An Ole Miss Rush Story!
 

Well the time has finally arrived! Recruitment starts Thursday at the University of Mississippi! The schedule is as follows:

Round One - Philanthropy
Thursday, Oct. 2 and Friday, Oct. 3
Parties begin both days at 4:00pm, there are five parties @ 50 minutes each (PNMs will have an off party one of the two days.)

Round Two - Skit
Saturday, Oct. 4
PNMs pick-up invites at 7:00a, they may attend a max of six parties. Parties begin at 1:00p and last 60 minutes.

Round Three - Preference
Sunday, Oct. 5
PNMs pick-up invites at 7:00a, they may attend a max of three parties. Pref parties begin at 3:00p and last 60 minutes.

Bid Day
Monday, Oct. 6
Bids are handed out at 5:45p!!!!

There are 889 PNMs participating in recruitment this year for a spot in one of the nine chapters:

AOPi
Chi O
Tri Delt
DG
Theta
KD
Kappa
Phi Mu
Pi Phi

Greek Life
Panhellenic

My cousin is one of the 889 PNMs! She is a legacy, she is a freshman, she is awesome (if I give details, it will give her anonymity away) and without being too biased, she would be a great asset to any chapter on campus!!!! I would like to thank Candy, Kristen, Lillian and Tania for their support!

IFC rush also begins Thursday, with 762 PNMs participating! Round one is two days and PNMs visit 14 houses. Round two is Saturday, PNMs visit six houses and round three is Sunday, PNMs visit three houses. Bids are handed out Monday at 6:00p.

Well, it's about time!!! I have been on pins and needles waiting for Recruitment at Ole Miss to start. I know at least 5 PNMs, so I'm hoping we'll have plenty of updates!

Angels&Arrows, good luck to your cousin! I will be rooting for her! Of course we share a special preference ;) but I know that she will choose the group that is right for her!

I had a co-worker this summer who is in a house at Ole Miss. Looking at her chapter's (and others), it seems like any choice there is a good choice! :) She was very down-to-Earth and a great representation of her house.

One of my PNMs has a b'day on the 3rd. A&A, I hope she and your cousin get to meet. They are both top-notch young ladies! Good luck to them both!!!

Munchkin03, you're right about any choice being a good one at Ole Miss. It's a unique environment for GLOs.

Good Luck to all the PNMs at Ole Miss! I can only imagine how stressful rush is down there!

YAAY! Im so excited to see an Ole Miss thingie :) I have a few friends out there and my old boss was an AOPi there :) Good Luck to all the PNM's


Nichole

Woohoo! Good luck!

best of everything...everyone have a blast.

There is an article in the Daily Mississippian about rush numbers. I hope this is the link:

http://www.thedmonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/10/01/3f7a94d9efefa

Last year, a little over 700 women rushed. This year, it's right under 900! If everyone stays in rush, that would set quota at around 100!!!

Okay, I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering about this:

Ole Miss has the reputation of being one of the most greek-oriented campuses, but only nine sororities. Quota will possibly be close to 90 women.

I know that ADPi used to be at Ole Miss, but for some reason, never caught on. Is there a reason why there isn't at least one more sorority trying to colonize at a school that's so pro-greek?

crazy...
 

that's what i was thinking. i know at my school rercruitment numbers are hurting, less and less people each year choose to go through formal recruitment. yet, last year a national (not panhellenic) sorority chose to colonize and was initiated on my campus. this year they might be forced to join in on formal recruitment, which (if the numbers remain similar to last year) would make quota only 10 girls.
i feel that it could quite possibly be that there just aren't girls who are willing to start up a new sorority there, and that they would rather be apart of the "elite nine" (as they call them in the article) that are already there. just a thought.

:eek: Dayum... total at my school was only 80, and people were concerned that they didn't know all their sisters! Initiation must take a looooong time.....

Good luck to Cousin!!!

I didn't know if anyone else had trouble with the link so here is the article.

It does mention about possible expansion but it is not being pursued at this time. Perhaps after this recruitment they may look at it more closely.


"Rush numbers break participant records

by Melissa Sindelar
DM Campus News Editor
October 01, 2003


Rush breaks records again this year as just under 900 females and approximately 780 males ready themselves for Recruitment 2003.

About 715 female students went out for Rush last year. Only about 20 more males will go through the process this year.

"The girls' enrollment jumped 15 percent, and the guys jumped about 5 percent," Jason Dean, consultant for Greek Life, said. "This makes our system hands down the largest in the nation for public universities."

Dean said growth for Rush usually corresponds with the growth in enrollment. Although the male growth still does, the female increase is far beyond that of the rise in the university's enrollment.

Meredith Padalino, vice president for recruitment for the Panhellenic Council, attributes the increase to "how successful of a Greek system Ole Miss has had."

The Panhellenic council expected only a rise of 30-40 rushees, according to Elizabeth Norberg, judicial and education vice president.

"We had added another group in the Philanthropy round to keep each group smaller, and now the girls have a break period, too," Norberg said.

Dean said long-term plans may include bringing another national sorority to campus to create smaller pledge classes for each sorority because right now they are "busting at the seams." This idea, however, is not being actively pursued yet.

Besides working with a new computer system, the Interfraternity Council has no changes for this year's Rush, according to vice president for recruitment Blake Bee.

Bee attributes the 5 percent increase for male recruitment to the school's growth and the fact that the Alpha Tau Omega will participate in the process this year.

ATO returned to campus last winter after a one-year suspension caused by a racially offensive photograph taken at its Halloween party.

Bee said many contributing factors explain the great rise in female enrollment compared to male.

"I believe there are more girls in the freshman class," he said. "There's always more girls going through recruitment and also fewer spaces for girls. There are only nine sororities, and they have more of a desire to be in those exclusive nine."

These nine will welcome the female rushees Thursday beginning at 4 p.m. for the first day of the Philanthropy round. Rushees will go to three parties, have a break and then go to two more parties before stopping for the night at 9:20. The process repeats for the remaining houses Friday.

Females can only go back to six houses Saturday for the Skit round. If more than six invite someone back, she must cut her list down to the required amount.

A change in the process this year is the regret with interest, where if a rushee must cut one of the sororities because she was invited back to too many but is still interested, the sorority will find out and could invite her back to the final round. It is up to the rushee if she will to that house over another one.

"This gives everyone more options," Padalino said. "It just maximizes their choices. Jason Dean is hoping this will keep us at our 90 percent placement rate or even increase it."

The final night, Pref night, rushees only go to three sorority houses. After they finish making the rounds, they rank the houses in the order of their favorites.

The area between Fulton Chapel and the sorority houses should be cleared for the 6 p.m. rush Monday, Bid Day, when the rushees find out what sorority they will pledge.

The process for males is basically the same, with only a few changes. Despite having 14 fraternity houses, rushees still can only return to six houses in the second round and three in the third. Any house that invites back a rushee Sunday will give that student a bid. The final decision is up to the rushee.

Dean said about 85 percent of rushees receive placement with most of the remaining percentage affected by dropouts, opposed to people not receiving bids."

honeychile, zta also had a chapter at ole miss, but i remember it was struggling when i was in college(in the late 70's) and eventually closed. it had happened at least once before, and they had retained their house-i don't know if they still own it. one of our former national vp-alumna was from ole miss, and she is a lovely lady. maybe zeta of adpi will get to return! lisa

edit-zeta OR adpi