Ole Miss Recruitment (Guys)

newgreekmommy · #1 10-14-2011, 06:05 PM

I don't have a son, but my daughter is a freshman at Ole Miss and she has several guy friends who went through recruitment this year.

I pulled these numbers from the Ole Miss student newspaper:

Boys: 1082 registered for formal recruitment (and it is formal!)
74.3% received bids
762 (70.4% received bids from their "first" choice)

The bid numbers were significantly lower than the girls numbers.

I wanted to share this info because I never heard any of my friends worrying about their sons and recruitment. I was worried to death about my daughter's recruitment, but these moms and sons had no concerns.

Well...I have two friends with freshman boys at Ole Miss. They don't know each other. Each of their sons was given a bid (before formal recruitment started) from ABC (the same very large, national frat). Both bids were revoked -- on the last night of recruitment according to the moms. So neither pledged anywhere.

On the flip side, two boys from Georgia had Ole Miss connections and they pledged their top house (with lots of options) with no issues.

I don't know how guys' recruitment works totally, but I do know they have a formal period, go to all houses, rank (like the girls do) etc,

But, I wanted to share this story and point out their to show that the guys at Ole Miss have it tough, too. If they don't go visit during the summer and really network during the first month of school, it's really hard for them to get plugged in. This message really needs to get out.

And, to continue along the same lines, my brother-in-law, a KA from Clemson, was horrified to learn that his recommendation letter to the Bama KA house got there "too late". Even though it was sent long before the posted "formal rush" period, the recruitment chair and president told my brother-in-law that all the KA bids were really already given out.

Move on over to UGA: My friend's son had participated in the summer parties, was certain he was going to get a bid froma certain house -- BUT -- because he didn't register online for recruitment by a certain date, they couldn't give him a bid until he went through formal recruitment. During that time, he was so glad he'd already found his first choice and been getting to know them, because he heard "we only have 5 bids left" and similar lines at several different houses -- directed to other guys. He did get the bid from his top choice and all worked out, but these guys around the south at least need to know that they need to work all summer! (Two friends weren't so lucky; they hadn't been going to visit during the summer and they didn't receive any bids.)

This may be obvious... but I'd never heard of boys having problems. Maybe boys just don't talk about it as much.
Just hoping this will help someone with southern rush!

Mevara · #2 10-14-2011, 06:24 PM

How is the number of bids for each chapter decided? (# under total, evenly distributed amongst the chapters)

Mevara · #3 10-14-2011, 06:25 PM

Is there even a total for fraternities?

newgreekmommy · #4 10-14-2011, 07:22 PM

I don't know if there is a quota or if each frat just decides how many bids they're going to give.

My guess (just a guess) is that at more formal rushes (like Clemson and Ole Miss), there is a quota, but I don't know that for a fact.

FormerReb · #5 10-23-2011, 01:22 PM

Ole Miss fraternities do not have a quota.

Fraternity rush at Ole Miss is a different animal, to be sure. I'm glad that newgreekmommy brought this up...rush can be just as competitive for men at Ole Miss, although in a different way.

To most people, the fraternities are 'ranked' based on the number of in state member they have. Beyond this, the number of men from Jackson play a huge part in this (typically, Sigma Chi and Sigma Nu are very Jackson-heavy). Because (obviously) fraternities don't rush freshmen based on their recs, they're rushed more on word of mouth and actually hanging out with the PNMs. So, if a guy goes through rush and is from a city and/or school that's heavily populated with actives, a lot of times the PNM's rush is already done for him. Either everyone that knows him likes him and they'll rush him hard, or they don't, and he'll probably have better chances at a chapter with fewer or no hometown guys.

My high school sent almost no one to Ole Miss. When I went through, in fact, I didn't know a single active in any chapter. I'd been (blissfully) unaware of the politicking one must do before rush when one doesn't know any actives. I ended up in a middle tier (I really hate ranking fraternities) chapter, and had a blast. Once on the inside, I realized the importance of guys' pre-rush activities. I made friends with brothers of the larger houses and understood the importance of these events; it's not just meeting the brothers (though that helps considerably), it's also hanging out with them, drinking with them, laughing with them, etc. The actives are looking for guys that will uphold or increase their reputation, of course, but they're also looking for the guys that they want to hang out with for the next few years. So, when a PNM shows up for rush, and no one has hung out with him, they are wondering...is he a sloppy drunk? is he just weird? is he a creeper? by bringing him back, is he scaring off other PNMs? So, by hanging out with the actives before rush starts, the chapter can get a good idea of whether or not they want to hang out with this guy.

A lot of the top (ugh) houses do already have their bid lists ready the week before rush starts (if not sooner). When I was there ten years ago, a lot of the guys I knew in the bigger houses said their pledge class was about 90% who they already had on their list. A few might be a last minute switch (Sigma Chi to Sigma Nu, for example), but for the most part, they already knew exactly who they wanted and who wanted them.

The point of this extremely long post? Newgreekmommy is right...network with the actives as much as you can. If there's a floating trip, be there. If there's a dinner, be there. If there's a party, be there. And when you're there, act like your mama taught you some manners, have fun, be respectful to the women that are present, and look around. If no one else has started skinny dipping yet, there's a good chance that they're not just waiting on you to start. Try your best to just fit in, especially at first.

Yaddle · #6 08-05-2014, 04:52 PM

I'm hopefully going to be attending Ole miss next year and was interested in joining a fraternity. The thing is that I'm a student from the upper mid west I've never had a family member or friend in Greek life and I have no connections at ole miss. I play a few sports and I'm a pretty easy going person I'm a little bit of an introvert but not much. What I wanted to know is would I receive a bid from a fraternity? I know you can't be for sure. I asks this because I heard that ole greek life stick to southern kids. And also any names of the the ole miss IFC houses that do have Out of state students? Thanks!

FormerReb · #7 08-22-2014, 10:15 PM

Hey, Yaddle, when I was there (and I'm nearly positive it is the same now), there are guys in every house from all over. It's not a handicap for you to not be southern, just make sure you try and meet as many guys as you can before rush starts. Good luck and keep us posted!