JOIN ARCH SOCIETY!
Are you ready to join Arch Society?
The Arch Society’s 2024-2025 application is LIVE! Please click here for the application link. Applications and all application components are due January 12, 2024 at 11:59 PM.
Welcome to Arch Society’s official recruitment page! We are so excited that you are interested in joining Arch Society. Each year we induct a whole new class of students and we would love for you to be apart of this amazing experience! Below we have more details about the organization, ways you can learn more, and information about our selection process. Please explore this page and if you have any questions about joining Arch Society, please contact our Vice Chair of Committees (archsocvcc@uga.edu).
What is Arch Society?
Arch Society is a unique student organization for students in their third year or higher. Arch Society provides service to the University of Georgia as official hosts and goodwill ambassadors.
As the official hosts and goodwill ambassadors, we seek to live out our mission, to serve the University of Georgia by sharing Arch Love, by giving tours to campus visitors and new UGA community members and assisting at university events like Commencement. In all of our interactions, we share our own individual and diverse experiences of UGA, highlighting the amazing opportunities here and demonstrating the value and promise of higher education. By telling our stories, we share our passion for UGA, making our love visible through service.
Additionally, Arch Society is a meaningful leadership experience. We attract leaders from across campus which gives members the experience of being “leaders among leaders.” We receive hands-on advising from the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, helping us to further develop as leaders and integrate our leadership experiences from across campus. Arch Society is such an impactful experience, we are established as an Experiential Learning (EL) opportunity.
And, beyond our foundations in service and leadership, we are one big family! While members come from many different UGA experiences before joining, every class of Arch Society describes the strong bonds of friendship and connection they forge with other Arch Society members through training and service. We call this Arch Love and aim to share this at every opportunity. Arch Society becomes a huge support system over the course of the year, with mentorship from returning members and alumni. And our internal committees help bring members together through social gatherings, major celebrations, and shared community service and philanthropy events aimed at a common cause.
While we’ve done our best to describe Arch Society here, we recommend reaching out to us so we can better convey the whole experience of Arch!
Why Join Arch Society?
Are you looking for to give back to UGA? Maybe searching for a new way to serve? Or hoping to grow beyond your current leadership experiences? Or even looking for a new group to connect to?
Arch Society provides for all of these needs as we exercise our mission, to serve the University of Georgia by sharing Arch Love, and serve as the official hosts and goodwill ambassadors. Members from every class have described how impactful this experience has been, transforming them and elevating their time at UGA.
Recruitment & Membership Timeline
Arch Society begins our formal recruitment efforts in January each year and interviews interested students to join the organization at the beginning of the spring semester. We invite selected students to join Arch Society with a formal letter in February and induct our new members in April after several weeks of training. New Arch Society members begin serving the university at the end of the spring semester and serve until the next class is inducted in the following April.
Recruitment is currently open. Click here for the application link!
Learn More About Arch Society
- Social Media — Please follow us on Instagram (@ugaarchsociety) and Facebook (@UGAArchSociety) to see current Arch Society experiences and learn about life in the blazer!
- Recruitment Events:
Recruitment events are a great opportunity to learn more about Arch Society directly from current members. Arch Society will be tabling in Tate Plaza the following days:
- November 13, 2023: 1 PM – 3 PM
- December 1, 2023: 12 PM – 2 PM
- January 9, 2024: 1 PM – 3 PM
- January 11, 2024: 12 PM – 2 PM
- December 4, 2023: 7 PM – 8 PM – Tate Room 141
- January 9, 2024: 6 PM – 7 PM – Tate Room 142
- January 11, 2024: 8 PM – 9 PM – Tate Room 141
Selection for Arch Society starts with recruitment events. We highly recommend that every prospective member attend an information session to learn more about the organization. Please see the “Learn More About Arch Society” section above to see a list of upcoming recruitment events.
- Having learned about Arch Society and wanting to join, please complete our application. The link to our application can be found below (when applications are open) with the full schedule for the current selection process. In the application, we will ask for more information about you and have you share more about your interest by completing three long-form questions (no more than 400 words). If you would like to work on preparing your answers before applications open, the questions will be as follows:
- Mr. Tom Cochran, founder of the Arch Society, reminds Arch Society members that no person is too important to serve humbly. If selected for membership, how would you apply these words?
- Why are you interested in being a member of the Arch Society and what motivates you to serve the University of Georgia?
- If selected for membership in the Arch Society, what unique qualities, perspectives, and abilities will you add to its membership and purpose?
We will also confirm that you are eligible to join Arch Society:
- You are available for all mandatory Arch Society dates (full list of dates included in application).
- You have spent at least one full year at UGA as a student. We believe Arch Society members need to know the campus they will be representing, so we ask newer members of the UGA community (ex. transfer students, new undergraduate students, new graduate students) to log a full year at UGA.
- As an undergraduate student, you are at least a current second-year or third-year student (by years at UGA, not credit hours) so you will be at third-year or fourth-year during the following year and the majority of your Arch Society Service. As a graduate student, there is no class year requirement, however, you must have a year of experience at UGA.
- You have at least one full year left before graduation from UGA.
- You are a full-time student (defined as: a. Undergraduate: 12 or more credit hours per semester b. Graduate: 9 or more credit hours per semester) or an on-campus part-time student at the Athens campus with approval from the Arch Society Executive Board and Advisors.
- You are in good academic and disciplinary standing with your school or college, your program of study, and the University of Georgia.
After submitting your application, you will attend our Mandatory Candidate Session at the University Chapel in late January. At this event, you will hear from Arch Society leadership and current members about the commitment and opportunities of Arch Society and our chief value, humble service. Attendance is required to move forward with the selection process.
Pending a successful application review, you will be invited to the first round of interviews. You will select an interview time and join us for a group interview with 1-3 other candidates. Outgoing members of Arch Society and Arch Society alumni will interview prospective members.
The top candidates will move on to the second round of interviews. Candidates will interview individually with the Arch Society Selection Committee, a group of campus administrators and outgoing Arch Society members who select the incoming class of members.
The Arch Society Selection Committee will select a new class of members from the top candidates and eligible returning candidates. Candidates will be informed of the committee’s decisions following the end of the second round of interviews via a formal letter. Candidates invited to join Arch Society must reply to the committee’s invitation by the specified deadline with an acceptance letter to the Vice President for Student Affairs.
Candidates who have accepted their invitation will attend training meetings throughout the spring semester (February through April) each Thursday night from 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM. Training meetings are required. If you foresee a conflict due to class or some other circumstance, please discuss this with the advisors.
Selected candidates will work with the advisors to acquire the necessary pieces of the Arch Society uniform. The uniform is required and typically members pay about $100 toward the total cost of their uniform. However, finances are not to be a barrier to membership. Students who have concerns about this cost should reach out to advisors as they can recommend resources to help pay for the uniform.
After completing training, the new class will be inducted at the end of April as official Arch Society Members.
Full details of the selection process are listed in the Arch Society Constitution and Bylaws, available here and on the Involvement Network platform.
Arch Society 2024-2025 Selection Information
- Link: Applications will open January 5, 2024
- Opens: January 5, 2024
- Closes: January 12, 2024 at 11:59 PM
- Please note: ALL application components (application, signed mandatory date sheet, and round 1 interview sign-up) must be submitted by January 12, 2024 at 11:59 PM for consideration.
- Date: Wednesday, Jan 17, 2024
- Time: 6:30 PM Sharp
- Location: University Chapel
- Please note: applicants who do not attend the Mandatory Candidate Session OR who arrive after 6:30 PM will be ineligible to continue in the process.
- Date: Sunday, January 21, 2024
- Candidates will sign up for one 30-min group timeslot during the application process
- Time Range: Timeslots starting at 10:00 AM and extending until 5:00 PM (last timeslot will begin at 4:30 PM)
- Location: Tate Student Center, more information will be sent following sign-ups
- Dates: TBA
- Invited candidates will receive a link to sign up for an individual interview
- Time and Location: TBD
- Date: February 2, 2024
- All decision letters will be available in the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs suite (306 Memorial Hall, 101 Sanford Drive).
- Letters will be available from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Candidates must pick up their letters during this time unless they have made alternate arrangements with advisors.
- Letters cannot be opened in the office suite and should be opened outside of Memorial Hall. We understand this can be an exciting time and we want to be respectful of our office neighbors. All candidates responding to an invitation to membership must submit a letter to the Vice President for Student Affairs.
- All accepted candidates must attend training meetings on Thursday nights February through April.
- First Meeting: February 8, 2024
- Time: 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM