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I pledged a low tier sorority and I have not regretted it.
When I joined my chapter it was generally regarded as the worst on campus. I joined during informal recruitment, this was after a formal recruitment where quota was in the mid 20s and my chapter took 1 new member. After the informal period the pledge class was at 5. Total was 50 and my chapter was at 25. All the other chapters were at or over total. It was hard at first especially walking around in a bid day shirt and having friends make comments. I didn't understand because my experience with my sisters and my pledge class was the complete opposite of the stereotype. We were social, athletic (we were all involved with at least one sports team), and straight. We were also motivated. A group of 10 of us (about half the chapter) were generally fed up with the crappy reputation. We had one or two mixers a semester when other sororities had that many a week. We also had business type meetings 3 to 5 nights a week (I'm not exaggerating). By my sophomore year my entire pledge class held offices and we were determined to change. We graduated a lot of dead weight and didn't let anymore in. We looked for quality members not just numbers, sometimes at the dismay of our advisor and nationals. We made every effort to be social and social in an attractive way. There was one sister who continually acted inappropriately in social situations. Instead of letting her get away with it, we reported her butt to standards and got it taken care of. We made friends and joined other groups and clubs. We always spoke positively of the sorority in public and kept drama behind closed doors (something not done At All in the past). I ran recruitment my junior year and had a good long chat with out recruitment advisor about how things got so bad and looked at where exactly things were going wrong. Progress for us was having girls put us on the pref card at all. Generally when we were all that was left for a girl in recruitment she dropped. Our overlap was with the most popular chapter on campus and most girls suicided. Long story short after much effort by my senior year we took quota plus, had mixers every other week. We handled business more efficiently and only had one or two business meetings a week. Only the people who needed to be there were and it helped with burnout. We were at 40 members the highest in 8 years. I visited campus the year after I graduated and was hanging out at my fiance's fraternity. I was asked if I belonged to a sorority by a freshmen and when I answered it was the first time it elicited a positive enthusatic response. I just started advising at a chapter that is in a similar situation that mine was in and hopefully I can help them to turn it around. You just have to want it bad enough. Your sorority experience is entirely what you make of it. Join the lower-tiered sorority and make it what you want it to be. Be willing to work and ask for help when you need it, from the national organization and from panhellenic. Forgive the long post, this is a topic I feel really strongly about. If all those girls that suicided decided to join my chapter it would have never gotten as bad as it did and could have turned around so much faster. |
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During formal rush at the small house I ended up pledging I was told pretty much straight up, "we're small, but you can take on a leadership role much sooner with us" and that part is definitely true. I wish the smaller houses would be more straight forward in acknowledging their size. It will turn off some girls but might turn on the lightbulb for girls who might see the value in the smaller group. The girls aren't blind so you might as well just address the situation. |
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I think this old row-y kind of mindset remains more prevalent in fraternities since they don't have quota. A kid grows up in that blueblood world, goes to a certain set of private schools, goes off to a big public university but joins a really elite/elitist group, goes back to reclaim social position in hometown. If you take a pledge class of 60-80 every year and their are multiple blueblood groups, how elite can you really claim to me? |
When I joined my sorority, I had some clue about who was considered "top tier" but I just wanted to be in a sorority and I preffed at the ones where I liked the girls. Looking back now, I guess my chapter would have been considered in the "lower tier," but I certainly didn't think so. We had leaders on Panhel, we were a big house, we won a lot of campus awards, and we had lots of fun parties. And we had a very close sisterhood. From what I hear now, we are considered one of the "top tier" on campus and the houses that I would have considered "top" are now "lower." It seems like it changes every year. It's so hard to keep track, and frankly I don't think it should matter.
Like others have said, I guess it depends on why you're joining a sorority. You make the experience what it is. And what may be "top" on your campus may not be elsewhere. |
I would like to share with you an experience I had with a "lower tier" chapter. I just transferred to a big state university as a junior and a new colony was recruiting for its first new member class. There was talk in the dorm that all the sororities made quota in formal recruitment except one and that one was a "lower tier" chapter. I thought it might be a good idea to see if this chapter would be interested in me so I spoke to a woman in Greek Life about this and she said she would contact this chapter and see if they would be interested in talking to me. I told her I did not expect them to just give me a bid but just meet with me and see if we would be a good fit for each other. They never got back to me and I joined the new colony. I am very happy being a new member of the colony and don't know or care what "tier" we are in because I really like the other new members and we are all very excited about the future of the colony but I just wonder why this "lower tier" chapter didn't even think they should even talk to me.
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But my chapter was in a position that one or two more people every recruitment over the 6 or 7 year decline would have made a world of difference. If the chapter wasn't so bad it wouldn't have needed all the effort it took for a major overhaul. The leadership angle was a selling point but it didn't override that it would be leadership in that chapter. Once in the chapter there were quite a few resignations of girls who were burnt out there was never a semester where you could not hold at least one position. It was all work and no fun and it was known around campus that that was the case. It was hard to meet people outside of the chapter because it was hard to be involved in anything else. It's harder to make a connection with PNMs when there's one active to 3 of them. Fixing that issue greatly increased our retention rates. My school used deferred recruitment so most girls going through formal had connections with girls in other chapters. My chapters members weren't involved in other groups, and just generally didn't socialize outside of there already established circle so they didn't have advance connections. Basically we didn't connect with girls before recruitment and weren't doing a good job during. For PNMs thinking about a lower tiered chapter: It takes a lot of work but I don't want to make it sound intimidating because it isn't. My chapter even at its smallest was incredibly loving and supportive. The sisterhood was strong we just had to let everyone else know that. Most of things we did to turn the chapter around were fun and I would have been doing them anyway. We just had to be louder about our affliation while doing it. |
Why don't we reverse the question? Should you join a "higher tier" sorority? Should that make a difference to you?
If your feelings are genuine about the sorority you hope to join, tiers aren't important. I understand that not all PNMs think like this and worry about what other people think of them. Should you join a "lower tier" sorority? I would say yes, but only if you truly like them. If you don't like them because of lack of connection, you don't belong there and SHOULDN'T join them. If you connect with them and don't join because of worrying about what people think of you, that's stupid. (And by "you", I'm just speaking in general) |
I think the point is moot about whether or not you should join a top tier chapter. Everyone wants to be one of the popular girls, so that's the easy decision. The tough decision is to bite the bullet and join the smaller or less impressive one. There are things that are great about joining a smaller house and as we all know joining a sorority is a great thing in general, so joining a smaller group may not get you that "top girl on campus" reputation, but you'll still get loving support, sisterhood, lifelong friendships, etc.
And I think that's where the rubber meets the road for a PNM. For some girls, like it or not, they are just never going to be comfortable being known as a member of a less than prestigious chapter. And I think that's a shame, but that's me. And I think the lightbulb comes on (am I mixing metaphors again?) when it's basically too late in their college careers to make it right. |
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[Running for cover] |
Here is my input on the tier situation. I attend a very competitive, greek-oriented SEC school and my sorority is considered "lower-tier". We have the same numbers and involvement as any other sorority, plenty of wonderful and beautiful girls, we are just not considered "top tier". As far as the sororities go, all of them pretty much have relatively the same numbers and involvement. I can tell you that the tiers are essentially made up by a few fraternity men as a "who would you rather f*ck" (excuse the inappropriateness but that really is the best way to put it). They put the sorority with the reputation for the hottest girls on top and then go down from there. They are also long-standing; they have been the same for many years and really aren't subject to change. Although the tiers do exist, many fraternity men at my school really do judge you based on you, your personality, and your appearance, and not by your sorority. The Panhellenic woman all have great relations with each other and don't care a bit about the tiers. I have friends in numerous sororities and fraternities of all tiers and which chapter I am in has never affected that. I am also part of an amazing sisterhood that I wouldn't be the same person without. Any advice I can give to PNM's is that just ignore tiers, reputations, stereotypes, etc. and just join where you fit. I am beyond happy with my chapter and couldn't see myself anywhere else. I am lucky to be a part of my sisterhood. If I had gone through rush only choosing by tiers I can guarantee you I would not be half as happy as I am today. :)
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The constant complaint on GC is that many girls will not join a “bottom tier” chapter. I know many of you believe that GDIs are doomed to never have any friends, never have a date, never loved by any man and will end up as bag ladies destined to die alone with 50 cats. But GDIs are the big majority at almost all colleges. So why are these girls, facing impending doom, refusing to join “lower tier” chapters? The reason is, no matter what we all would like to think, is that 18 year old girls are very socially competitive and as soon as you put on those letters you are advertising your social status and these girls just don’t want to advertise they are at the bottom of the greek social pyramid. They would rather opt out of the greek system entirely. The ironic thing is if all these girls who would not join the “bottom tier” chapter all got together and actually joined it they would end up with a pretty decent sorority with a big improvement in social status, but that is just not how things work.
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I think most independents are happy and go on to lead very satisfying lives both in and out of college. Greek life is not the ticket to life happiness except perhaps in the most narrow of locations and social circles. And if a woman is joining a sorority ***primarily*** for the social aspects and social prestige... then, no, she probably wouldn't join a "lower tier" sorority. On the other hand, women who are interested in the other opportunities offered in a sorority (sisterhood, lifelong friendships and involvement, leadership, networking, and belonging to something bigger than themselves) will find those in any sorority that is a relatively healthy chapter no matter the size or perceived status. :) |
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a few weeks ago I joined a sorority considered in the "lower tier" even though I preffed at our #1 house (I ranked the #1 house last) just because I felt more of a connection with the girls in the lower house and I am 100% happy with my decision. All the girls in my house are amazing and I would never go back and change my decision to if I had the option to, I love my house and all the girls in it! Even though we're in the "lower tier" we still socialize with all the frats, I have best friends in all the other houses on campus, and the other girls in my house and I don't care about our ranking.
so I would say in my opinion, if you do have lower tier sororities left as your options, don't rule them out just because they are lower tier. Rule them out only if you actually don't feel a connection with them, not just because of their reputation. |
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What most people are sick of is "didn't feel a connection" being used as a bullshit euphemism for "they are the lowest on the totem pole." The topper was the girl who cut the (low tier) sorority that was the nicest to her and kept the ones that she straight up said were bitches. |
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Thank you! |
"Didn't feel a connection" is better than "I would rather be dragged behind a horse through barbed wire than be seen in public wearing those letters".
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[QUOTE=what most people are sick of is "didn't feel a connection" being used as a bullshit euphemism for "they are the lowest on the totem pole." The topper was the girl who cut the (low tier) sorority that was the nicest to her and kept the ones that she straight up said were bitches.[/QUOTE]
last year a guy came on greekchat (I think it was greekchat) and ranked the sororities at my daughter's school. I am not even sure if he was greek. During rush my daughter overheard another rushee in class describe a sorority as bottom tier using the SAME phrase that the guy had used. Her comments and her opinion were clearly just spreading the opinioin of that one guy and making that her opinion too. That is gossip, vicious, untrue, and hurt the reputation of the sorority. Well, during rush the young ladies of this disparaged sorority were so nice to my daughter. My daughter accepted their bid. She is so happy that she followed her heart. She was just initiated last week and proudly showed off her new pin to me. |
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Juicy Campus is dead. never heard of Greekrank.com myself.
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Not as bad as JC but still not great. It's strictly Greek and doesn't attack individuals personally. |
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We've told girls before that if they're rather be dragged behind a horse through barbed wire than accept their bid, they should suicide and give that other spot to someone else. Some people just won't change their minds like that - we get that - just don't sunshine & sugar it up. |
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I do agree with this post from my experience at an SEC school. The tiers are set and there has been minimal movement for generations. IMO, it feels like a carryover of high school - who is most beautiful, best figure, most popular, dresses best, what area they are from, and possibly what parents do for a living come into play. It doesn't matter what you do or achieve in many cases. The young girls that fit closely to the above filter into the top groups and then it falls from there. What I have noticed over the years though is how nasty girls have gotten. Many young girls that are presently in a sorority will try by various means to start rumors and tear apart another group. The internet is a perfect place to do so. It may be a top tier trying to trash another top group or a mid tier trying to move up and attempt to knock another group down. I am shocked at what some of these girls will do with their time. I met a wonderful woman who told me her best years with XYZ have been those out of her four years in college. She said it fulfilled her life like she can't explain. That really touched a spot in my heart. I understand why the tiers are there to a point (whether I agree or not), but it is sad and ridiculous. There is so much more to each of the organizations. You just can't always explain that to an 18-21 year old woman with her own mind. |
I am probably repeating stuff because I haven't read the whole thread.
I think that one of my girls who rushed this year (I didn't post her story because the end was sad) best explained the reason not to pledge a "low tier" group that was struggling with numbers: "I appreciate what they're trying to do; I just don't want to be a part of it." A lot of PNMs don't want to be in the smallest/least popular group because they don't want to have to deal with all of the work that would go into making a chapter grow. It takes a special kind of girl to join a group that's not as popular when she KNOWS that the group isn't as popular, and an even more special kind of girl to join a group that is struggling with numbers on top of a "low tier" rep. When I look back at my school and the way it was when I went through recruitment, I remember 3 groups that people referred to as "low tier." Of the three, one chapter has closed due to low numbers and the other two have gained in numbers and in reputation to the point where the difference in chapter size between them and others is negligible. However, even with those gains in reputation, those two chapters still have to deal with being called "low tier" every recruitment (despite members every bit as pretty, smart, involved, etc. as those in "higher tier" houses). I saw at the top of the thread people mentioning whether PNMs would ever choose a "low tier" house over a higher house, but sometimes a PNM doesn't feel comfortable in that high tier house. Back in my thread (http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=87526) I said this about a "popular" house: Their house is big and pretty, but the conversation was more and more awkward today. I just don't know that I am a fit here. The girls are nice and I could see myself being friends with a few of them, but I just don't feel like I fit in with the majority of the girls. I think I would have to change myself to be happy in this house and I don't think it is worth it just to be in a "popular" sorority. The girls on my hall and in my rho chi group insist that this is the "best" house I have left, but the more I see of it, the more I think it is just not for me. |
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Again, I honestly think it has a lot to do with whether you have deferred rush. If you get to see these women on a daily basis for a semester or a year, as opposed to seeing them sparkly and shiny at rush being your first contact, a lot of the "glamour" wears off. |
I bumped this because as I read over it, it seemed that there was a lot of gold in it.
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WOW, I still want to puke every time I read a post like this one was!:mad: I am glad you brought it up again. It is so sad the mentality of who is the top Hen in the coop or maybe top she male in the harem?:eek:
Having started a Fraternity as a local, we were not considered S**T on campus! Not a GLO would act like we even existed except finally The ADPi who were considered The worst on campus. They were their won Sisters and damn proud of it. Each Chapter on each campus is different, some are better than some and then in the reverse!;) I hope some of the new Divas remember that! |
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No NPC sorority has folded since 1971 (the year Iota Alpha Pi dissolved). That indicates every NPC group holds a strength of purpose and industry despite when some may rate them as a lower tier! ALL current NPC groups have thrived for between 102-168 years. Each group contributes mightily to our NPC organization for the betterment of educated women, notwithstanding each group maintaining distinct and individual reasons for living within/learning about/giving to the world. One reason women join a sorority is that united with others you can offer the world more. There are women of the 1971 sorority class from within every tier group who will tell you they have experienced self-defined good lives, and the world is no worse for their having lived. |
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This is a by-campus thing. Certainly PNMs don't give a rip about which sororities are strongest nationally. They just care about their own campus. Women in the so-called top tier groups have, AFAIK, had the same types of lives as the rest of us - some successful, some not. Have the snooty sorority girls "made the most of their lives by becoming involved sorority alums"? (Oh, do you have to be an involved sorority alumna to make the most of your life?) Same answer - some have, some haven't. I HAVE found out - and did so pretty soon after graduating - that tiers don't matter so much among alumnae. Just the experience...which is pretty much the same no matter what tier your chapter was considered. |
I always had an ambivalent sense of the whole tier thing, probably because I went to Berkeley, land of the Greek system that defies categorization. We both did and didn't have a culture that encouraged competition and tier-oriented thinking, and that confused the hell out of a lot of us.
Granted, I graduated before Greekrank and social media were things, but we did all develop at least a vague sense of which chapters were considered "top." That said, even members of said "top" houses might have a hard time articulating why, because most of them simply joined the chapters they liked best, usually where they already had friends. Honestly, we had quite a few chapters that always met quota and campus total, had high GPAs, and attractive, kind, high-achieving members. It never really made sense to me to try to split hairs on rank, because most chapters were functionally alike. Certainly, they all tapped into different regional networks of friends and acquaintances, and people who were in activities together outside of the house tended to follow each other into one sorority or another, but since most chapters benefitted from the phenomenon, it wasn't exactly an advantage. Honestly, the one thing we could really point to was numbers, and as someone else mentioned upthread, it's not really being judgey or elitist to say that you like a chapter but don't want to be strapped to a sinking ship. End of day, if you want to be in a sorority, then join one if the opportunity presents itself. If you're so concerned about getting into the "top" house that you'd rather drop out of rush than pledge a mid- or bottom-tier house, then you really weren't all that into Greek life anyway. You wanted to win a popularity contest. |
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I know with 100% certainty that there are some women in lower tier or closed chapters who would not trade the friends they made there for anything, even being in a “popular” chapter that was still open. To say as some do that if you can’t be “top tier” don’t be Greek at all is absolutely asinine.
And..there have been SEVERAL instances of a “top tier” (if not THE top on that campus) being closed for risk management issues. Nothing is certain. Edited because the poster to whom I was responding has deleted her comment, and I didn’t want to look like Jimmy Stewart talking to Harvey. |
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Absolutely true. My chapter lost its charter over a property dispute between our corp board and international. It had zero to do with our active membership. At the time of our closing, we were solidly middle-tier with good numbers and accomplished members. We were an old, single-letter chapter, the oldest continually-active chapter in the org. Given what we'd survived in the past, the closure was a shock. Even people who were familiar with the intensifying dispute never dreamed it would come tho this. |
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I know a very sweet girl who went through rush twice at her college - her mother had determined what the “top” sororities were on campus and had convinced her daughter that she had to be a member of one of those groups. Each year after she was cut by the “top” groups, daughter would drop out - even though she was still being invited to parties to the groups that her mother deemed not good enough. After her second rush, her mother actually asked me what schools she could transfer to and go through rush as a junior. Luckily she did not go through with the transfer. And the mother quit talking to me after she didn’t need me to write another rec.
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She graduated this past spring. She is back home and has a job - but I don’t know if she has moved back home or if she has her own place. The family dynamics are very weird.
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