Recs for Ole Miss
 

My younger cousin is attending Ole Miss in the fall, and is planning to go through recruitment. When gathering recs and letters, how many do you think she should have for each sorority? She has a friend who is already there, and the friend told her, "atleast 2 of each, maybe 3, but no more than 3". Obviously this girl is on the other side when it comes to rush, but I was just wondering what everyone thought, particulary any Ole Miss girls out there. Everyone on this board just seems to give great advice about greek life. I did a search, but any other advice relating to Ole Miss would be great.

The top chapters at Ole Miss are extremely selective......so I would say two or three atleast. (and I have a large group of friends that go to Ole Miss, more girls than guys.)

Every campus is different, every sorority is different.

Speaking solely for myself I am much more impressed by 1 glowing, well thought out, thorough rec than by 100 that say "I don't know this girl but somebody asked me to write one."

I have heard that some chapters at Ole Miss require more than one rec, simply because it is so common to have one rec for each house. But your friend is right... more than 3 recs (unless your sister is a legacy) is just going to weigh down the chapter, since they can probably get the info they need from 2-3 good recs.

The advice I have always given for competitive southern recruitments is to have one rec from a younger, recent graduate (of that chapter, if possible) and one rec from an older, experienced rec-writer. This way, the recs won't seem like carbon copies of one another, because chances are the two styles of rec-writing will differ.

Well, I am a Greek woman at Ole Miss and I was a recruitment counselor (Gamma Chi) last year. Panhellenic tells the girls they only technically need one rec. for every house. Three should be the maximum just because houses get FLOODED with recs (so think 3 recs per 900 girls...argh). Two is the magic number in my opinion, but don't sweat if you end up with just one. Sometimes it can be difficult to find alumni.

Quality over quantity, a detailed rec from an alumni that glows is worth more than "soso and so is a very nice girl. she is smart. she would be a good Chi Kappa Delt, etc" :)

I agree with the suggestion of 2. Unless she is a legacy or has a number of relatives (cousins, aunts, etc) of a certain sorority, 2 should be plenty. But of course, a minimum of 1.

If she doesn't know a member or alumnae of each sorority, she needs to seek out the local Alumnae Panhellenic in her area...and the sooner the better since they are probably pretty busy writing recs. Tell her to send her resume, a photo, and a cover letter...they might even have a form on their website that she needs to complete.

I believe Ole Miss has links on their Recruitment site telling girls how to get recommendations.

Good luck to your cousin! :)

Three and if possible one needs to be from a Mississippi Alumnae member. Several chapters get so many recs, if they do not know the woman writing the rec then that PNM will not be asked back. The reality is, there are chapters that the alumna have bid lists complied prior to recruitment.

Definitely make sure at least one rec is from an alumna of that chapter at Ole Miss. Also, a somewhat new trend is to send little packets to each house with their information in folders and more than one picture. The folders will have their resume, transcript, and pictures in there with a letter sometimes from the PNM to the chapter.

Please remember that Ole Miss Recruitment is very competitive and the best advice I always tell a PNM is to go into recruitment with an open mind. All 9 NPC groups at Ole Miss are strong representations of their organizations and they all excel on campus.

:eek: That's Crazy.

And the sig is a little tiny, oh just about thismuch long.

I hate to see stuff like this :( Not only do you have to have a rec from a member of that sorority, but now it has to be from a member of that chapter? I think that's ridiculous, and makes life very tough for out of staters and people who don't have a lot of greeks in their family. I understand Ole Miss is very tradition heavy, but still. IMO, I think it's messed up when a chapter won't "accept" a rec from one of their own sisters, just because that sister isn't from their chapter.

I agree that it's messed up but it is understandable. The chapters have to make cuts somehow, and it's easier for them to take the word of a woman who've they know and have met over that of someone who went to school in a different part of the country. Plus, while any alumna can write a rec, not every alumna will understand Ole Miss recruitment. If you went to a northeastern public school with an uncompetitive recruitment where hardly anyone, yes you are a member and can write a rec for someone going through recruitment, but will you really understand the importance that the rec has for the PNM?

I knew I had seen it somewhere before.

No one is saying she is going to be released because her rec is from another chapter! However, it does help when a chapter alumna writes a rec for a PNM going through at Ole Miss. I doubt any chapter at Ole Miss will disregard the recs from other chapters!

ETA: Any information on a PNM is helpful and greatly appreciated!

I gotta agree on that. It would be nice if it could be cut down... out of consideration for everyone else. Even though it's in small font, it takes up more than an entire screen on my computer.

And before anyone says it, no, I don't wish to turn off signatures because then i'd never remember who's in what GLO