<p>I might be missing something here, but could someone explain to me what is positive about rushing? It seems to me like it’s just a popularity contest, which continues to promote superficiality more and more each year. I don’t mean to offend anyone, but what is there to be proud about?</p>
<p>I’m totally open to discussion, and I’m really not trying to “■■■■■” :P</p>
<p>I’m not a part of the greek system, but my understanding is it offers you the opportunity to make friendships and network. It would also give people a sense of belonging, which could be important in such a large university.</p>
<p>soadquake981, over in the parents’ part of cc, there are several long threads about advantages and disadvantages of pledging a sorority.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Quota is set by dividing the number of girls who are attending a pref (or mult pref parties), the number of girls still in recruitment on the last day of invite parties, and the number of sororities, so there is no arbitrary number and it changes year to year. So, if there are 750 girls still rushing at pref night, and 14 houses, the quota will be 54 (and this year, they did a quota addition where you could pledge additional sophomores).</p>
<p>While there are some girls who are dropped completely from the recruitment process, this is fairly rare, and it is MUCH more common for girls to drop out of the process themselves when they have been dropped by the houses that they wanted to join, or because they feel that the options left to them (the houses they DID get invited back to) are not a good fit for whatever reason.</p>
<p>Every house at UT has cute and fun girls, but some girls get their hearts set on joining certain houses, and there are only so many spots because of the quota. If there was no quota set, then you’d have some houses who’d have 150 member pledge classes and others with 20 - the whole purpose of the quota is to try to even out membership numbers across the NPC houses. That is why there are also quota additions (for the smaller houses to try to get up to number).</p>
<p>Anyway, that’s the skinny on the quota - at schools like Alabama, their quota was upwards of 100 girls!! They just have alot more girls go through and stick with it.</p>
<p>At UT, if 900 girls started and only 750 pledged, it’s likely that 200 of them dropped of their own choice. (just picked random numbers - not reflective of UT)</p>
<p>As to the drinking issues, the sororities are DRY, the pledgeship activities of the sororities are DRY. These girls who over-imbibed did not do it as part of their pledgeship - they just went out and partied too much. Who knows where it happened? Could have been somebody’s apartment. But, where it for sure didn’t happen is at a sorority pledge event, and my irritation with the police report is that it somehow makes it sound like it was because of some ritual or some event associated with pledging and that is NOT the case.</p>
<p>ag54, thanks for the clarification on the drinking. That’s good to know it wasn’t associated with pledging.</p>
<p>Ok…so I was in a sorority in the dino ages and I know it was competitive but everything I have read, says UT is extremely “cut throat”. So is it cut throat because the majority of the girls are pushing for a certain group of houses or because the sisters are just mean spirited and already have the girls they want in mind? I mean how many “total package” girls can there be? I am assuming GPA is important to the respective house and certainly being attractive does not hurt, but I guess with the attractive issue, that is a personal thing…ie, hair color, eye color, etc.</p>
<p>I guess what it boils down to is I hate to send my daughter through a process that has failure spelled all over it. But what is that alternative if rushing is important to her? Send a pix and ask other people if she has chance. It really is a bit crazy.</p>
<p>You’d be surprised at the variety of girls in every house. Even the most popular houses have girls of every kind - there is no “Barbie” house, or “Elle Woods” house. And, it is a shame that some girls come in with some preconcieved idea of what they think they “should be” because EVERY house has cute and fun girls! The so called Big 6 are a product of history on campus and reputation. Girls think that they will have some edge if they pledge one of those houses, but ALL of the houses have wonderful opportunities for sisterhood, ALL have opportunities for leadership, ALL have a sense of community, then for the social stuff, they ALL have mixers with fraternities, girls of EVERY house have firends across the Greek system. It’s not like if you don’t join one of the big 6 your 4 years of college are going to be spent in misery! But, sadly, some girls come in with that attitude, and instead of maximizing the opportunities they have, they quit!</p>
<p>What makes it have the reputation of being “cut throat” is that every girl with fabulous stats and credentials (which, trust me - MANY girls have) doesn’t get her top choice, and by danged, she won’t have anything less…</p>
<p>And, at UT, you have so many girls going through with existing connections to the houses. It’s hard if you don’t know anyone to pull for you from the inside. Hard, but NOT impossilbe - make a great impression, and you will be noticed. Plenty of out of state girls with no connections pledge, but they are the type that get noticed in a room full of girls - and it’s not all about looks either…</p>
<p>Connections, connections, connections. That is what the UT Panhellenic system is about.
The majority of the girls who get into the Big 6 sororities are typically from the big named high schools like Dallas schools such as Highland Park, Hockaday, Ursuline, Episcopal School of Dallas or Houston schools (Episcopal, Memorial, Stratford) and Alamo Heights in San Antonio. That is why there is these pre-conceived notion of it being hard, because well, it is hard. It is competitive because if you want to be in a big 6 sorority, you HAVE to have connections from the girls who are already in the sorority and most all of these girls came from these big high schools and will be pulling for girls who are coming in who went to their high school and who they like. It’s really rare for someone to come in and pledge a big 6 if they don’t have ANY sort of connection. That being said, there are some really cute girls who come in and just wow the sororities and end up being pledged, but it usually doesn’t happen unless you came from a big, well known high school, are a legacy, or had really amazing recommendation letters and alumni are pulling for you.</p>
<p>ag54, The mom who told me that only 650 spots were available but 950 girls started out had a daughter who is an upperclassman active in one of the sororities. She seemed like a credible source. </p>
<p>On greekchat, you can see UT sorority houses having quotas around 52 or 54. If there are 14 sororities, there would have to be 67 openings per house in order to give all 950 who were registered a chance to pledge if they wanted to - if the girls were not culling their own lists and saying that they only wanted to be in a sorority if they could be in certain houses. </p>
<p>I’m sure that many girls were released because the sororities they preferred were not the same ones who were interested in them, but I think that - this year - freshmen who really wanted to be in a sorority (and were not being choosy about which one, “maximizing their opportunities”) were cut because there was just not enough room for everyone.</p>
<p>
ag54 and I are agreeing that both some girls are dropped and some drop out themselves - I didn’t mean my last post to look as though I was disagreeing with her on that part! :)</p>
<p>Can someone fill me in on rushing in the spring?? </p>
<p>I am in no way shape or form used to wearing high-heels so I’d do flats and I’m pretty outgoing though not conventionally blonde and incredibly slim. But…I’m confident to do this!</p>
<p>Remember - grades count too. I didn’t go to UT but I am a sorority alumna and many PNMs who get cut early on are cut due to grades. Even if a PNM’s grades meet minimums required to rush, there are plenty of women whose grades are as good or better, and, all other things being equal, the house is going to bid the girl who can help maintain or raise their GPA.</p>
<p>Whoever said on this post that sororities are “dry” is completely oblivious to what goes down in frat and sorority houses…
That being said sororities and fraternities are their for two reasons- networking and friendship. Even though I don’t see how networking works in such Greek organizations. I believe you don’t need to join a frat/sorority in order to network and have friends. I know millions of employers who give preferences to employees who are from the same alum/alma mater (IE. I know FOR SURE Aggie managers hire/prefer A&M grads,etc.). As for having friends, you meet people through your major, your classes, your dorm,etc. Some of the behavior of frats/sororities I disagree with and some of the actions of frat brothers/sorority sisters around campus just reinforce my disagreement. I know and have seen a bunch of people getting kicked out of Greek houses due to their color/race , which goes against all moral standards and ethics IMO.</p>
<p>sasha2014- Unfortunately, spring rush at UT is very rare. Spring rush occurs at other universities when certain sorority houses do not meet quota in the fall; however, because SO many girls go through rush at UT and many end up accepting bids, there is usually only one or two houses that do spring rush, because they didn’t have enough girls to hand out bids to in the fall. I know last year, these houses were Alpha Xi Delta and Sigma Delta Tau. Sigma Delta Tau didn’t go through fall recruitment last year or this year, because they do not have a house, but they recruit girls through an informal recruitment. The best way is to go out and meet girls in sororities or befriend them so that they can let you know if their sorority has any opportunities where they are open bidding or going through spring recruitment. Sophomores who have a successful rush usually have several friends in a certain sorority that they made their freshman year through their dorms, classes, etc.</p>
<p>“Whoever said on this post that sororities are “dry” is completely oblivious to what goes down in frat and sorority houses…”
The person said that rushing is dry, which is a pretty common practice at many universities.</p>
<p>It seems like much of the “professional networking” that comes from being in a fraternity/sorority is from all the crazy, stupid, illegal things that the brothers/sisters do together. Do we really want people like that to hold important positions in society/companies? Do we want someone to employ another person just because they enjoyed getting drunk together?</p>
<p>Of course, this isn’t the case for every Greek organization. I’m just saying that this is often the case.</p>
<p>Sorority houses are dry. They don’t host events and members can get in trouble if they’re found storing alcohol in their rooms. </p>
<p>Parties and other events take place at fraternity houses, which are all off campus and outside the direct jurisdiction of the school. If you don’t like greek life then fine, no one is making you join and, unlike at some other universities where fraternities get preferential on-campus housing, UT fraternities are autonomous. They have no obligation to let you join, let you into their parties, or anything else. </p>
<p>As for meeting people, UT is a huge school with a very diverse student body. While that is an asset in the academic experience, socially, people tend to associate with other people who share similar interest, activities, etc. As for meeting people through classes or dorm life, over the last 3 years I’ve found I often have nothing in common with the people in my classes other than the fact that we’re both taking that class. Same goes for my freshman year dorm.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Really? Do you have any evidence to back that up? If that’s what “often” happens then there should be plenty of evidence for it.</p>
<p>Haha I only have anecdotal evidence from my friends and Facebook. But come on, which fraternity doesn’t promote underage drinking?</p>
<p>Sigma Delta Tau, one of the 14 sororities at UT Austin does not participate in Formal Recruitment. We are starting our recruitment process within the next few weeks. If you/your daughter is interested in rushing but either missed formal or dropped/was dropped, please keep us in mind. </p>
<p>As I said, Sigma Delta Tau is one of the 14 panhellenic sororities at UT. As such, new members will receive the same benefits of any of the other 13 sororities. We do not participate in formal recruitment, instead having our own process that allows us to get to know the girls. We don’t have quotas, and take quality over quantity. We are in the process of rebuilding our sorority, so our numbers are smaller than those of the other UPC sororities. However, I have found in my time as a Sig Delt that there is a benefit to being smaller. While rebuilding, each girl has an opportunity to take up leadership positions and truly get to know her sisters. I know many larger sororities where the girls don’t even know everyone in their own pledge class, let alone the sorority as a whole. We have the benefit of knowing every single member. </p>
<p>Our recruitment will be starting up soon, and anyone who is a student at UT Austin (no matter their age/year, we are interested in all ages, not just Freshmen) is welcome to come check us out. We will have 3 interest nights, please pm me for more information. We cannot offer bids to girls who received bids from other sororities within the past calendar year, however even if you went through formal and as a result did not receive a bid you are more than welcome! </p>
<p>Like I said, pm me with any questions or for information. We’d love to hear from you</p>