Thanks for all the advice and information. Daughter put together a stack of packages to mail or deliver to the women who have offered to write recommendations. We've got 2-3 for each sorority, so hopefully all the ladies will get the recs in on time. Most of them only do a few each year so I don't think we are in crunch time yet.
Thanks again for the help.

Any advice from you ladies for a Midwestern PNM going through recruitment this fall at Ole Miss?

To start: read this thread, read all the stickied threads in the recruitment and sorority recruitment forum.

And if you use the word "sratty", you won't have long to worry in recruitment because you'll probably be dumped right off.:rolleyes:

lol, I had the same thought.

Lol fair. Sorry I'm not the best at coming up with usernames.

Changing the subject. Ole Miss is labeled right off the bat in this thread as having a "competitive recruitment." To better explain that key phrase I'm linking another four page thread from the past. No need to reinvent the wheel.

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/showthread.php?t=121568

This is quoted from another thread on Greekchat, but it spurred me to search for similar bad advice related to Ole Miss. Didn't find any FaceBook Ole Miss Class groups with bad recruitment advice (it may exist and I didn't find it), but I did find where a PNM was asking a question at Yahoo! Answers, and another at some random sorority advice blog.

The mains questions regarding Ole Miss were:

1) Is it okay to go into recruitment with less than a 3.0 high school GPA?

Correct Answer: It's fine to go into Recruitment with a less than 3.0 HS GPA, however, the Chapters at Ole Miss compete fiercely in academics. If they accept a grade risk (under 3.0 is a grade risk) that PNM has to be very, very special. Every year it does happen that one or two grade risks are offered a bid, and every year there are also a few women with perfect GPAs that go without a bid for some reason or other. Just know that if you have a second recruitment as a sophomore, with a good GPA, your choices will be limited to those chapters that offer bids to sophomores. Not every Ole Miss chapter will offer a bid to a sophomore.

2) How do I find out which chapters are high status chapters and low status chapters at my school?

Correct Answer: This is the wrong question to be asking about Ole Miss or any Greek campus. There is so much interest in Greek Life at Ole Miss that another Chapter is coming on campus this year with the strong possibility of another Chapter in 2015. If you limit yourself to certain chapters, or develop preconceived attitudes about the chapters, you are harming your chances of being a Greek. Some Ole Miss Chapters will release a PNM, in a second recruitment just because they have released that PNM previously. That's just their policy. And some Ole Miss chapters rarely take sophomores. Please form your opinions by meeting the members of the chapters, by observing them before recruitment or meeting face to face during recruitment. You want the chapters to give you a chance by meeting you before they decide, so keep an open mind in return.

Love the second answer!

My daughter and I noticed on another website that the issue of reputation came up. I know gpa's, high school activities, etc. are important, but nobody is saying anything about standards. I have advised my daughter to keep her social media clean and pay attention to how other percieve her. She attended two spring parties and was provided alcohol both times by active members of sororities. With recruitment six weeks into the start of classes, how important is reputation? Does a successful recruitment mean the PNM's stay out of the bars and situations where alcohol is present? My daughter has friends who think it is important to drink with the active members of the sororities. They think it will help in recruitment. What are your thoughts on this sticky subject? The advise my daughter was given by her friends who are active members was to drink a little (you are expected to), but not so much that you get sloppy.

Last I checked, underage drinking was against the law. I have searched and searched this site for answers, but this subject seems to be taboo.

Great. Sorority members giving incoming freshman alcohol and telling them they need to drink it to be Greek.

Risk management anyone? Maybe I'm naive, but I would tell my daughter to put any sorority who gave her alcohol and told her she needed to drink at the very bottom of my invite list. That's a social probation chapter waiting to happen.

1. Do these friends go to Ole Miss? What is good advice at one campus can end a girl's recruitment at another.
2. Definitely keep the social media clean.
3. It is a fallacy that all sorority members drink. I knew women in all of the chapters on my campus who were non drinkers. They generally held leadership positions and were some of the most respected sisters.
4. I have a feeling a MIP would end a girl's recruitment more quickly than a polite refusal of a beer.

ETA: Please don't misunderstand as to the first point of my post. I do NOT condone underage drinking as good advice. Just that campus cultures vary wildly. I do agree with TriDelta Sallie that these girls are huge risk management issues if they are giving alcohol to PNMs.

Exactly what I was going to say.
I feel that drinking with actives would just lead to bad situations. Not to mention all the opportunities for dirty rushing which isn't good for the chapters or the PNM in the end.

As a mom, this is the most confusing part about recruitment. As an advisor to my daughter, I am lost! My older daughter is an active member of a sorority at another SEC school. She said that drinking with actives happens all the time and that sororities look the other way. She said I'm being paranoid and nobody cares if girls drink. Girls with MIP's still get bids to top houses.

I was just wondering how this is viewed at Ole Miss. My daughter has a 3.5 gpa, cheered in high school and has over 300 volunteer hours. I would hate for bad advise to ruin her chances at rush.

As a mom myself, I would be more worried that advising my daughter to drink socially while underage would teach her that rules are arbitrary - that it is ok to break the law if it increases your chances to get into a sorority. I think there is a bigger life lesson here than sorority rush.

I think it stinks that chapter members put you, and your daughter, in this position.