Hoos’ going to UVA? Perhaps you?
If you plan to be a Wahoo, especially a Greek one, here’s what you need to know about sorority recruitment at UVA.
Firstly, like Baylor, SMU, and many others – UVA’s recruitment is different, in that it takes places in the spring. According to a recent article by the US News, 35% percent of UVA’s student body is Greek. In terms of the “vibe” – it’s going to feel like there’s a huge Greek presence on campus. Over 1,000 ladies registered for Spring 2018 recruitment. Ultimately, pledge classes contained around 44 members this year, although this varies slightly from house to house. (Common point of confusion: the average size of pledge classes is not directly determined by the number of registered rushees, but by the total number of rushees who still have houses left on Preference Round.)
Ladies who plan to participate have 15 different sororities to choose from:
(The links below take you to each of their official, chapter-run websites.)
- ΑΔΠ Alpha Delta Pi
- ΑΦ Alpha Phi
- ΑΧΩ Alpha Chi Omega
- ΔΔΔ Delta Delta Delta
- ΔΓ Delta Gamma
- ΔΖ Delta Zeta
- ΓΦΒ Gamma Phi Beta
- ΚΑΘ Kappa Alpha Theta
- ΚΔ Kappa Delta
- ΚΚΓ Kappa Kappa Gamma
- ΠΒΦ Pi Beta Phi
- ΣΚ Sigma Kappa
- ΣΣΣ Sigma Sigma Sigma
- ΧΩ Chi Omega
- ΖΤΑ Zeta Tau Alpha
Scroll down for the recruitment schedule.
The University of Virginia’s sorority’s spring recruitment schedule is structured as follows:
Non-Mandatory Fall Information Session
Considering joining a sorority? Drop in to learn all about Greek live at UVA. Already confident in your decision to rush? Go anyway – you’ll be able to meet and network with current Greek members.
The Pre-Rush Mandatory Orientation Session
All potential new members are required to attend a mandatory “orientation” session. This meeting takes place in early January. It’s typically held same day as early move-in.
Day #1, (Round 1) Round Robin
Visit half the houses for this introductory round and participate in timed 30-minute parties at each. Yes! You will have breaks.
Day #2 (Still Round 1) Round Robin
Ladies visit the remaining sororities for continued quick, 30-minute parties. By the end of this round, ladies will have visited each sorority. Rushees are not allowed to opt out of particular parties; attendance at all events is mandatory. The first round of cuts takes place after this round.
Day #3 (Round 2) Philanthropy Round
Ladies invited back will listen as each house presents more information their chapter’s unique philanthropy. Another round of cuts takes place after this round.
Day #4 (Round 3) House Tours
Previously, House Tours have been broken down into 2 days of events. This year, it’s been condensed to one. Cuts take place again after this round as well.
Day #5 (Round 4) Preference
This is the last round of rush before bids are given out. Pref parties are the longest of rush parties and run 60 minutes each, allowing rushees to spend more time speaking with actives and to ask any questions about the chapter. The is the last and final cut.
Day #6 (Hooray – you’re DONE!) Bid Day
Ladies receive their bids! After a brief meeting at Memorial Gym where ladies find out which bid they received, all 15 of the ISC (Inter-Sorority Council) gather together at Nameless Field, per tradition. The chapters are thrilled to welcome new members, and they’re dressed and ready for them. Active sorority members don coordinated chapter costumes and dance and cheer new members out onto the field with powder guns and airhorns. Silly string rains down as new members rush the field chapter by chapter.
Above is UVA’s 2018 Sorority Recruitment Schedule for Illustration Purposes. Even though there are 20 parties for Round Robins, you will only be booked for 15 of them, as there are 15 houses. The other spots will be “off” parties (breaks) like an “off period” in high school.
Other UVA Rush Tips:
Pi Chi – This is the UVA-unique term for the “disaffiliated” Greek members who volunteer as guides for rushees during recruitment and walk groups of ladies to each house. There’s a different name for these at each school. (For example, at UT, they’re called Rho Chi’s.)
Greek Rank – AKA the WebMD of rush. Why? You go there because you’re genuinely curious about the top sororities at UVA. You have an open mind. And what happens? You leave in a panic thinking it’s all over. You leave thinking you’ll never be good enough for a top house, and that you’d rather die than go ABC. All because 4 girls with 30 different logins who did nothing for an entire evening besides furiously clearing their cache and voting said so. Or worse yet – you now associate Greek life with horribly catty girls who hate each and every house on campus that’s not theirs. Not true! Greek women support other Greek women. It’s only a handful of people playing on these sites, so don’t let it discourage you. Ignore the rankings on there. Go look at the sororities’ Instagram pages instead if you want to learn more about them.
“Guaranteed Bids” – This is a common question, but an important one. At UVA, rushees are not guaranteed a bid from any specific house – nor are they guaranteed that their participation in recruitment will yield a bid at all. There are so many ladies that sign up each year, and a maximum amount of spots for incoming rushees. If you are cut from all the chapters before Preference Round, you will not receive a bid. Ladies who make it to Preference Round typically receive a bid, but not 100% of the time. The chances dimish if you only have one house on Pref.
I say this NOT to deter ladies from participating in rush, but to give you the reassurance that preparing for rush beforehand CAN help maximize your odds of being invited back to more houses and in the end, having more options to choose from. It doesn’t have to be “up to fate because you’re just going to go in being yourself.” You’re already a fantastic potential new member in the making. I’d like to encourage each and every one of you to take control and prep beforehand so you can be the very best, prepared, and confident version of yourself possible – just like you were for the SAT.
Planning to rush this spring at the University of Virginia? Consider working the first and only sorority rush coaching program of its kind in the nation. A lot of the big decisions with rushees involve paperwork and are made months before recruitment.
Hiking in Heels was featured in the August 2018 Issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine
We know exactly what the Director of Recruitment Records is looking for on your resume, how the houses will rank your rec letters on a scale (and how you can get a higher ranking), how best to prepare your rush packets, how the bid list ordering and cut process works, and what you should actually be discussing during each round. (Hint – it’s not what the Panhellenic guides will tell you in the links above.)
Working with a rush coach maximizes a rushees odds and gives your daughter an advantage long before she steps foot on campus for recruitment so she can go in more relaxed and confident.
It’s just like the SAT – it’s better to go in prepared. Let’s get you (or your daughter) recruitment ready.
To apply for the Hiking in Heels program, which was nationally recognized in Cosmopolitan Magazine, call us at (512) 827-7586 or complete the form below!