WA state resident looking to rush at Ole Miss - Any Advice?
 

Hi ladies (and gents)!

First of all I'd like to introduce myself a little... I am 19 years old and am in Seattle, WA. I will be graduating from a local community college w/ my AA in General Studies and am planning on transferring to Ole Miss. I have been to the South before and absolutely love the culture. I have wanted to join a sorority since I was a little girl and am just wondering if anyone could offer any tips, insight, etc. on rushing at an SEC university, especially for a Northern woman.

My GPA is about a 3.7, but I will be transferring there as a Junior. I plan on triple majoring so will be spending between 3-4 years at Ole Miss - will this be taken into consideration at all?

I have read that SEC universities are extremely competitive. I will be starting school in the Fall 2008 term. One of my good friends is a Tri-Delt at Washington State University, but she will still be an active member when I rush, so I'm not sure if she will be able to write me a rec.

I am more than willing to dedicate lots of time and effort into preparing for this experience, because, like I said, it is something I have dreamed of for years and am very, very excited to do. Any suggestions, tidbits, insight, advice, etc. is very much appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

During your conversations throughout Rush, I would definitely mention that your plan is to spend 3-4 years on campus.

Welcome to GreekChat. Best of luck to you!

Oxford, MS is a wonderful place.

First of all, good luck.

Unfortunately, my initial impression is that this could be a very difficult process. Ole Miss is perhaps the most competitive greek school in the country, and people have been known to transfer to highly thought of MS private schools their senior year of HS to help their chances during rush. I'm glad you enjoy the culture, you'll need to embrace it fully in rush. Seems like a tough line to toe, you'll want to show you can fit into the traditional southern sorority culture, but you don't want to seem like you're chasing the novelty. I think your age could be a hindrance as well, and like the above poster stated, you'll want to assure people you'll be around for a solid period of time.

I'm sure there are some UM people on here who can give more directed advice.

there are several threads on recruitment at ole miss. i would look under something like "ole miss rush thread". if that brings no results, then just go the the rush forum, under recruitment stories and start looking. there is a long thread entitled "SEC rush" which might also be helpful.

you will need recommendations to each sorority at ole miss.

Does anyone know if they have an upperclassmen quota? I can't really see that they would, being that the houses are already overflowing....

My advice is to decide what you're willing to accept. If you think you would only want to be in a top or middle group, I wouldn't waste the time rushing...if you don't mind being in one of the "smaller" groups, than go in with an open mind and see what happens...

Are there any "small groups" at Ole Miss? I thought they were all at 200+. I would think that even the smallest chapter is pretty competitive.

I thought I read in a thread that there were one or two smaller ones...but maybe I'm thinking of Bama.

Hmm. Thanks for the responses.

Not to sound rude (so I hope it doesn't come off like this) but are you saying I have no chance at all?

I was fairly active in high school, I played softball and was a cheerleader, and I am active in my community now as well. It's a no-go on the pageant titles, LOL, but I figure I won't know unless I try...

Nobody is telling you not to try, they're just trying to give you a realistic picture. Are you aware of what southern greek life is like, especially at places like Ole Miss?

To be completely honest, Greek life is basically foreign to me. I'm not a legacy but it is something that I have always wanted to do. :) I definitely appreciate all the responses though.

And it's probably NOTHING like your Tri Delta friend went through at Wazzu.

You should get in touch with the Overlake Panhellenic and they may be able to help you get recs. Their contact info is probably on the NPC website. www.npcwomen.org The Seattle APh works with the UW so they are going to be much less help.

Definitely read all the Southern rush threads. While I would encourage you to go through rush for at least the experience of meeting all those people ... I would also say that if you're into prayer, you should start praying three times a day from now until bid day that you get bid. :(

Yeah, I'm going to second that it's nothing like Wazzu rush.

Rush here is VERY laid back. Pan day is like, t-shirt and shorts. Pref day is sun dress. Juniors regularly get bids.

DITY?

Ditto on what SmartBlondeGPhB said.

Overlake Panhellenic's website is http://overlakealumnaepanhellenic.org/

Contact them ASAP to get help with local recommendations. This could take a few weeks, so if you're serious about rushing, do it now.

If you need more information, PM me.

You mean junior or senior year of toddlerhood for some of these girls...;)

As for an upperclassmen quota, I don't think there is one if I remember correctly. However, upperclassmen do not count in your overall quota, so a chapter could take as many of them as they want and they would acheive quota plus additions. I think that's how they would put it.

There are more and more transfer students (Upperclassmen) going through recruitment at Ole Miss. I think all 9 sororities are taking a closer look at all transfer students. However, it is harder for these women and I think they should be prepared for heavy releases after first round.

So if upperclassmen are "free", why wouldn't GLOs want to take as many of them as they felt "fit"?

They're free as far as quota, but not total. I'd think. I mean I can't imagine them not figuring into numbers at all.

Just being honest so take this however you want to: if you're an upperclassman transfer and have zero connections to the south, you're going to be very lucky to get a bid at all to an Ole Miss sorority. Give it a shot, get 1-3 alumnae recommendations per sorority and just know that you're going to be heavily cut due to your year in school.

SEC recruitment is incredibly cut-throat competitive among freshmen with strong GPAs, recommendations, community service and leadership experience. Upperclassmen are at a definite disadvantage.

I thought of that, but I would think 90% of the groups get to total through rush and wouldn't have to worry about taking Jrs that fill up their "COB" spots.

Well I think on top of that they might have that "average size" thing - i.e. you can actually bid over total & up to the average size of the sororities - hopefully OleMissGlitter will come back and clear things up. :)

Okay, I am not a recruitment advisor, just done other adivising stuff in the past so it all can be confusing to me...but the way I understood it is, upperclassmen are like extras on top of quota. However, and I didn't say this earlier and I'm sorry, but I think if a chapter is already at chapter total after they make quota, they cannot take any upperclassmen. I don't know really how to explain this but I think other schools in the SEC do this process as well. It's very confusing to me. I just remember last year I was told that upperclassmen (like sophomores/juniors) are "extra" and they do not count in your total quota figure. Ole Miss does some strange release figures, which will probably change since there is a new Asst. Dean of Students Orgs., I know in the past quota was set either way too late or way too earlier...

Anyway, my overall point is that it's not going to be easy for her, but it's not totally unheard of for a transfer student to get a bid from any of the 9 houses at Ole Miss. And since she's not from say a Mississippi Junior College or from the South it might be even harder. I think as long as she tries and has her recs and of course the biggest thing, she should not have her heart set on one sorority.

Oh and to my knowledge I think most of the sororities are near Chapter Total or at Chapter Total. I think Chapter Total is near 234 maybe. I will not go into the acutal sizes on chapters on here because that can lead to other things that can be said like rankings of the chapters at Ole Miss, etc...

Another Ole Miss question...

Theoretically, if 1200 PNMs Rushed, and if all PNMs accepted all invites, and none were completely dropped by all houses, do ya'll still use the (basic, I know it's more complicated than this) 1200/9 release figures or is there another way of determining how many to keep?? I can't imagine how this works in a school that Greek-heavy.

:) You guys are all being really helpful.

I definitely don't have my heart set on any one sorority. Also, a quick question - so it is alright to have more than one rec for each sorority? This won't make me seem like I am trying to hard?

Another thing - I have been browsing thru the threads that relate heavily to southern rush, but do any of you know of any books or websites that may help?

KD at Ole Miss requires a recommendation, a transcript, and a resume. :) Good luck!!!

In addition to getting one recommendation per sorority, you should have 1-3 letters of support from alumnae for each sorority at Ole Miss.

Letters of support for Ole Miss chapters should come from alumnae members of the sororities that know you personally. These letters should describe all of the positive attributes you bring a as a potential member of the sorority and any personal anecdotes or endorsements of you by the person writing the letter. They should be at least one page and not more than 2 pages long.

A recommendation/reference is an informational form. Submitting this is in triplicate is unnecessary, but the letters of support help act as a positive additonal reference.

To help your recommenders, you should prepare a social resume that includes your contact information, all schools attended (HS and college), all GPAs, major, HS and college extracurriculars, any special awards received, scholarships received, community service record and list any family members who have been members of a sorority and at what schools. You may also want to include 2 photos of yourself (one close-up headshot and one full body photo). These don't have to be professional portraits-- just good photos of you to help match a face to the name.

Candiceena,

It's a difficult recruitment from the PNM perspective even if you are the "ideal" candidate in terms of being a freshman, well connected in the groups, great grades, etc.

I think people just want you to be aware that it's possible it could be pretty hard on the ol' self esteem to go through as a junior because most groups aren't thinking about juniors.

Personally, I think if you can face the possibility of rejection since you understand how complicated it might be to get a bid as a junior, you ought to give it a try.

You almost certainly won't be able to join if you don't go through because I don't think there are many bids given out informally in COB/COR after recruitment. So the only way to get a shot at joining is the put yourself out there in recruitment.

So get your recs, make sure you know what they other girls will be wearing each round, and go for it, but remember when the invite lists come back between rounds, not to take any bad results really personally.

Good luck!

I honestly don't know about the number of letters of support, but I completely second the social resume, and if it seems kind of crazy to you (as it might) please understand that it's going to be second nature to many of the other girls going through. This is the kind of stuff that is done for an SEC recruitment that we're talking about!

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...8&postcount=91


Here's a good post I made awhile back in the Recommendation Info thread about where to find sorority alumnae (if yiu have trouble locating them in your area).

Man... I am so glad that I opted to go to a local university rather then Ole Miss.

I got in, it could have been fun on such a large campus- but it really seems like recruitment is taken way too seriously there. I am sure each chapter is fabulous and has a lot to offer, but geez!

Candi- GOOD LUCK! I hope you make it through and beat the odds, I enjoy stories when the little guys win ;) Be sure to keep us GC'ers updated.

Each house in the past, including last year, is given a number of PNM's they have to release based on their current membership numbers and their numbers from previous recruitments. So if XYZ sorority isn't near chapter total they will release less and vice versa. I think this year Greek Life might actually use the new formulas. For some reason I have this memory that they didn't use the new formulas to their fullest last year. I would also venture to say that there will be around 800-900 PNMs going through recruitment. The most enrolled that I can remember was in fall of 2003 when there was right at 1000 that went through recruitment. That was the year that all the sororities at Ole Miss had huge pledge classes (like in the upper 90s). I have a feeling that numbers might be down a little bit this year since enrollment is down. However, it's too early to tell because they have until September 7, 2007 to register for Recruitment this year. The first event is on August 26 and that is the new round they implemented last year called "Ice Water" Open House Parties. Very informal and short and sweet parties. Then the next set of parties start on Sept. 26, 2007, ending with Bid Day on Sept. 30.

A few quick questions, just to verify...

a) pledge class is what? the number of new members to the sorority?

b) as far as recs go...do they have to be (in my case) from alumnae that attended Ole Miss?

Thanks ladies!

a) Yes a pledge class is the same as a new member class.

b) I'm going to let someone who attended Ole Miss or an SEC school answer this one.

Pledge class are the new members of the sorority before they are initiated (full members).

And it would SERIOUSLY help you if your recs were from Ole Miss alums, but if you can't locate any, they CAN be from any alums.

a) New Member Class (aka Pledge Class)--number of new members in a class that all pledge at the same time during a recruitment period. (That's how I would define it!)

b) I think it does help if your recs are from Ole Miss alumnae. However, if you can't get them from Ole Miss alumnae, still have a rec for each sorority.