not in a sority

You will be lonely the rest of your life. Period.

You'll be fine even if you're not in a sorority. Sure Greek life is big down here, but there's plenty of opportunities to have fun or be social without Greek life. Just talk to people in your classes to start.

It probably depends on how outgoing you are. I think it’s hard to talk to people in classes. Join clubs.

There are many back to school events happening the weekend of move-in. Do those. If you are slightly religious, go to a pizza party held at a church to meet others. If you’re out of state, go to the out of state student meet and greet. Usually these events are posted on twitter. Don’t expect your RA to come and find you and get you involved. Some RA’s are better than others dealing with involvement. If you were involved in dance team or marching band in HS, consider trying out for UA’s team or band. If you were athletic in HS, get signed up for a club or intramural that fits that. There are lots of ways to meet great people. I didn’t rush until my sophomore year and I still had many friends and didn’t lack from having a great time.

Actually the vast vast Majority of students are NOT in Greek Life. Greek life is basically for insecure losers who need to feel they belong to something because their entire life they have been on the outside looking in.
For the vast vast majority of students who are self confidant because they KNOW they are better than GREEK members one of the highlights of our days is to make fun of these socially inept losers who NEED TO HAVE THEIR PARENTS PAY FOR THEM TO HAVE FRIENDS!!!!LOL LOL LOL
Your are a LOSER if you need to PAY to have friends.

Fiirst, so sorry to hear about your mother. How thoughtful that you are forgoing Greek life to help out. This thread has given great advice on making friends i. college. Get involved in clubs/groups that focus on your interests and you will meet people that share your interests.

Its all good. You don't have to be in a sorority to have a social life. So many things to do and get involved in.

in general the deep south (bama, tenn, miss, Louisiana, ark) is very closed minded. typically people don't talk to other people. other schools you'll hear things like "oh we met in class". but down here it's all "oh we are in the same sorority" or "we met at a swap".

that said, i think miss is the worst. bama isn't that bad considering we have a bit more diverse student body, and other things like football going on. miss (msu and olemiss) football sucks, they are in small towns with small schools so there isn't anything else to do.

i think you'll be fine. girls get into parties easily. just be very active the first few weeks you are here. girls are really really friend the first few weeks...everyone is new...everyone is trying to make friends. DON'T tell people you are not rushing, it'll kinda dismiss you from them "oh she's not rushing, i won't be her sister, not wasting my time trying to be her friend".

also you can look for a sugar daddy, there are sites for it. lol

I think you will struggle because you want to be apart of Greek life... all these GDIs advocate it because it was never something they were interested in. But at bama nothing is worse than wanting to be in Greek life and not being apart of it. You will see girls getting dressed for date parties, swaps, formals and feel like you are missing out

I would still go through rush and accept a bid. I would seek out a sugar daddy online who is willing to help with costs. I know that sounds kind of extreme but if you still want to go to bama you're gonna feel pretty left out if you want to be in Greek life but can't because of money. as someone who wants to rush but isn't able to, you'll feel really left out.
you can always join clubs or shorts teams to find non Greek friends however!

if you do come here and don't rush my best advice would be to find really good roommates! join the facebook page for your class. make sure your roommates want the same college experience as you: how important are grades, how often do they party, are they single or taken, etc.