University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) 2012 Recruitment

[Dixie_Amazon]

Originally Posted by gee_ess

Aren't the girls already at work week and school started by Aug 27th? This seems really late to me. I believe registration closed July 15 at Arkansas.

I know someone with a daughter that is participating. They were told that Ole Miss starts late due to retention. Too many girls that didn't get a bid were leaving dropping out of Ole Miss completely.

[MaryPoppins]

Originally Posted by Dixie_Amazon

I know someone with a daughter that is participating. They were told that Ole Miss starts late due to retention. Too many girls that didn't get a bid were leaving dropping out of Ole Miss completely.

That is precisely what the delayed recruitment was meant to prevent. And once upon a time, in the bad old days before social media, those girls that dropped out of Ole Miss were headed to a different school to rush again! Never could decide how they lined up two separate sets of recs.

[IndianaSigKap]

Originally Posted by MaryPoppins

That is precisely what the delayed recruitment was meant to prevent. And once upon a time, in the bad old days before social media, those girls that dropped out of Ole Miss were headed to a different school to rush again! Never could decide how they lined up two separate sets of recs.

It is a logistical nightmare, but I know a family who did precisely this. The young lady is from Louisville and she chose an out of state SEC as her "first" school. I know they had two sets of recs, I was one of her Sigma Kappa recs. If she had not gotten into one of her "favorite" chapters, the back up plan was a midwestern university with a lesser competitive Greek system and a later start date and recruitment. She would be able to find out the results of her SEC recruitment before having to report to the midwestern school.

[IUHoosiergirl88]

I know someone that did this at Indiana, even! She went through recruitment as a freshman, suicided and didn't get a bid. Went through recruitment as a sophomore, suicided again and didn't get a bid. She dropped out of IU after her sophomore year and transferred to UK, where she magically became a member of an NPC group in fall of her junior year

[gee_ess]

Originally Posted by Dixie_Amazon

I know someone with a daughter that is participating. They were told that Ole Miss starts late due to retention. Too many girls that didn't get a bid were leaving dropping out of Ole Miss completely.

I understand the reason for late recruitment. I was just questioning the late date for registration deadline since the actives still need time to learn the pnms, read recs, etc. Of course, if you have done your SEC recruitment homework, you are already registered, recs mailed in, outfits prepared, etc far earlier than the deadline that is posted by Greek Life.

[MaryPoppins]

Originally Posted by gee_ess

I understand the reason for late recruitment. I was just questioning the late date for registration deadline since the actives still need time to learn the pnms, read recs, etc. Of course, if you have done your SEC recruitment homework, you are already registered, recs mailed in, outfits prepared, etc far earlier than the deadline that is posted by Greek Life.

You are absolutely correct gee_ess. When they originally talked about delayed recruitment twenty years ago, I hoped that Ole Miss would select December/January, but the chapters told the powers that be that they could not afford the Fall without the new member (pledge) money. Seems to me like they could have said you have 3 years to get your expenses in line for a Winter recruitment, and then pulled the trigger. Now recruitment is always set for a week without a weekend football game, which means it moves higgledy piggledy from September to October based on what the final football schedule looks like, and it impacts mid-term grades!

[gee_ess]

Originally Posted by MaryPoppins

You are absolutely correct gee_ess. When they originally talked about delayed recruitment twenty years ago, I hoped that Ole Miss would select December/January, but the chapters told the powers that be that they could not afford the Fall without the new member (pledge) money. Seems to me like they could have said you have 3 years to get your expenses in line for a Winter recruitment, and then pulled the trigger. Now recruitment is always set for a week without a weekend football game, which means it moves higgledy piggledy from September to October based on what the final football schedule looks like, and it impacts mid-term grades!

When we did it at Arkansas ( i was an advisor then) it was really hard on the actives - who basically quit attending class during recruitment due to the amount of behind the scenes time it took to get things pulled together, vote, etc. PnMs go back to dorms and sleep. Actives vote all night and then set up for the next round, then skip class to sleep and be ready for parties!

I like your idea of Dec/Jan rush and giving houses a time period to prepare.. Sometimes things make so much sense and yet no one who is in the driver's seat can see it! Frustrating!

[MaryPoppins]

Originally Posted by gee_ess

I like your idea of Dec/Jan rush and giving houses a time period to prepare.. Sometimes things make so much sense and yet no one who is in the driver's seat can see it! Frustrating!

My Kiersey personality type is Guardian Provider/Supervisor, I can't avoid thinking logistically and those who cannot or refuse to do so used to drive me insane. As a an elder, I now know of ways of handling those folks and their issues that preserve my sanity

[AnchorAlumna]

Originally Posted by gee_ess

I like your idea of Dec/Jan rush and giving houses a time period to prepare.. Sometimes things make so much sense and yet no one who is in the driver's seat can see it! Frustrating!

What happens is that the entire first semester then becomes all recruitment, all the time. Lots of stress on everybody exactly when you need to be attending class and studying.
Yes, it SEEMS to make sense....until you see SEC-style recruitment.

[MaryPoppins]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

What happens is that the entire first semester then becomes all recruitment, all the time. Lots of stress on everybody exactly when you need to be attending class and studying.
Yes, it SEEMS to make sense....until you see SEC-style recruitment.

You don't think that is already the case? School started last week. Formal recruitment starts in 3 weeks. The whole initial part of the semester is shot! Whatever foundation my collegians are supposed to be getting in their upper level classes is in mental competion with putting on an SEC level recruitment performance when they should be getting ready for mid-terms. About 3,600 Freshman, and at least 1,200 of who are participating in Panhellenic Recruitment, that's more than 50% of the women in the Freshman class. Those young women are going to be distracted at the a critical time in their college careers and don't have the seasoning of the older women. I say we go back to early August Recruitment (before school) or bite the bullet and do it in January/December. This method is the most destructive of all, but it is what we have, and therefore what we have to deal with for the foreseeable future. We make it work, but I think it's far more to the advantage of the University than any advantage for the students who really ought to take precedence.

[gee_ess]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

What happens is that the entire first semester then becomes all recruitment, all the time. Lots of stress on everybody exactly when you need to be attending class and studying.
Yes, it SEEMS to make sense....until you see SEC-style recruitment.

I am intimately familiar with SEC recruitment. I much prefer August recruitment after serving as an advisor for both years we tried mid semester style like our friends at Ole Mss. However, IF a school was pushing for something to help retain students who transfer after disappointing recruitment results, then I much prefer dec/jan over mid September. Thankfully, Arkansas seems to be content with their current system.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

What happens is that the entire first semester then becomes all recruitment, all the time. Lots of stress on everybody exactly when you need to be attending class and studying.
Yes, it SEEMS to make sense....until you see SEC-style recruitment.

Then you're doing deferred rush completely wrong, and many rules need to be changed and reinforced to make it what it is meant to be.

BUT since this is a school less likely to change from old-school SEC style rush than the Steelers are to change their colors to pink and coral...screw it. Forget this "delayed" silliness and go back to August.

If this really is a school where the majority of many many many girls only want two out of nine groups, that's a broken system that is going to take a lot more than rush in September to fix.

[ladybug12]

I'm going to put a different spin on this from my personal observations on this campus over the past 2 years.

Having deferred recruitment lets the PNMs see all of the beautiful, polished women in all of the sororities at Ole Miss for at least a month prior to formal recruitment. Honestly, there is no way to tell any of these girls apart other than the different Greek letters they have on their t-shirts or backpacks. All of the houses are georgeous and huge.

I think it helps many PNMs see that there are multiple desired options for sorority membership on this campus!

[MaryPoppins]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Then you're doing deferred rush completely wrong, and many rules need to be changed and reinforced to make it what it is meant to be.

BUT since this is a school less likely to change from old-school SEC style rush than the Steelers are to change their colors to pink and coral...screw it. Forget this "delayed" silliness and go back to August.

If this really is a school where the majority of many many many girls only want two out of seven groups, that's a broken system that is going to take a lot more than rush in September to fix.

It's allegedly 2-3 out of 9 groups, and next years colony will make 10. PNM classes are expected to be 150.