pledging

No definitely not impossible. I'm assuming you're out of state, so it is harder.

meet as many members as possible at rush events, contact the rush chairs early, attend events over the summer.

contact the rush chairs now. Text them, because they may or may not reply to e-mails and are very busy. There are sometimes a few rush events in the fall and a lot are in the spring even though that sounds really early. Some top houses fill up mid to late summer. Also, if you start rushing earlier they know that you know what you're doing and you kinda know about greek life in general. Most of the kids they want the most start rushing early. And you can't rush every fraternity like sorority rush, but starting as early as you can and going to as many places as you can will help a ton. Because a lot of times they won't give you a bid till the 3rd or even more time you hang out with them. Don't get dead set on just one. Its good you're asking about it early, I rushed this year and wish I had asked people about it earlier. I would talk to someone in a fraternity at alabama and just get them to tell you everything you need to know about rush