Worried Mom
 

My daughter plans to attend Ole Miss in Fall 2009. My husband and I both have Greek affiliations, and feel it is a very important part of college life. My daughter wants to go through rush, but I had no idea it was so competitive at Ole Miss to get into a sorority. If she does not end up getting a bid, which is appears that the majority do not, I think she would want to leave the school. We are from out of state, and have a lot of people that would give her a rec, but none are from Ole Miss. Any suggestions?

I guess I misunderstood some information I received regarding numbers. For example if around 800 girls go through rush, quota may be 80 or so, and there are 9 sororities at Ole Miss. Does that mean the other girls did not get even make it to bid night? I'm just trying to figure this all out; it has been a long time since I was in college! I just don't want to set my daughter up for the impossible.

Especially at a campus like Ole Miss, many of those women withdrew from recruitment because they didn't get the "Southern Pedigree" chapter. From my understanding, even though Ole Miss has a brutally competitive recruitment, a shockingly high number of freshmen PNMs receive bids (pending they consider all chapters). Why it is considered competitive is that there are chapters that will have lots of legacies and girls on their "watch list" from hometowns, and drop the rest after Day #1, but there are still other chapters that will consider everybody. And the beautiful thing about Ole Miss is that all nine chapters are large, strong and will offer a full social calendar, so there is really no reason to "not consider" a chapter...they are all excellent, flagship chapters of their respective GLOs. Your daughter should probably be fine, just make sure she gets her recs and is well versed in campus culture and the culture of recruitment.

Good point, I did not think of that. Do you or anyone else know if there is also Spring recruitment at Ole Miss, or is it just in the fall?

Spring recruitment is VERY unlikely at Ole Miss. The chapters typically fill to total in the fall.

Thanks for the positive feedback. Although she will not be on any hometown watch list, I feel she has alot to offer a chapter. She has an open mind and does not have her heart set on any certain chapter, mainlybecause she doesn't know anyone! Maybe that will end up being a positive for her afterall.

Don't get hornswaggled by some of the things you may see online..

"3000 girls signed up for rush and only 800 got bids!"
"We have the most competitive rush in the country, only 25% of rushees receive a bid!"

A lot of the people who say these things are either trying to make their Greek system sound more prestigious than it is, or don't know what they are talking about. The "3000 girls" may include girls whose grades didn't measure up and were cut because of that, or women who went to the opening info sessions and dropped out. They were never really IN rush to begin with so it's kind of misleading to say they "didn't get a bid."

Quota is the number of rushees after either pref or the next to last round (sorry, I always screw this up) divided by the number of sororities. Period. If 800 girls are at pref, quota will be 88. Quota is a changeable number - they do not "cap" it just because there are more rushees going through than usual.

The numbers you use would mean that 720 of the 800 had places on bid day. Of the 80 who didn't, my guess would be more than 1/2 dropped out because they didn't like where they were invited back. Getting completely cut out of rush happens, but it's pretty rare.

What makes Ole Miss so competitive is probably more that all 800 want the same groups after round one (and maybe 600 want the same chapters even before recruitment starts). Only 80 get bids to the very top chapter, 160 girls are getting bid to the top two, etc. It's not that competitive to end up in the top nine though.

And as someone noted, the chapters are all solid chapters who offer a great experience. I think the numbers are all good and there's no danger anyone is folding or anything crazy like that.

I wouldn't worry about being from out-of-state. There are plenty of out-of-state members in all nine sororities at Ole Miss. You can also look at some of the chapters' websites and some will list their members' hometowns. There are plenty of non-Mississippians in each house.

Ole miss is a wonderful school with a strong greek system. A young woman planning on going through recruitment should do well if she has a competitive GPA, recs submitted on her behalf prior to recruitment and no preconceived notions on which houses are the best.
These are the things that I am telling my little sister as she is preparing for rush at Ole Miss as well next fall.

Another positive thing is that Ole Miss rush is delayed giving her ample opportunity to meet people. They have plenty of meetings to explain everything, too.
Good luck! (She'll have a ton o fun and you'll be home a wreck!)

The Ole Miss Greek Office strongly suggests sending only one rec to each chapter. (They say that the chapters are overwhelmed with recs) However, several people have strongly urged me to send more than one recommendation. Any advice?

OleMissMom, things are different from when you and I were in school. Back in the day, quota was often set after first or second parties and this resulted in many, many girls going unbid but now it's set much later. Also, many schools utilize quota additions, which means that after the sororites go to quota, they may be able to add some women. Anything scary you heard about recruitment dropout rates is almost certainly connected to the 'pedigree' issue.

Circlet, send 2 to any group that you can.

Thank you Carnation. For the second recommendation, would you suggest full recs that include a RIF, picture, transcript and resume or simply a letter of support?

Remember too that all recs are not created equal - better a few recs from alumna who really KNOW the pnm and can give the chapter some insight into the whole woman than dozens of recs from women who barely know her.

What she said!

If possible, send the whole thing...well, maybe not the transcript. Some sororities don't take letters of support without the RIF.

Thank you for clearing this up Carnation. I just want to make sure I am on a "level playing field" for recruitment. After that, I realize it is up to me to present myself and find the best possible fit.

I know, at least on the KD reference form there is a place for a second signer. Two references in one, so no need to fill out a second form and with a simple letter of support, that would be three references. Enough, I would think. But bottom line, if they love her, they love her and all the references in the world won't make a difference as long as they have that ONE.

A few years back I was contacted by a young woman in a neighboring Northern state asking for a recommendation. She had chosen Ole Miss after falling in love with the campus, and was given my name as a possible contact. I had a brief phone conversation with her, and wrote her a rec. She did not join my group, but found happiness in another. So, yes, it is possible to get a bid at Ole Miss if you're not from the South and don't have connections in the chapters there. :)