RETRO Ole Miss Rush Story...

[MaryPoppins]

Ole Miss has had a significant number of women compete in the Miss America Pageant over the last 60 years, but only three have won the Miss America Pageant in that time. I've heard Ole Miss referred to as a "pageant school," so I assume that there are others that exist?

[cinder1965]

More, please more!!!

[GratefulGramma]

This is just fun. We live so close to Ole Miss, and have known people who went there through the years. Beloved Granddaughter thought about going there, but I am firmly convinced none of us would have survived the year.

[OldOleMiss]

wow! I am stunned at the interest... and to clarify things... NO she was not "THE" Miss America.... but had competed...

[OldOleMiss]

so all right one last little bit before I go cook diner- sorry- was hoping to blow through this, but a lot like rush, some times its a process :-)


I could hear knocks up and down the hall floor that night. Thank goodness no knock came on mine! Apparently the hardest cuts came between 2nd and third rounds and the next morning the bathroom was almost silent. You could see girls with red eyes and hushed whispers of roommates that had been cut and were heading home, (one of the reasons I have heard that Ole Miss no longer does Rush before classes start)- legacy’s that had gotten calls from their moms saying they were going to be released, etc… I made my way to Fulton to see what damage had been done to me; all the while thanking God that I at least was getting to go to Fulton. Somebody wanted me! We were told that we could accept up to 6 invitations for this round. I hesitantly opened up my card and stared in disbelief. EVERY SINGLE HOUSE had invited me back!!! Whhhhaat??? Even Nordstroms where I didn’t have a rec and got the feeling that they had not liked me during second round!!! I honestly could not believe it. I was quite simply stunned, and elated at the same time. However I was also very un-prepared. I had been purposefully not ranking the groups in my head or listening to tent talk in the dorms because I knew that I was lucky to be invited back to any of them. Now I had decisions to make, something quite honestly I did not think was possible for an out of state non greek knowing girl! I thought about it long and hard and decided that my two most awkward houses were the ones to go, so I cut Sears- where my rusher had had as much enthusiasm as a dental patient off to a root canal and TJ Maxx.-which had been the opposite the girl had been TOO excited to see me. (We are talking golden retriever at the end of a 2 week European Vacation excited to see me- it had really freaked me out- the girl had all but slobbered on me!).

This round was skit round and so I made my way to Neiman Marcus first. Their skit was fabulous. Funny, touching, everything a skit should be. It reinforced everything I loved about them during Coke round. I really liked the girl who rushed me and all of the other sisters that I met. For the first time since rush had begun I started imagining being a part of this group, and it felt good!

Skit round is ALSO where I had one of my worst rush moments. My second house of the day was Nordstroms. After their door song the actives started gathering us up, but no one called out my name! No one! And I stood there outside on the sidewalk all by myself as everyone was heading into the house. My RC’s both came over and looked at my invite card with me to make sure I really was where I was suppose to be, and I was! It was HORRIFYINGLY HUMILIATING! One RC ran up and grabbed a girl right before the door was shut and showed her my invite card. I wanted to die. I honestly wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole. The active came over and grabbed me. And not in a nice voice said “someone messed up, we weren’t expecting you until tomorrow’s party”…. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. There was no apology or even sympathizing with how I must have felt. It was horrible…. The active acted like she was doing this huge favor for me, and explained that no one was there to bump me and she would somehow squeeze me into a space to watch the skit… uhm gee thanks. After that I zoned out, I just couldn’t get into a skit that touted sisterhood and belonging when it was clear I didn’t belong or at least they weren’t big on making people feel included.

After that fiasco was Barneys. They did a cowboy theme, which baffled me. I didn’t get it then and 20+ years later I STILL don’t get it… And even worse it seems like everyone else at the party DID get it!! There was much laughter and applause during the skit… Much like the other parties with them, I didn’t get the feeling that I fit in or that they liked me. Conversation was really forced all though I can also say my head and heart were probably not 100% into it because it was still at the Nordstroms house reliving that disaster!

My last house of the day was Bloomingdales. This was the third round in a row that this house was my last house of the day. I always came here exhausted, overwhelmed and “not on my A game”. Their skit bad- painfully bad, seriously I mean painfully. I was embarrassed for them and as I looked around the room I could tell I was not the only one who felt that way. The girl who was rushing me was nice, but forgettable and again I left without a real good feeling as to who they were.

The next day I started out by visiting Marshalls. I honestly don’t remember their skit, but I do remember how friendly the house was, with all of the girls that had previously rushed me coming over to speak. It was nice. It didn’t make my heart thump like Neimans did, but it was nice. I also gaveJC Penny’s another chance- their skit was goofy and the sisters were all so sweet, one of the girls who rushed me had been one of my “orientation people” and was very excited to see me. This sorority had a REALLY GREAT reputation back in my home state so I was really trying to like them! (gee preconceived notions carry from campus to campus ☺ )

Okay will try and finish this up either later tonight or tomorrow AM.. but have to go feed a hungry husband now!!!

[Lovethesand]

Boo Nordstrom. That sounds awful. Have to check Nordstrom off my list here.

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by Lovethesand

Boo Nordstrom. That sounds awful. Have to check Nordstrom off my list here.

+1

Drop them like a hot potato.

So freaking rude.

[ElvisLover]

OldOleMiss, you really have us hooked! This old lady is enthralled with your story and all the minute details you have included. Did I see in one of your posts that you kept a journal through it all as you were going through?

[MaryPoppins]

Not to excuse Nordstroms but back in the late 90's the lists came on dot matrix print outs. And there were mistakes made at Panhellenic, but surely the last person closing the door was an officer maybe even a member of the recruitment team. Shame on her for making you feel that way!

No lady would ever transfer that type of attitude to the person that was the victim of the mistake, and displaying that kind of behavior is tacky beyond words. I have an idea of which chapter(s) Nordstroms might be.

[OldOleMiss]

Okay a couple of comments on your comments before I give you the last installment- Elvis Lover- YES! I have kept a journal since High School- it has been a fun (and sometimes painful) ride down memory lane pulling them out to "re-live rush"-- a lot of details have come from that- like how sweet the girls at Marshalls and JC Penny's were, but oddly enough I remember VIVIDLY most of my rush- especially things like Nordstroms leaving me on the sidewalk.

NOW in regards to Nordstroms and the sidewalk- MaryPoppins is 100% Correct- this was 1990-- and if I recall correctly we were the first Recruitment to use that "new fangled" thing called SCANTRON! ha ha ha.... I and Nordstroms was not the only mix-up that occurred that year! I also realized the next year when I participated on the "other side" that the girl at Nordstroms was probably just as flustered and embarrassed as I was, she just didn't recover quick enough to handle it right. If you think about it I messed their entire party up-- she couldn't bump who she was suppose to bump, no one was there to bump me, etc.. etc.. etc.. so while I was humiliated at the time... I quickly got over it. :-)

Clemsongirl- first and foremost YAY!!! on your recruitment! I have been following your story and am THRILLED for you and ADPi- that is one lucky house!!! ALL of my cousins went to Clemson-- including the 2 GLO mentioned here for doing my recs. They LOVED every min. of it!!! (and one was an Aquarius ;-) ). Secondly ha! ha! ha! Canadian- yes, I suppose the poor girl really would have lost her mind with you. A guy friend of mine from college was from Virginia- he tells a similar story about going through Fraternity Recruitment... we still laugh about our "yankee heritage".... and my husband would LOVE you-- GO SOX! :-)

Okay.... that being said let me try and finish up here.....

[KDCat]

Originally Posted by OldOleMiss

Okay a couple of comments on your comments before I give you the last installment- Elvis Lover- YES! I have kept a journal since High School- it has been a fun (and sometimes painful) ride down memory lane pulling them out to "re-live rush"-- a lot of details have come from that- like how sweet the girls at Marshalls and JC Penny's were, but oddly enough I remember VIVIDLY most of my rush- especially things like Nordstroms leaving me on the sidewalk.

NOW in regards to Nordstroms and the sidewalk- MaryPoppins is 100% Correct- this was 1990-- and if I recall correctly we were the first Recruitment to use that "new fangled" thing called SCANTRON! ha ha ha.... I and Nordstroms was not the only mix-up that occurred that year! I also realized the next year when I participated on the "other side" that the girl at Nordstroms was probably just as flustered and embarrassed as I was, she just didn't recover quick enough to handle it right. If you think about it I messed their entire party up-- she couldn't bump who she was suppose to bump, no one was there to bump me, etc.. etc.. etc.. so while I was humiliated at the time... I quickly got over it. :-)

Clemsongirl- first and foremost YAY!!! on your recruitment! I have been following your story and am THRILLED for you and ADPi- that is one lucky house!!! ALL of my cousins went to Clemson-- including the 2 GLO mentioned here for doing my recs. They LOVED every min. of it!!! (and one was an Aquarius ;-) ). Secondly ha! ha! ha! Canadian- yes, I suppose the poor girl really would have lost her mind with you. A guy friend of mine from college was from Virginia- he tells a similar story about going through Fraternity Recruitment... we still laugh about our "yankee heritage".... and my husband would LOVE you-- GO SOX! :-)

Okay.... that being said let me try and finish up here.....

You are very sweet.

She should have apologized, though, for the mix-up and for being flustered. If you mess up, you can let it all hang out, as long as you are kind to the person who is a guest/customer.


And yay! for Zeta. I really liked the Zeta chapter at my school, and I really the one at SLU, too.

[OldOleMiss]

The night after the last skit round I don’t think I slept at all. I kept going over and over in my head what my rankings were going to be. Yes at this point I stupidly thought I was home free. I was having a great rush! I decided that I loved Neiman Marcus . and they were definitely my first choice. I also decided that I did not like JC Penny’s . at all and they were my last. I was giddy with the thought of being a Neiman Marcus. I could hardly wait. I didn’t worry about a knock on the door that night and it was a quieter night than nights past. Finally it was time to go pick up our invitations. I had a spring in my step and couldn’t wait for pref. I was handed my card and told I could accept up to three parties. I had a pretty good feel in my head of where I would accept. [COLOR="Magenta"]Neiman - I was born to be a sister there, Marshalls (where everyone was so sweet to me) and probably Saks…. (which I haven’t said much about but liked almost as much as Neimans

So of course imagine my horror when I opened up the card and saw –I had been released by everyone! But JC Penny’s, Marshalls and Bloomingdales. My heart dropped. Everyone had cut me. Okay not everyone, but in my head everyone who mattered. I was crushed. I was devastated, I felt really let down and deflated as I marked acceptances to those three down. I didn’t want to see or talk to anybody, I just wanted to cry. I also wanted to call my mother but this was back when long-distance was expensive and with her not being GLO she would never have understood why I was crying and “wasting money on a phone call” when I still had three houses left. The girls on my hall picked up on the fact that I had been cut pretty hard. All of them were so nice to me telling me how hard it was to come in from out of state and what a successful rush I was - actually having and how lucky I was to be going back to three houses especially Marshalls . A lot of girls on our floor were only going back to one… and many more were not going back to any- they had already been released. This DID make me feel a little better but I was not very excited as I got dressed for the parties that night. I started thinking about my choices and felt ill when I thought about being a [COLOR="Silver"] JC Penny’s, I knew absolutely nothing about Bloomingdales except their skit had sucked and while I liked Marshalls they were not Neimans damnit.

I went to Marshalls first. The girl I had met from my home state preffed me. They did a lovely ceremony and I felt good with them but, yet…. We were leaving the active said I really hope we see you tomorrow, I didn’t quite no how to reply.

I went next to JC Penny’s. The same girl with BO who had rushed me earlier in the week preffed me along with the girl I had met at orientation. BO girl smelled better but was no better looking (I KNOW SHALLOW) and Orientation Consoler was super sweet in a syrup type of way and kept trying to “up-sell me”. Their ceremony was very “deep” and you could tell they had a really close knit sisterhood and were very close and loved each other, but I also knew that I did not fit in and would rather not go greek than to pledge them. This strangely enough felt good because outside of the love I had felt for Neimans it was the only solid thought I had had about the process. Let me just say right here- I am amazed by the PNMs that post on here about analyzing each house for the right fit. I just kind of went with the flow of things and never gave too much thought to individual members that rushed me. In a lot of ways I think this helped me because I wasn’t that emotionally involved and I was able to “be myself”, and in other ways I wish that I had spent a little more time getting to know my Rusher as much as they were getting to know me. Anyway- I just KNEW I did not want to be a JC Penny’s. I left with a smile on my face which in hindsight is bad because they probably thought they had “won me over” when in fact I had made peace with the fact that I was not going to list them on my bid card. (REMEMBER THIS WAS PRE RFM so there was no maximize your bid card)

My last house (OF COURSE!) wasBloomingdales. Was the Universe trying to tell me something here? Why in the heck was this always my last house. Once again, I was exhausted, emotional and just wanted to go home. A girl I had never met came out to get me. She hugged me and told me how glad the whole house was that I had come back.??? I was perplexed. I had not felt any connection with any of these girls and they were glad I was here?? They did their ceremony first with time to chat afterwards. The ceremony was so pretty and the girls who talked seemed so genuine. Afterwards another sister that I didn’t recall meeting came over and hugged me and said “we couldn’t believe it when you came back, we were all so excited and thought we had lost you with that stupid skit”!!! I couldn’t help it- I burst out laughing. They KNEW their skit had been stupid! It was the first time all week I think I genuinely had laughed. I looked around the room, some girls were laughing a good number more were crying and suddenly everything at this house somehow felt “right”.

We all made our way in dark silence to Fulton Chapel to sign our bid cards. As an aside here- I would like to say that I still get chills when I think about that walk. It was done in complete silence, with all of the sorority houses out on their lawns singing and a lot of them holding candles. It was a truly remarkable sight and one of those moments that you just freeze in your head forever. At Fulton we were instructed to rank our houses in the order of preference. We were told that cuts (if any) would be done between 7am and 3pm the next day and we were to stay in our rooms until then and wait. IF we had not gotten a knock on our door by 3 the next day we were to show up on the steps of Fulton to pick up our bids. We had 2 hours to think about our ranks. I sat there that night wrestling it out in my head. It was honestly the first time in the entire process that I sat and truly thought about things. I knew that JC Penny’s was not going to be put down at all but what about Marshalls and Bloomingdales. I had arguments for both. I liked Marshalls, I had since the beginning. One of my cousins had been a Marshall, the girl from my home state was there which I liked, and tent talk around the dorms placed them firmly as a “top house”. But yet there was something holding me back from just listing them first and being done with it.

Then there was Bloomingdales. Bloomingdales??? Seriously!? They had not even been on my radar screen for 98% of rush. I couldn’t tell you one single girl prior to that night who had rushed me or who I had met. I hadn’t disliked them, but I hadn’t liked them either. I just honestly had not thought about them. But here I was thinking about how hard I had laughed when the active made the crack about the stupid skit- The skit was stupid! I also thought about how happy they had all seemed when I had shown up that night. Marshalls had been nice, but they hadn’t been that happy. I went back and forth and forth and back and finally I was one of the last in the chapel I marked my card and didn’t look back.

Damn having to go to work- sorry! Promise I will get the FINAL piece up shortly....

[OldOleMiss]

OKAY FINALLY am going to finish this thing!

By 3pm nobody had come to my door!! YIPEE!!! I had made it! I was in SOMEWHERE! You could hear the hall come to life, and to this day it reminds me of the scene in the Wizard of Oz when the munchkins come out to greet Dorothy. None of us were quite sure if it was okay to come out, but we were all excited to do so. At first, we all tentatively started making our way to Fulton and then we all started running… we got there and it was pandemonium trying to find our RC’s. My hands shook as I took the card from my one RC who had revealed her self to be Marshalls and I walked over to be by myself to open it. I had agonized all night about whether I had listed the right house as my first choice. And standing there with an actual bid card I realized it didn’t matter- if I was that torn I was going to be happy either way. I knew that. I liked both houses and if my indecisiveness from the night before was indication, I would be fine in whichever one was listed.

I opened and I started screaming. Tears sprang to my eyes-- I had gotten my first choice! I was a Bloomingdales!!!! Kyrushee who I had met at orientation and had been in my rush group and become great friends with was screaming as well- she was a Bloomingdales too!!! We were sisters!!! We screamed together grabbed hands and ran down sorority row to our new home!!!! Where we were greeted by the entire chapter, standing out on the lawn, singing and clapping loudly to the greatest song my ears had ever heard…












are you a Zeta …I said a Zeta… well I’m a Zeta too!





I was in the first official / formal pledge class of the newly re-colonized Zeta Tau Alpha. The active who made the comment about the skit sucking would become my Big Sister and to this day I love her with all of my heart and she can still make me laugh until tears fall. We also found out that since that year was the first year they had participated in formal Ole Miss Rush they were clueless on just how competitive and stylized the other houses skits had been…. my AWESOME pledge class and I worked DAMN HARD to get the skit changed and made sure that it kicked A$$ the next year ☺

Final thoughts- Someone asked me to write this story and I thank them it was great fun- I agreed to write it because I hope that it may help any PNMs out there that may feel like the process doesn’t work , they don’t stand a chance coming in somewhere from out of state or who are crushed that their #1 house released them. I got over my rush crush almost immediately and realized after the fact that I never would have fit in there. Too many girls in that pledge class already knew each other and had established bonds that I never would have broken into. Much to my shock and amazement the “system” actually DID (and still does) work. I found a house that allowed me to be myself and allowed me to “fit in”. Even funnier, is the fact that I have found that no matter the so called “tier” or place on campus, each GLO has their very own traits that make it home to their members. When I called my BF who went to UGA at the time and told her who I had pledged she said she had “known all along that I would make a perfect ZTA”. My rec for ZTA (my cousins Mother-in-Law who I had met all of 3 times) told me later in life she had written in her rec letter to the house that from the moment she had met me she could tell I was a ZTA. I still meet women who I know almost instantly are probably “sisters”. I have other friends discuss this phenom as well. A good friend of mine who is/ was a DG (not at ole miss) has said before that she knows her daughter will not pledge them that she “just isn’t a DG”. Too often I think PNMs get too wrapped up in the “here and now” and the “tent talk” without realizing that they WILL end up where they are meant to be… and that Recruitment is so much bigger than 4 years of college or what one campuses rep might be. Good luck to all PNMs especially ones getting ready to go through at Ole Miss. Be yourself, have fun, trust the system and remember recruitment only last a week a good house last a lifetime! HOTTY TODDY ya’ll!

[Mndl]

What a great story! Yay for ZTA. I've gotta ask since I pledged Zeta in 1990 also; what was the skit, because I remember a couple that we did that were just bad

[OldOleMiss]

Originally Posted by Mndl

What a great story! Yay for ZTA. I've gotta ask since I pledged Zeta in 1990 also; what was the skit, because I remember a couple that we did that were just bad

Ha! ha! ha! the skit was like a disney / pinocchio theme where "jiminy cricket active" sang "when you wish upon ZTA" to the little rushee who lied about not liking the chapter.... please tell me you guys NEVER did that one... no PNM should have been exposed to that skit....