fraternity rush 2016

no you weren't. It's wayyyy to early for acceptances for fall 2016 yet.

Figure out your roommate situation first (try to get some guys from the south that you think you like, they're more than likely to know a few guys in the primarily southern fraternities) and wait until around winter break to start emailing if you feel the need to. Go down for the University-sponsored Greek events in the spring and hopefully around then you'll have invites to rush events. You don't necessarily need to get a bid in the Spring but you should at least get your foot in the door if you hope to be in one of the more prestigious fraternities.

In closing, attempt to make connections asap (anyone from home, new roommates, people you met at the tour [I actually sat beside one of my pledge brothers when I came to tour before either of us got bids]), wait until late fall/early winter to start making contact, maybe even mid-winter, and make it down to any kind of event possible, whether that be school-sponsored or hosted by a fraternity, until you have a solid idea the fraternity you want and 1-2 others.

That's how mine worked out and I did pretty well. Good luck.

P.S. if you're from Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, or New England there will be plenty of people here that you can connect with, some in the better fraternities and some in the worse.