Ole Miss Recruitment?
 

We received a brochure at orientation that explains my daughter can only send in one rec per house and they even said that mailing them ourselves is the best way to make sure they get there. When I tell my friends this, they say they've never heard of such a thing. I want to make sure we do this the right way. Help!

Mailing them yourselves as opposed to what?

ETA: Never mind, I get it now. :p

PNMs should not be mailing in the recommendations. An option is to supply the writer with a stamped envelop addressed to chapter. Also, it would not be overboard to have two recommendations per chapter if you can get them. Three or more would definitely be excessive.

Alumnae should mail the recommendations directly to the chapter. Ideally, get one recommendation (as you know, recommendations are sorority-specific forms) per chapter, and if you are able, have 1-3 additional alumnae send a letter of support endorsing your daughter for membership in their organizations.

More than one rec?
 

We very much got the impression during the meeting that we should only get one rec. If we need to get more, I want to do that. If it's a big no-no, I don't want to do the wrong thing. Does anyone know specifically what the policy is at Ole Miss?

http://www.olemiss.edu/greeks/parent...ers_of_rec.htm

The Ole Miss Greek site says "At LEAST" one letter...that to me says 2 would be better...

There might be something to this, though. Could Ole Miss be deemphasizing recs and requesting that PNMs only get one for each chapter?

At least one...
 

I saw that on the website, too. In the meeting I was pretty sure I heard them say One. Now I wonder if I misunderstood something there. Any help? Sorry to be a pest to everyone.

You are absolutely not being a pest. You are trying to help your daughter and get the correct info.

I'm going to go ahead and just say that sometimes what's SAID and what's REALLY NEEDED are two different things. Like with clothing recommendations...many universities SAY that jeans are ok, but in reality, no one actually shows up in anything more casual than Khakis. I think when this happens, they are really doing a disservice to those PNMs who weren't bred from birth to rush.

Plus, how would the university know/care how many recs are sent to the chapters?

The recommendation itself is a reference form for most of the sororities. These forms are fairly self-explanatory-- they require the PNM's name, GPA, activities, etc. Submitting them in triplicate isn't particularly helpful to the chapters-- the same info is contained within them and signed by different alumnae.

Where you can stand out is to ensure the sororities get one of these forms and have other alumnae write those support letters. The letters tell a different story, relating the PNM's character and potential, how the alumna knows the PNM and why she is recommending her for membership, etc. These should be at least 1 page long, but no more than 2 pages. This is the process my Alumnae Panhellenic instructed PNM's to follow-- our girls go all over Texas, as well as Auburn, UGA, LSU, Ole Miss, Oklahoma/State, etc.

there is no way that ole miss sororities would de-emphasize recommendations.
as adpiucf said, they just may not want half a dozen recommendation forms that give exactly the same information about one pnm. support letters can elaborate on the info. the rec. form would provide.

gam-ma, please check your pm.

I guess I gave them too much credit. :rolleyes:

that would be like not wearing the hoop skirt to ka old south weekend!

I think recommendations are a good thing since at the very least they provide a detailed background on the rushee. When you have freshman fall recruitment (esp. those August ones) where the actives haven't encountered the freshmen in any school setting, would you rather the initial cuts be made based only on how the PNM performed at the 10 minute party?

oh, i agree alum. i think that recommendations are key.

I highly recommend two recs/sponsors/rifs, if possible at least one from an Ole Miss Alumna. You will not be penalized if you have more than two. My cousin had three recs that I know of, when she preffed and pledged Delta Gamma several years ago... She also preffed KD, I know she had multiple recs there. Though she decided to preff Chi O over Pi Phi, I know of three recs to Pi Phi.

The fact is many chapters at Ole Miss have their 2nd day party list completed before recruitment starts, GPA and recommendations play a large part.

You can have more than one rec for each house. It's up to you. You really shouldn't mail anything to the houses yourself since recs need to be written by the alumna. Some PNMs who cannot find recs for a sorority will send in their pictures, resume, and transcripts to that house. I have seen some PNM's who have more than 10 recs for a house and some who have one rec and they both do equally as well during recruitment.

Hi gam-ma,
My daughter went thru Rush at Ole Miss last year. I was not in a Sorority and had to rely on friends' advise to figure it all out. This is how I understand it and what we did:
One FORMAL REC for each Sorority
At least one INFORMAL LETTER from past members and the more the better.
We spent alot of time calling around and finding people (some ladies called and volunteered when they heard she was going to OM - that was very nice!) She ended up with a rec for each and as many as 5 letters for a few but no letters for a couple. We gave each person (whether rec or letter was being written) a resume, picture, her gradepoint avg, and an addressed envelope. (We looked on the internet for the correct Oxford address for each sorority.)
She went with an open mind, had a fun Rush experience, and pledged a great Sorority. Altho all the work seemed a little strange at the time, it was worth the effort.
I hope this helps. Good luck.
A Southern Mom

Ole Miss Update from an Appreciative Gam-ma
 

Thank you one and all for all of your help! We will try to make sure we've got a rec and several letters from each house. I will let all of you know how it goes, and thank you again for all of your responses. I could not have been prepared without you and I want you to know that!

Looking forward to hearing the outcome of your daughter's rush at Ole Miss. HOTTY TODDY!!!

I assure you that most, if not all, of the groups at Ole Miss will also get a sponsor form from your home town sponsorship chairman for their group. That is true for my group. I was the chairman for my city for a number of years. Even though a woman had a sponsor form from a family friend, the chapter at Ole Miss (and MS State as well!) wanted a form from me as city chairman.

I am not surprised. With the small number of chapters at Ole Miss and the large number of women going thru, it's very competitive. With many old line groups there, they often have more legacies going thru than quota slots. Having multiple sponsor forms with us is a norm...

Did the sorority cut her or keep her?
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Yes, being this kind of recruitment legend might not be a good thing.

At some point, you'd wonder why she thought she needed 56 recs.

OK, I'm old and out of it, but what is a "rif?" My Ole Miss daughter said something about having "rifs" the other day, but it was 107 degrees and I failed to ask her what that stood for.......

Is it the same as a rec?

Yes. RIF=Recruitment Information Form.

I was Rush Chairman as a collegiate and I've been a Rush Advisor as well as the Rush Coordinator for a major City Panhellenic.

The actives look at anyone with 56 recs as suspicious and it stopped being a positive after the first 3 or 4. The most common remark seems to be "WHY does she need that many recs? Is she so weak that every single Alum in town is doing her Mom/Sister/Grandmother a favor and holding their noses the whole time?

The Rush Advisor has to be more diplomatic, but hey, she's sort of thinking along the same lines. One really good rec and up to five strong letters should suffice. After all, if the actives fall in love with the girl, they'll stop reading after the rec and just rush the PNM like there's no tomorrow!

I'm not surprised to hear that. I know an admissions officer at an extremely competitive Ivy League school. Among themselves, they say, "The thicker the file, the thicker the kid." Some kids send in dozens of recommendations from everybody they've ever met, ten-page resumes listing every award they got in kindergarten, and/or fifty clippings from the local small-town newspaper from every time they had their picture in the paper for collecting the most toothbrushes for the homeless or whatever. It makes you think, where's this kid's judgment? Sorority recruitment isn't all that different.
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I have a friend whose daughter went thru recruitment a few years back. She was a 8 time legacy to one group (big catholic family!). THey didn't put them all on her PH form or resume. I think they just put the mother, grandmother and one aunt. They were concerned about overkill and didn't want to damage her chances. I thought that was a very good way to handle that. She ended up pledging that group.

Bid Day at Ole Miss?
 

When is their Bid Day? Lots of Georgia girls are going through and I'm turning into something of a stalker.:o

It's the end of September...they have delayed recruitment...

The website says that recruitment is 9/23-30.

Fan of Deferred Rush
 

I think waiting a few weeks is such a good idea even though it probably creates it's own set of issues. My darling neighbor was cut out of rush at UGA after prefs and I think the blow would have been softened if she had had time to make some friends who weren't all there for rush and weren't all pledging.

I can't imagine having to do a recruitment of that magnitude while classes were in session! Bless all those sisters who likely stay up for MS late into the night... it might be easier on the PNM's, but I can only imagine what a number it does on the sisters who must prepare for parties, host them, then clean up and do MS until the wee hours of the morning...

I agree with you. I can see how it would work if the process was spread out over a long period of time, like only one or two parties a night for a week and then an off day of parties for voting. But I really can't imagine how the members do it at the recruitments during classes. It just seems like you would be wiped out.

You know, this may be a bit off topic, but having had one kids at Bama and now one at Ole Miss, I think Bama is WAAAY the bigger party school! I like the delayed rush, but I know it will be hard on the actives. Thank Heaven there are only 3 rounds and skit and pref are on Friday and Saturday night.

I remember last year, rush fell during midterms. I had a psychology exam the second day of rush and couldn't think of anything related to psychology.

I dunno, but I kinda think a few years of experiencing Rush on this side should at least be a few credit hours in Psychology!

Ole Miss = Gladiator
 

I'm going to say this before rush starts and anyone is really hurting but does anyone else feel like these other rush threads have just been a warm up for Ole Miss Rush: The Clash of the Titans? I've heard (and believe)that their rush is the toughest of the tough. I can hardly wait for the thrill of victory (don't want the agony of defeat) as the vestal virgins march into the fray. {I've had way too much sugar. :p}