Sponsorships, Letters of Support, and Recruitment Registration (Oh My!)

Hi! My name is Anna Boyer, and I serve as the Director of Recruitment Records. One of my main duties is to oversee all of the paperwork we receive for each potential new member - or PNM - going through recruitment. If you’re scratching your head, baffled that you need “paperwork” to join a sorority, don’t worry – you aren’t alone. Two years ago, I remember feeling completely clueless when someone asked me if I had all of my letters for recruitment. Coming to UT from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the process of joining a sorority in Texas was completely foreign to me. I didn’t even know that recruitment began the week before classes started. Heads up – it does!

Although it was confusing trying to figure out what I needed to send to alumnae with zero guidance, I’m so happy I decided to go through recruitment. Hopefully, the timeline below will help to keep you on track as you prepare for recruitment. Here’s what you need to do to be considered for DG membership:

April

Sponsorship forms, also called letters of recommendation, are documents that Delta Gamma alumnae fill out about potential new members to tell us about your personality and interests - like a recommendation letter. Start by finding Delta Gamma alumnae. Ask the women around you: mom’s friends, friend’s moms, neighbors, teachers, coaches, anyone if they’re a Delta Gamma. The woman doesn’t need to be a Delta Gamma from the University of Texas; a woman who was a member of ANY DG chapter can write you a sponsorship form.

Don’t freak out if you’ve talked to 548 women and still can’t find an alumnae. Cities often have alumnae associations for all panhellenic sororities. Contact your local alumnae association and see if there are any Delta Gammas willing to sponsor you. Don’t feel creepy or weird contacting alumnae! Alumnae are used to writing sponsorship forms and love seeing that you’re interested in becoming a member of DG! Offer to meet the alumna for coffee so she gets to know you better.

Prepare a packet for each alumnae, including your resume and a headshot. On your resume include interests, academic achievements, activities, sports, GPA, volunteer experience, work and anything else that shows how awesome you are. Don’t hold back – this is the one time you’re encouraged to brag about yourself. On my resume I also included my leadership experiences, college major, GPA, SAT and ACT scores and hobbies.

If an alum knows you especially well, she may choose to write you a letter of support instead of OR in addition to a sponsorship form. A letter of support is basically exactly what it sounds like – a letter to, well, support you becoming a DG. We love receiving letters of support, as they are usually more personal than sponsorship forms. However, they are absolutely not necessary! I didn’t have a single letter of support, and (in case you haven’t figured it out yet) I’m a DG.

May 18

Recruitment registration opens on the University of Texas Panhellenic website. Visit http://www.texaspanhellenic.com/registration/ to learn more about how to sign up. Although registration is open until August 6th, it is best to complete your application early. And yes, it is necessary to register online to participate in recruitment.

June 1

Kindly ask the alumnae writing your sponsorship forms to send all of your information to us by June 1st. We will still accept forms after this, but we strongly, strongly, strongly encourage you to have alumnae mail us everything by this date.

The alumnae are responsible for mailing everything to us, so there’s no need for you to send anything to the house. Please have them send your sponsorship to me at:

Delta Gamma

Attn: Anna Boyer

2419 Rio Grande St.

Austin, TX 78705

If the alumna writing your sponsorship would prefer to send it by email, my address is txdgsponsorship@gmail.com.

Once you’ve done all of this you can relax and enjoy your entire summer knowing that you’ve finished the most difficult part of sorority recruitment. Now all that’s left is to mentally/emotionally prepare for the Texas heat in high heels - good luck ladies!