Well... grades are very important. Sororities place a high value on scholarship, and all require certain GPAs to pledge. The best things you can do now to prepare are to keep your grades up and start looking into people to write you a recommendation. They do not need to write them yet, but it would help to already have a list of possible women before the time comes. Good luck.

PS: A piece of advice just from being friends with women in that greek system... Recruitment does not take place until several weeks into the semester. You really need to make sure you are on your best behavior while out and about in town. Sorority women will be out and about too.

Ole Miss has set the date for Sorority Recruitment 2010: October 17-24, 2010.
Water Parties will most likely be held in August, like they have been since they started the "water parties" round a few years ago.

Will they begin parties on the 20th?

What are water parties?

AKA ice water teas...you know, where they just serve water...open house, visit every house type event.

Yes I would think philanthropy round parties would be on Oct. 20 and Oct. 21. Then Skit round parties would be on Oct. 22, Pref on Oct. 23 (my b-day!), and then bid day is on Oct. 24. However, the official start of recruitment with convocation would be on that Sunday October 17. So that would mean silence would start that Sunday.

Ice Water is exactly what Titchou said, just an open house. Ole Miss has them in August after the freshmen have been at school for about 2 weeks. There are no decorations, no food, no special t-shirts...just the members, their house, and some ice water to drink. It is usually on a Sunday.

I had other visions of what "water parties" might be. Darn, no bikini's! :D

LOL...sorry for the buzzkill, dude. :D

Transfer
 

Hi! I will be transferring to Ole Miss in the fall and I will be a sophomore. I can't wait to be there! I did not rush at my current school because I knew that I would be transferring back south to be closer to home. I definitely want to rush and join a sorority. I'm a little worried though....I REALLY, really, really, do not want this to turn into a racial argument but if anyone can answer my questions, that'd be great! I am African-American and I know that not many African-American girls at Ole Miss choose to rush the NPC sororities(or even the NPHC ones for that matter!) So i was wondering if any Black girls at Ole Miss have recently been given bids to one of the NPC sororities? I'm in NO way assuming that the girls are racist or prejudice in any way, but, judging from my friend's Facebook pictures, it looks like no Black girls participated in 2009 rush!! I really want to join one of the NPC sororities but I don't know how good my chances are...? I am from New Orleans, went to a private school, received a full tuition scholarship to college, have a solid GPA, and I like to present myself in a respectable way. Also, I spent my freshman year of high school at a private school in Jackson, MS(due to Katrina). All of my friends from that school who go to Ole Miss pledged either Chi O, Tri Delt, KD, or Delta Gamma. I also know a lot of older girls in those sororities. I have remained in contact with many of my friends from Jackson and many of them are excited for me to be coming to Ole Miss. I will also have recs. So...I'm just wondering what rush will be like and if I will get a bid just because I know that I will probably be one of the only Black girls rushing! Again, I am not assuming that the girls are prejudice(like i said, i am friends with a lot of them and they are some of the sweetest girls I've ever met!), I am just wondering what my chances will be like because I have nothing to go off of since my friends and I don't know any Black girls who have rushed at Ole Miss!!! Thanks!!

I would suggest reading this thread you posted in (regarding the general competitiveness of Ole Miss itself). Being a transfer (and non-freshman) makes for a VERY tough recruitment.

And this thread. Yes it got a little interesting, but I think there are links to other NPC and race-related threads in it:

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...d.php?t=105378

There are African-American members in at least 3 sororities at Ole Miss currently.

Awesome!! Thanks for the help

transfer - please come back later this year and share your recruitment experience with us. Good Luck to you! :)

Even if she did, I don't think she should tell you. The last thing you need is to say "well, ABC, XYZ and PQR take Af-Am members, so I'll concentrate on those." That isn't how you should go into NPC rush. Even if you say you will keep an open mind, it'll still skew the way you think about the groups.

Good point. I wasn't thinking about it that way. I do want to go into rush with a completely open mind.

I definitely will! Thanks for the good wishes :)

Amen.

Just remember no matter what, Ole Miss has a very competitive and tough recruitment for all potential new members. So keep an open mind, get your recs, and have fun.

Hi, I have another question... :)

How do I go about setting up meetings with alumna to see if they would be willing to write a recommendation? Do I go through the national website for a specific chapter? There are a couple of chapters where I do not have my recs lined up yet. Thanks!

You can look at each sorority's "national" website and look up alumnae clubs in your area. All 9 sororities are Ole Miss have lots of alumnae chapters so there is probably an alumnae chapter in your area. Then send them an email to request a rec. Some sorority alumnae might want to meet face to face. Some might just want to talk on the phone. There might even be a Panhellenic Group in your hometown. So be sure to check on www.npcwomen.org to see if there is a NPC group.

Also, it is always a good idea to send your resume, transcripts, and a picture to each house on campus. This way the chapter has that information on file in case they don't receive a rec for you.

Message me if you have any other specific questions.

bump!

Great article about recruitment numbers this year at Ole Miss!
http://www.thedmonline.com/article/recruitment-rise

Yikes! That is a lot of women! And at a 92% placement rate, that means pledge classes could be quite large. With regards to adding a new group, where would they go physically? If I am not mistaken, there is no room left on sorority row or rebel drive is there? Especially with the addition of that new dorm. OleMissGlitter, didn't they recently demolish a fraternity house or two? Do you think a group could do well if it was over with the fraternities instead of on sorority row/rebel drive?

i know it's a different campus, but pi beta phi at university of florida is located on fraternity row, which is in a different part of campus than panhellenic drive. They are doing just fine. if i am not mistaken, kappa kappa gamma at uf also is not situated on panhellenic drive, but is closer to the majority of the sororities than pi phi.

I was looking at their chapter websites, and the numbers of members in each chapter seems to vary quite a bit, from 112 to over 300...just thinking if they could have pledge classes over 100, that means that some chapters would have over 400 members. Yikes! Can you even get everyone inside the house for chapter meetings???? and for the smaller chapters, you could end up almost doubling your chapter size - how do you have enough big sisters????

I thought from what Ole Miss alums and people who work w/ the school have said, there is pretty much chapter parity. But to answer your question...if there's ever a situation where there are more pledges than sisters, sisters can just take "twins."

This seems like another campus where a couple chapters could be extended within a couple years, so maybe "they" could build somewhere off-but-near campus together? I'm not familiar with the campus, but if freshman admission is up so much, I'd think the university is not thrilled about trying to house everyone and would therefore (maybe?) support more building. But I can see that one house on their own in no man's land isn't conducive to parity in the long term. I hope they can work it out or else the sororities may need to take over the nearest airport for chapter meetings!

I am a Theta from Ole Miss, circa 1980's. I can't imagine any sorority being housed with the fraternities on Fraternity Row at Ole Miss. It is on the opposite side of campus... would not be the "right" place for the girls. Just too wild & crazy!

Yes there is somewhat of a difference in chapter sizes but I think some chapters just have better retention than others plus some get more transfers than others. Also, the numbers on the Panhellenic site have not been updated yet to reflect the spring 2010 grades or membership numbers. Not sure when that will be updated. I know the recruitment advisors have asked but nothing yet. Most chapters have added on in the past 5 years to accommodate everyone. I know Chi Omega just did a HUGE renovation/addition to make their dining room bigger and added on to their house too. It looks amazing. I could be mistaken but some houses were having to have more than one sit down dinner time on Monday nights (which is the traditional night when chapters have sit down dinner and then chapter meetings.) AOII, Theta, Pi Phi, Tri Delta, Phi Mu, & Chi Omega have all added on. I know Kappa, DG, and KD have done renovations but I'm not sure if they physically added on, it's hard to tell from the outside.


Amen thetalady!

Chi Psi and Phi Beta Sigma houses have been torn down but it is my understanding both groups will rebuild. There is possible space near Tri Delta but it is a parking lot so I'm not sure that will work. Parking is already a big issue on campus. There are two new residents' halls back behind Tri Delta and KD. Now the Law School is moving to their new building on the other side of campus, but I doubt that would be torn down for sororitiy houses. One option would be for the Honors College (which is in the old ADPi house) and The Hospitality Management Department (in the old ZTA house) could move into the old law school. That would free up two spaces. Both houses would need to just be torn down and rebuilt I think. The ZTA house was lovely when it was a sorority house but now it has offices and then it serves food for the students in Hospitality Management. The old ADPi house is just ugly (sorry ADPi!). Both would be prime space on Sorority Drive. There is no space on Rebel Drive unless you build houses in the parking lots across from AOII, Theta, Pi Phi, and Chi Omega. Plus it would probably cost big bucks to move dirt to bring it up to elevation as those parking lots are referred to as "The Pit" since they are downhill.

It will be interesting to see how it goes this year. From what I have been told everyone has been told to be ready for bigger new member classes, possibly in the 100s.

It is very hard to get to know everyone but the New Member classes have been larger than normal for almost a decade now so I think most sororities at Ole Miss have figured it out.

Recruitment starts in 14 days on 10/20!!!! There are 981 PNMs signed up! This is by far the largest number in years, probably ever!

and good luck to each and every one!

Recruitment begins this week!

Can't wait to get updates! That is a LOT of PNMs!

Please, oh please, tear down the ADPi house! Everytime I see it, I think that someone was stark raving mad to think it would fly at Ole Miss!

I can't wait to hear about recruitment this year at Ole Miss. Good luck everyone!

It all starts tonight. No Ole Miss daughters, but I do have a freshman son (sorry to post in the wrong place). It will be interesting to see how it all plays out since we are used to a completely different style of fraternity recruitment. Kind of like this:

"Wanna beer?"

"Sure."

"Wanna join our house?"

"Sure, why not?"

Mr. NUBlue&Blue didn't believe me about the rounds, invitations, the what to wear page, etc. until I made him read the IFC website. He says he's met every chapter's rush chairman and has been invited to a party every single night since he got to school two months ago....so we'll see how it goes. It's different than what we've experienced, that's for sure. After all these years of hand holding my friends with their daughters going through the big SEC recruitments, I'll admit I feel a tad anxious. However, my son could sell an igloo to an eskimo (or whatever they're calling themselves these days), so I'm optimistic he'll find the right place. He has a favorite, so the whole "keep an open mind" thing is going in one ear and out the other.

Keep us posted please! I never get to hear about the fraternity side of recruitment!

I have a good number of friends that rushed at Ole Miss and only a handful who recieved bids. It's sad to think about because knowing them personally you think that they would do fine. I think any school in the South is competitive about recruitment; Ole Miss is just the extreme ;) Gossip is gossip, but many complain that you can only get in to a certain sorority if you're a legacy of if you're buddy buddy with someone who is. The key is to just really have good recs, make a good impression, but also keep an open mind. Alot of girls won't get their first choice so don't fall in love with just one. I would think it would be difficult to fall in love with just one because most sororities bring out their A-game for skits and pref.

Recruitment begins next Wednesday (9/28!) Last I heard there were about 1240 PNMs registered. I know they ended up closing registration early because of that number. So, there shouldn't be anymore PNMs than that. The chapters were told to expect new member classes between 110-120. They will still have an upperclassmen quota as well this year.

Here is the schedule
CARE Walk Panhellenic 9/22/11 (ALL PNMs and sorority women are encouraged to participate. Even though ZTA's collegiate chapter is no longer on campus ZTA's North MS Alumni Chapter is one of the big sponsors of this walk.)
Formal Convocation Panhellenic 9/25/11
Recruitment Philanthropy Round Panhellenic 9/28/11
Recruitment Philanthropy Round (Cont) Panhellenic 9/29/11
Recruitment Skit Round Panhellenic 9/30/11
Recruitment Preference Round Panhellenic 10/1/11
Bid Day Panhellenic 10/2/11

Bids go out around 2 or 3 pm on Sunday!

I know three guys going through fraternity recruitment at Ole Miss this fall. Can't wait to hear the results. All three are freshmen from out-of-state.