At Ole Miss, probably May or June.

I think it is preferable to send them BEFORE spring classes end if you can.... better to get on the radar before they go home for summer.

After reading the forums I realize that going in with absolutely no connections is extremely detrimental. How can I help offset this downfall?? Will the fact that I don't know anyone and probably won't have the opportunity to meet anyone cause me to get dropped??

Recs have nothing to do with knowing anyone at Ole Miss. And since recruitment is several weeks after school starts, you will meet people once you are there.

You will be surprised by all the opportunities you will have to meet girls. All you have to do is to start asking around. My daughter decided to attend Ole Miss not knowing a soul. My husband’s business partner attended Ole Miss and was able to introduce my daughter to his niece who was a Tri Delta. My neighbor has a friend who also attended Ole Miss who was able to introduce my daughter to several Chi Omegas. After we attended our local Panhellenic workshop, we met a wonderful alumna from Ole Miss who introduced my daughter to a few Kappa Deltas and a really sweet Phi Mu. These girls she met all invited her up to visit in the spring to stay with them. She met a Pi Phi while at a concert with friends over the summer. All of these sororities plus AOPi invited her back after the first round. She preffed Tri Delta, Kappa Delta, and Chi Omega. She received a bid from Tri Delta. If you ask her, she had a perfect rush.

She was a DG and a Kappa legacy. Both DG & Kappa dropped her after the first round which shows that legacy status really means nothing at Ole Miss. Of course, she didn’t know anyone in those two houses and those were the only two houses that dropped her. (I’m not sure where she stood with Theta as they dropped off her invite list after the first round as well)

After classes start, it’s not impossible to meet girls, but it is harder because the rush rules prevent contact between PNM’s and actives unless it is class related.
My older daughter attends another school and went into rush much the same way. Sorority Alumnae are always eager to make introductions! My advice to you would be for you to start asking around. Contact your local Panhellenic Association and ask if they know any ladies who attended Ole Miss. When you start your search for Rec writers, ask them if they have any contacts at Ole Miss. Ask at church, ask your teachers, ask your neighbors, ask your grandparents friends, you just never know when you are going to turn over a rock with a gem underneath!

Also spruce up your social media! Use Facebook and Instagram as a marketing tool to market you. This is likely where the actives will go first to “get to know you” if they find something interesting on your resume. Post flattering pictures doing fun activities. But whatever you do, take all pictures off that show cups or cans or bottles of any kind! Sororities want to have fun; they just don’t want to get into trouble having it. They don’t like taking risks with girls who are portrayed on their social media pages as wild! Over the summer limit your bathing suit pics to one or two, don’t be that girl who post one inappropriate picture after another. Trust me, after you submit your resume and rec letters – The girls (and the Alumnae) are watching EVERYTHING YOU DO, especially if they see something they like!

At least this was our experience..... For the record, my daughter could have seen herself in any one of the Ole Miss sororities and has friends in all of them. Whatever you do, do not listen to all the chatter about which are top houses or which are not so great. ALL THE HOUSES AT OLE MISS ARE GREAT! Keep your options open and know that there is literally a house for everyone! Rush was stressful, but bid day was one of the best days of my daughters life! Good luck to all PNM's going through next year!

Hearttoheart, thank you so much for this post. One of my daughter's best friends plans to go through Ole Miss recruitment this fall, and she has no connections there plus will be first-generation Greek so I am doing everything I can to support her.

I am grateful to all the Ole Miss insight provided here! Y'all are a wonderful asset. Many thanks.

This year they are tying in Open House with recruitment, not a month prior like in past years. Releases will be made after Open House round, unlike past years. So this year there will be 4 rounds of recruitment, not 3.
And I think there is still debate about the struture of recruitment now there are 10 chapters. Whether or not to have 3 pref choices like before or 2. Seems funny to me to go from 9 chapters to 10 but reduce pref choices to 2 from 3. But 2 is what the Green Book guide recommends with a panhellenic with 10 NPC chapters.
This will be a transition year at Ole Miss...the first in many years.
Will be interesting to see how it goes. Looking forward to another visit to Oxford in September!

I had heard about going from 3 pref choices to 2 pref choices. When I went through recruitment at Ole Miss way back in 1996 we still had 10 chapters and I know we had to rank 3. So is this move more RFM based or just to help women with finding a home better? So would you be able to go to just 2 pref parties or the normal 3? Seems like this approach could have its pros/cons.

Nice article...Theta, AOII, Phi Mu, ADPi (and maybe some other groups I'm forgetting) have had African American members in the past...so I'm not sure why this is on the front page now. But great article regardless.
http://thedmonline.com/making-progress/

If the article is accurate and the school really is trying to promote diversity and inclusion NOW is the time to get the word out while young women are making their final decisions about what school to attend. If you want to go to a traditional old south school but would like to also have more than the bare minimum of modernity, Ole Miss just said they are ahead of Bama. Right wrong or indifferent is irrelevant. This is marketing.

Really good points!

In my admittedly biased opinion, it was rude, misleading and unprofessional to have left out any mention of the other sororities at Ole Miss that have already pledged women of color. This article makes it sound like KD is the only sorority to admit AA girls.

But Abney isn’t just another number — she’s a game changer.

I beg to differ. The game had been changed long before this young woman came to Ole Miss.

But the article points out that she pledged a "top" white sorority. I guess the others weren't game changers since they weren't "top."

:eek: how very Panhellenic of you to throw half of the sororities at Ole Miss under the bus. Pledging AA young women doesn't matter if it is not done by a "top" sorority?

That what the article was implying, not irishpipes herself.