I understand that at UT Austin, roundup is important and most pledge classes are pretty much filled by the time school starts. As someone who is not able to travel to Austin and did not attend roundup, how do I rush the fraternities? Any insight on the Greek system and each individual fraternity is also appreciated.
I went to roundup and was given a bid at a fraternity already. But I don’t think most fraternities do this - most wait until at least rush week in the fall. You should be fine if you rush during rush week
How does rushing even work? I’m super confused lol (I would be rushing for a sorority, if anything).
I’m curious as well
I found this from 2012 which explains it pretty well: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-texas-austin/1295091-2012-sorority-recruitment.html
New York’s alumni association hasn’t answered anyone in years and I am the first in my family to go away to school. No one has ever joined a sorority, so I’ve been asking teachers, counselors, family friends, etc. but only have three out of the fourteen. I’m still trying to figure out how to get letters/sponsors for the rest of them 
On that topic, when a sorority says they require a sponsor form or a letter of recommendation, is it only one or the other? Or are some both? For example, Delta Gamma has a specific form and doesn’t mention a Letter of Rec, whereas Alpha Phi has a form but also mentions a Letter of Rec on another page of their website. Should I just secure both? Or does the form replace a Letter? (this question goes for all of the sororities, obviously, not just these two)
Also, what do we do with the senior photographs? I know some (if not all) require a head shot and a full body shot, and we give them to the alum writing our letter/filling out our sponsor form, but do we need extras for rush week? Do we send them on our own to the sorority? If there is no letter of rec and it is just a form, how will the sorority get our pictures?
I’m so confused. I really want to rush but I don’t know anything about the formal southern procedures. It’s handled totally differently here. I just don’t want to mess it up.
hnef27 - went through this last year as an out of state, so know the drill well! You are correct that many cities do not have an active panhellenic association, so they won’t be much help (these associations are much more active in the South). You do not need to be hung up on the terminology of each sorority - they do use different terms. You can use the term “Letter of Recommendation” generically, and it is the sorority alumni’s responsibility to look up the info on their website and complete the correct paperwork.
As far as finding people to write your “rec”, just keep asking everyone you meet/know. Teachers, teacher’s spouses, coaches, church members, people in line at Safeway, post on social media - have your parents do the same, etc. There are lots of sorority women in the Northeast, they just don’t advertise it as heavily as they do in the South. If you are at a complete loss, lookup the national website for the Sorority and ask them if they can put you in touch with a local person.
Once you have your rec writers, send them your resume, transcript, and the head and full shot pics. They will fill out the form or letter, and attach your photos, and send to the Chapter house. You don’t need extra pics for Rush Week. Some may send the info electronically to the Chapter house, so they may need the pictures emailed to them as a .jpg.
Not to make it any harder, but if you can, try to get 2 people per sorority to do a rec.
Hope that helps - it is a stressful process (especially keeping track of who has sent the info in). Good luck!