More Texas Recruitement Info

[epchick]

Originally Posted by LadyLonghorn

And of course those Aggies are a different thing all together!

What I don't understand, is calling it TU suppose to be an insult? lol. My friend was trying to explain it to me and I was like I guess you have to an Aggie (or a Longhorn) to get it.

And about the 10%...I guess you're right. Except here in El Paso, being in the Top 10% isn't that hard! lol. Seriously, so if anyone wants to get guaranteed acceptance graduate from a HS in El Paso!! hahaha (although i heard they did away with that)

ETA: Soo I just wanted to say that getting Top 10% is easier in El Paso vs. Austin or Dallas...lol. I don't mean it that us El Pasoans are dumb or anything! lol...just wanted to put that out there! hahaha

[EE-BO]

LadyLonghorn knows what she is talking about.

I went to UT and my family has been here since Texas' earliest days- and most of us were Greek in the South, even if not all at UT.

Going Greek here is not easy at the top houses- but one's physical appearance is not nearly as important as many other factors. I am not going to do it here, but I could point to MANY top SEC sorority chapters at top schools where the girls are far more uniform in the physical appearance so many of you seem to hate (even to the point where groups are almost all blonde or brunette) than at Texas.

People who are jealous or just otherwise unhappy with their station in life can attack it all they want just as they will attack the elite in any group, but that does not change the fact that Greek life at UT is like any other competitive school- but in a state that has always, thanks to oil and agriculture among other things, had an enormous amount of wealth.

Get over it.

[LOVEinZTA]

Your aggie friends are dyslexic. It's UT, Texas, or "The University of Texas at Austin."

UTA = Arlington
UTSA = San Antonio
UTEP = El Paso
UTT = Tyler

Any branch school gets letters added.

As far as the ridiculous claims, attacks, and defenses people are making about asking for pictures and cut throat rush, each chapter has had to come up with some way of picking 45 girls out of a group of 800+ absolutely amazing PNMs. Any information we can get about them through recs and resumes is wonderful, but when you're trying to get a chapter of 100+ members to remember legacies and rush crushes and pnms that you've fallen in love with, just a name (and by the way, there's around 80 alex's, 50 lauren's, 60 sarah's etc. that go through every year) and a picture of half of a girl's face because her hair's in the way aren't going to cut it. I'm glad not having individual pictures sent in works at your school, but trust me, it wouldn't work well here.

They ask for multiple pictures for the same reason chapters make posters and name chants and whatever else - to have another way to identify everyone and get members to know girls. Personally, I don't really care if it's full length, half length, head shot or whatever - I didn't think twice when I was asked for a full length picture of myself. I think you're reading way too much into it trying to find a "message" that's not there.

And yes, I'm short and was paired with a few really tall members of chapters when I went through rush and I personally felt really awkward trying to talk to someone a foot taller than me. Both PNMs and chapters have to make really difficult cuts during recruitment, and we all know that PNMs sometimes cut for really stupid reasons. We don't want "the girls I've been paired with were awkwardly tall compared to me" to be a reason someone cuts us so yes, it is taken in to consideration.

[SWTXBelle]

I just want to clarify - when I said Texas recruitment was a world unto itself, it wasn't meant to be a slam. It just means that given the sheer size and tradition of the sorority system there the process is different (not necessarily good, not necessarily bad) than most other Texas schools. This is important for pnms to understand - we made an effort to have UT actives come to our panhellenic information sessions so they could address the specific concerns of pnms going to UT.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by EE-BO

I am not going to do it here, but I could point to MANY top SEC sorority chapters at top schools where the girls are far more uniform in the physical appearance so many of you seem to hate (even to the point where groups are almost all blonde or brunette) than at Texas.

Ummm, the SEC has gotten raked over the coals on here a HELL of a lot more than Texas. And if Penn State or Lehigh or UCLA were asking for a full body shot, the same conversation would be going on. It's not a criticize this because Texas does it, it's criticize Texas because they do this.

Low C Sharp - undeniably there are enough women in Texas to have stellar chapters of all 26 NPC sororities, but if they only want to join certain groups, it doesn't matter, so no sorority that is afraid they can compete is going to venture in. "If you build it they will come" doesn't apply here.

[srmom]

Just to clarify something, it isn't UT-Austin (better?) that has requests for certain types of pictures, it is the panhellenic groups that disseminate the information to the chapters that tells the pnms what to include in their packets.

The pnms may be going to UT-Austin or any other school. I did recs for girls going to schools all over the country (granted the majority I did were for Texas schools - but that includes A&M, TCU, SMU and Tech & if you want to lump LSU in there too, because in my area, it is almost considered a "Texas" school) and they all had the same types of resumes and photos. So don't blame UT-Austin, blame the panhellenic groups.

In one of the earlier posts, some girl said she had to make a "picture page" - that is what her panhellenic group requested. The Houston Panhellenic asks for a head shot and a 3/4 to full body shot (according to my friend). So each group must have a different idea of what they think works best for identification.

[EE-BO]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Ummm, the SEC has gotten raked over the coals on here a HELL of a lot more than Texas. And if Penn State or Lehigh or UCLA were asking for a full body shot, the same conversation would be going on. It's not a criticize this because Texas does it, it's criticize Texas because they do this.

Gotcha- this makes a bit more sense the way you have stated it.

This whole thread just kind of caught me off guard because it seemed a rather harsh reaction over a photo request- and it was coming from GCers who I consider to be very intelligent and thoughtful posters. And I know a lot of UT sorority women- and am related to a few. I don't find them as a group to be especially superficial- on the contrary sorority life is intended to make people more gracious (though it doesn't always work!)

I guess my attitude is that if this kind of superficial judgment is to be made- it will happen at some point, photo or not. But I can at least appreciate why this is an insulting aspect of the process to many.

And I do not think it is entirely superficial. A person's overall appearance- and by appearance I mean their choice of clothing and state of grooming- in a formal application process does not necessarily say a lot about them personally. But it does say a lot about how seriously they take the rush process and sorority life in general.

Granted that means some good candidates will fall through the cracks if they come here not prepared for the fact that in a very real sense "rush" begins when you are born (no I am not joking), but as someone else said- when you have this many ladies competing for a very few slots, it is inevitable that some seemingly arbitrary criteria have to be used along the way.

Whether a sorority uses those photos to pick only thin ladies or ladies who have a good overall presentation is impossible to really know- though I know some will make selections on one versus the other. It is a shade of meaning that differentiates between elitism and elite.

Anyhow, I am sorry if I was rude to anyone. The strong reaction just really shocked me even though I can at least understand it and acknowledge it is not an entirely unreasonable position.

epchick- I will never understand A&M and the whole TU thing. They also do a hand gesture and have bumper stickers with upside down horns. The whole idea is to basically reverse everything- you know, just like Satan worshippers (my brother is an Aggie- I say this in good fun.)

[Stef the Pef]

Originally Posted by EE-BO

epchick- I will never understand A&M and the whole TU thing. They also do a hand gesture and have bumper stickers with upside down horns. The whole idea is to basically reverse everything- you know, just like Satan worshippers (my brother is an Aggie- I say this in good fun.)

Oh, no, hon. They are Satan.

--that baptist school a little to the north

[epchick]

Originally Posted by LOVEinZTA

Your aggie friends are dyslexic. It's UT, Texas, or "The University of Texas at Austin."

Actually they aren't. There is a reason they call UT-Austin "TU." And its similar to the reason why I asked to say "UT-Austin."

Originally Posted by EE-BO

epchick- I will never understand A&M and the whole TU thing. They also do a hand gesture and have bumper stickers with upside down horns. The whole idea is to basically reverse everything- you know, just like Satan worshippers (my brother is an Aggie- I say this in good fun.)

Lol...that is why my Aggie friend told me. lol. I guess you have to be an Aggie to understand it but the whole thing just makes me lol



To the schools that do the whole full body shot. Does it really make it easier to distinguish PNMs? Cause I know if I had gone to...say UT-Austin and was required to put in a full body shot, i'd make sure I did the whole 'Glamour Shots." Aren't there PNMs who still look NOTHING like their full body shot? And if so, doesn't that negate the whole idea of a full body shot?

[Just interested]

I serve on a Reference Board for my sorority in a major Texas city and actually the full body shots we get are usually taken in a back yard or park with a pretty back ground. Nothing fancy. A young lady putting her best foot forward in a nice sundress or even jeans with a nice top. Sometimes sitting on a bridge or in a swing. Nothing at all you would call glamour shots. Very natural, really. In fact, I think glamour shots or rather cheap looking.

[Benzgirl]

My cousin went to UT (Not UT-Austin), and she was barely in the top 1/2 of her class. In fact, she had to go to school the summer before her freshman year to take remedial classes so that she could start normal freshman classes in the fall.

She rushed and pledged KD. I have never asked her how hard she was cut by the other houses. She is very cute and has a wonderful personality. She also had a ton of leadership rolls in her high school, which was very large.

I'm not out to dispute what others have said. I'm just stating a fact of a relative.

[Just interested]

That is an entirely different issue. (Those who get in who are not in the top 10%) Yes, there is summer school! The famous summer school. The tales I could tell. And it is NOT UT-Austin, I don't care what anyone says. There is only one TEXAS or UT and I didn't go there so I am not tooting my own horn, that is just the way it is.

[texas*princess]

Originally Posted by Just interested

That is an entirely different issue. (Those who get in who are not in the top 10%) Yes, there is summer school! The famous summer school. The tales I could tell. And it is NOT UT-Austin, I don't care what anyone says. There is only one TEXAS or UT and I didn't go there so I am not tooting my own horn, that is just the way it is.

I think most people know it's not called "UT-Austin" but I believe the reason someone asked that it's referred to in that way on this thread is so that it won't get mixed up with the other satellite schools that are under the UT umbrella.

Rush at UT "in Austin" (if that is better) is far different than say, the UT in San Antonio, or UT in Dallas, or UT in Arlington ... or...

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by LOVEinZTA

They ask for multiple pictures for the same reason chapters make posters and name chants and whatever else - to have another way to identify everyone and get members to know girls. Personally, I don't really care if it's full length, half length, head shot or whatever - I didn't think twice when I was asked for a full length picture of myself.

My school didn't have a huge recruitment (about 120-150 PNMs per year), and it was still hard for us to remember girls. To tell you the truth, we WISHED we had photos of PNMs to go with their applications. The 6 NPC sorority recruitment chairs have discussed a need for at least a Polaroid head shot with the applications.

We proposed it to the Greek Advisor and she decided against it because "the PNMs would feel like they're being judged if we asked them to take a Polaroid photo when they register." I suggested that we tell them that it's strictly for identification purposes (because it would be).

The answer was still no. So every year, the poor actives get stuck trying to wade through the 20 blonde Megans, the 20 brunette Katies, and the million Brittany's with varying hair colors and lengths.

[SWTXBelle]

AND, sad to say, not everyone is from Texas (the state, the state!) so it will make things easier for the poor unfortunate people who are not. (!) Say "Texas" or "A&M", and Texans know what you mean - everyone else, maybe not.