SEPTEMBER 2011
Ready for Recruitment: Hi Abby! Do I need recommendations for rush? I know people say they aren’t mandatory but will they help me?
Hi Ready for Recruitment! By no means are recommendations necessary and every chapter takes recommendations into consideration differently (for some it matters, for others it won’t matter at all). If you do have recommendations, you can send those directly to the houses. The addresses and the names of the recruitment chairs are listed on this site, so feel free to send those to the houses but no rush! You have until January!
OCTOBER 2011
Just Me: Hi, Abby! I was wondering if it was possible to play a varsity sport and be in a sorority at the same time.
It’s definitely possible! Actually, plenty of varsity athletes are sorority women. Sorority membership is really what you make of it. You can as involved as you’d like to be by taking on leadership positions and participating in chapter events, or in your case if you don’t have the time to be a leader in the chapter the only mandatory weekly commitment is a chapter meeting. In terms of recruitment, sororities are very understanding when a game conflicts with a formal recruitment round. You’ll handle recruitment conflicts closer to the start of formal recruitment with your recruitment counselor.
Second Year Savvy: Do second years get cut from most sororities automatically? Is there any point in a second year rushing?
Hey Second Year Savvy. To answer your question, not at all. Sororities take many different things into account during recruitment, not only the year. I encourage anyone who’s interested in joining a sorority to participate in recruitment, no matter their year at UVa. Sororities value the connections between their sisters and the potential new members over anything else, including year.
Is it tough rushing for a second time?
No, going through rush for a second time does not make it a more difficult process. If anything, I think you’d find it easier now that you know how rush works at UVa and you probably know more of the sisters in the houses. It’s always a relief to see a familiar face during a recruitment party.
Ready for Rush: Do I need recommendations to rush? I know people say they aren’t mandatory but will they help me?
Hi there Ready for Rush! As you know, recommendations aren’t mandatory. For some houses, recommendations might make a difference, but for others they will barely even glance at recommendations. It really just depends on the chapter and their policy regarding recommendations. If you have recommendations feel free to send them to the chapter houses. Their addresses are available on this site under the individual chapter pages.
I was wondering if it would be possible to join two sororities?
I’m afraid you’re only allowed to join one sorority! Don’t worry, just one sorority is more than enough girls to meet and events to attend.
Even more Q&A with Abby
from Wahoowa: What sororities are capable of taking second years?
The Inter-Sorority Council only tells the sororities the maximum number of women they can take into their new pledge class, not the breakdown of those classes by year. Really, it’s up to the chapters what percentage of first years or second years they take in their pledge classes, but technically all sororities are capable of taking second years. I wouldn’t worry too much about that though, sororities take a lot of things into consideration during recruitment but what matters most is if a PNM meshes with the current sisters, as opposed to what year they are. Don’t stress about who takes upperclassmen or how many first years are rushing, just be yourself in recruitment.
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from Recruitment Schedule: Hi, I am working on my class schedule for next semester, and it is possible that I will have a class that doesn’t finish until 7 pm. Will this interfere at all with recruitment?
There’s a chance that your class, or any night-time class, will conflict with recruitment. But classes come first and the sororities understand that. The ISC works to rearrange schedules in order to maximize the number of houses you can visit during the last three rounds of recruitment (Themes, House Tours, and Prefs), so you would have to submit a schedule change request form to the ISC in January so we can work to rearrange your schedule. Don’t worry about this yet- your Recruitment Counselor will walk you through this! And if you do have to miss a round or two for a class, the sororities are very understanding of this. We’re all students, and school comes first, so you will not be penalzied by the ISC for missing recruitment due to a class conflict.
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from Curious First Year: I started to fill out the registration form and it asked for my current GPA/Hours completed. What do I put there exactly since I’m a first year?
You can put 0 and 0.0 for your GPA. That’s mostly on there for upperclassmen. The ISC does grade checks during winter break, so we’ll go in and manually add in everyone’s GPA. Keep in mind that the ISC strongly recommends at least a 2.0 to participate in recruitment.
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Is it possible for students in the UVA School of Continuing and Professional Studies to join a sorority even if they don’t live in Charlottesville?
Unfortunately, students in the SCPS are not permitted to join a sorority or participate in recruitment. According to national standards, students must be regularly matriculated in order to be eligible to pledge a sorority or fraternity.
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From Anne: Hi Abby, I was wondering what to put on the recruitment application when it asks for hours completed and GPA. Since, it is only November, and I am a first year, I don’t have my grades yet. Thanks so much!
Hey Anne, you can actually just put 0.0. The ISC will be doing grade checks over winter break, so once we have everyone’s grades confirmed by the University we’ll go into the computer system to update everyone’s GPAs.
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From Ready To Rush: Hi, Abby! I love every aspect of sorority life and am looking forward to participating in Formal Recruitment, but I am debating about it for one simple reason: the financial commitment. For those of us attending the University on full financial aid, is it unrealistic to participate in Formal Recruitment when we know that we do not have the financial resources to be in a sorority? Is there anyway to alleviate the financial hardships and participate in sorority life?
There are definitely ways, available from both the ISC and from the individual chapters, to help pay for sorority dues, but sorority dues are a significant financial responsibility. The average dues for the first semester are around $1,200, but they’ll drop by several hundred dollars (and will remain consistent) for your remaining three years. Each chapter has different scholarships they offer and you will be given information from each chapter about these scholarship opportunities during recruitment. Through the ISC, there is the Greek Endowed Scholarship which offers up to four scholarships totaling $3,300 and is awarded to the recipients during the fall semester. Kate Lancelot is this year’s ISC Scholarship Chair and can provide you with a list of some available scholarships at UVa to help pay with dues; feel free to email her at kml3tg@virginia.edu to inquire about scholarship information.
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from Wondering: Are sororities required to take a certain amount of second years? If not, do they generally give bids to second years, and if so, how many?
We can’t require that sororities take a certain amount of upperclassmen, or women from any particular year actually. We only tell them the maximum number of women they can take in during Formal Recruitment and the breakdown of the years of those women is up to them. It all depends on the house and the connection and conversations you have with their sisters during recruitment. Sororities take many different things into account during recruitment, and while year in school might be one of them for some of the houses (mostly for financial reasons), all houses definitely put an emphasis on the connection they had between their sisters and the women going through recruitment. My advice is to not worry about that, if you go into recruitment thinking about how many houses take second years you’ll just end up worrying; just be yourself and have fun in recruitment.
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from Questioning:When we’re filling out the recruitment enrollment form, should the activities we list be only from this year (ie first semester for first years), or can we include things from high school?
Great question! Most people just put activities that you are involved in at UVa, but feel free to include activities from high school too. Just put somewhere in the box that these are high school activities so the chapters know.
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Are there going to be any other information sessions about rush before it begins?
We don’t have any other large scale info sessions planned as of now, but we are hoping to hold “dorm talks” later in November. These will be held in first-year dorms as well as Gooch and Dillard, and members from the ISC Exec Board will give a brief run-down of recruitment and answer any questions. Look out for info from your RA about those!
What time is the PNM Meeting on Saturday, January 14? I’m out of state so I need to buy my plane ticket. Are we allowed to move into dorms Friday? I don’t want a plane delay causing me to miss the meeting, Thank you!
There will be three meetings on the 14th actually, the first of which will start at 3. Try to get back into town as early as possible (dorms open at 8:00 am for move-in) so you can make your assigned meeting and prepare for recruitment which starts on the 15th. If you have to miss your assigned meeting because of travel arrangements or a flight delay, just get in touch with your Recruitment Counselor and they’ll make sure you can get to a later meeting. Thanks for checking!
Is it possible to be in a sorority and to be an RA as well?
It’s definitely possible, and many sorority members are actually RAs also. The ISC tries to limit the circumstances in which women cannot join a sorority, so RAs are encouraged to participate in recruitment and to pledge a chapter!
Hey! I’m 17 now, but turn 18 in March, does this limit my registration in any way?
You can still register for recruitment and participate, but we may have to get parent permission because you’ll be 17 for recruitment. I’ll ask our Greek advisors and will shoot you an email!
I am trying to register for rush and I cannot find where I am supposed to do that on this website.
Under the Recruitment tab, there is another tab that says Formal Recruitment and a final tab that has the Recruitment Registration link as well as Recruitment Dates.
Your web site says move in is at 8:00 on January 14th but other web sites say the dorms open on the 15th. Which is correct?
Hey Ruth. The old website is for last year, sorry for any confusion. But move-in starts on January 14th this year.
Hey I was just wondering if I did formal rush this year, took 24 hours after getting my bid and then declined it, am I eligible to do informal rush next year?
Hi curious,
If you received a bid during formal recruitment and chose to decline it, you may not join another sorority for a year in accordance with the agreement you signed when you registered for formal recruitment.
You will be eligible to participate in recruitment for the following year’s formal recruitment process.
I am confused. Houston Panhellenic requires we get everything in by May 1. They want pictures, resumes, transcripts, etc. Everyone I know who is going there next year is getting it all done now. When are these actually due?
Hi Diana,
The Inter-Sorority Council at UVA does not have a deadline for recommendations, nor does the Inter-Sorority Council (Panhellenic) handle recommendations. If you would like to send pictures, resumes, transcripts, etc. to chapters, you may find chapter contact information under the “Chapters” heading on the virginiaisc.com website. Typically, if these recommendations are sent, they are not sent to chapters until next fall, so please don’t worry about rushing to get them in!
We look forward to meeting you next year.