rec by someone who knows you is better than an info only rec.

Letters, while not required, help in some chapters. However, PNMs with info only recs get placed in chapters every year.

The suggestion to pursue both friends of the family and the local aph is a good one. Covers all bases for those chapters that may want a personal rec.

[Just interested]

Some sororities "suggest" that references should go through the Reference Boards in the town where she lives. We get many out of town references for girls living in our town come through our reference board each year from women who have known these young ladies personally. Letters of support as well. This is seen as a courtesy to us and helps us list of references in order. It also introduces us to the new "girls" in town.

But as blondie93 has said info only is better than no rec. I also ditto srmom. Pursue all your options. I also know on some HS campuses, counselors have information.

[radioZTA]

co-sign what Blondie & srmom said. Very good advice. I'm an alumnae chapter pres in Texas and my small chapter has members in 3 separate alumnae panhellenic groups. We deal with a bunch of high schools and there are always new girls who have just moved. Our panhellenics want all of the girls to feel comfortable, have a good Recruitment/Rush and find their home.

A friend of mine who is an admissions recruiter calls the high schools in my suburb "ranker tankers". Someone can make straight A's their entire academic career and still not make top 10% in their class. My son would love to go to UT someday but he is a B student so even though he is only in 8th grade, we've told him to start looking elsewhere.

Rumor has it that THE University of Texas in Austin was originally called Texas University hence the "TU". It is supposed to be an insult when Aggies call it "TU" but I figure they either didn't get the memo or are just really slow to change.