| OldOleMiss |
08-08-2013 08:23 AM |
Hi all- I found this site while helping a friends daughter get ready for SEC rush... (I live up north these days)--- I registered just so I could comment on the topic of getting in to an Ole Miss sorority without knowing anyone. I went through Ole Miss rush in the late 1980's. I was from out of state and did not know one single person at Ole Miss when I arrived. THANKFULLY I was blissfully unaware of how competitive rush was or I may not have even attempted it :-). That being said... I came down and had at least 2 recs for each house. I am not sure what I was expecting but it never occurred to me that "bid list were done" in advance. I had what many considered a great rush being asked back through skit rounds to every single house. I was in a position of being the cutter instead of the cut. I came out of skit round feeling very positive about where / what house I would end up and was DEVASTATED when I went to pick up my pref invites and had been cut from all but 3 houses (none of which were houses that I had even considered). People on my hall (mostly girls from Mississippi) cheered me up by pointing out that because I was from out of state and because I did not know anyone I was VERY LUCKY to have even made it as far as pref and to have a choice of 3. I went to pref night even though I was not exactly thrilled- I kept an open mind as everyone said to do. Two of the houses I found myself thinking "I could fit in here" and one house, as soon as I walked in the door pref night, I knew was not for me. This was well before the days of "guaranteed bid if you maximized your choices"- so I did not even list the third on my bid card and thought I would be equally happy with either of my 2. I did get my "first choice" and at the end of the day I could not have been happier!!! It took a little while but I finally realized the system did in fact work. I would not have been happy or made "true sisters" at what I thought originally was my "top house".... I would have had nothing in common with a lot of the girls and would have had a hard time breaking into the cliques that had grown up with each other, already had established relationships, etc.. etc... In the end the house I picked was the right house for me.
Two of the three houses that invited me back had girls from my home state in them. I didn't know them personally before rush began but it was an "instant" connection if you will... I found out after rush was over that they had been the ones lobbying for me to get a bid. I also found out much later from a girl in one of my original "top houses" who had rushed me and I became good friends with- that everyone in her house "loved me" but at the end of the day between legacies and girls that they knew personally there just was not enough slots to take a chance on someone they liked, had good grades and recs but no one could personally "vouch for". The bottom line with rush is YES it always helps to know people but NO you are not doomed if you don't know people. The connections that you can make at the parties really do help. Like the girls from my home state that sought me out and later ended up pushing for me. Trust the system, have fun and remember that sometimes the house you think is the right one may not actually be the right one for you.
PS: on the topic of dresses- YES its cliche but its also what everyone else will be wearing :-) Not to date myself but I had a PRECIOUS Red and Blue Laura Ashely dress that I wore skit rounds... that I still think back on with love :-)
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