I go to a school in the South (uh, Duke, as if that wasn't obvious :-P ), but even though I haven't actually gone through rush here yet, I know enough people in sororities here and who have rushed to know that it thankfully isn't as cutthroat as most other Southern schools seem to be. Much of that is probably due to the fact that Duke draws its students from all over the country, world really, and while it's located in the South, it's not really a SOUTHERN school.. if that makes any sense. I mean, really, SO many of Duke's students are from the North - I'm from Ohio - since it's sort of a pseudo-Ivy. "The Harvard of the South", "the Stanford of the East", whatever you want to call it. :-) Most people rush as freshmen, but sophomore rushees aren't rare at all, and my first year here EVERYONE who rushed received a bid, and I think last year all but 7 did, and all but one or two of those 7 dropped out of their own accord, not because they were dropped. Reading how crazy rush is at other schools in the South makes me glad Duke isn't really like that.
It's not as laid-back as some true Northern schools might be, but it's not "Southern rush", either. Most people don't have recs, and even if they do, most sororities don't really use them.