amen!

How did this thread become a thread about the south vs the rest of the country?

I think it is because the only "strongholds" of any org are in the south.

OK. What about the groups that have little to no reresentation in the south? They have to have pockets where membership is more dense than in other areas.

Right, but nobody cares before rush or after graduation, so it's not so much a stronghold, even if they have a lot of chapters there.

Illinois, one of the biggest Greek systems in the country, has very little tent talk, because nobody shows up in Champaign knowing a damn thing about any of the sororities. Sure, the internet has made things worse, but it's not like it meant anything when I went home over break and told my high school friends where I'd pledged.

I've posted on here several times about a student at my university, but for those who have missed it, here it is again. It is about someone who lived a few doors down from me freshman year.

Susie PNM shows up on campus for Fall Recruitment with her mind on ONE chapter only, XYZ. Nevermind the fact that there were 10 excellent organizations. She decided that she was only suited for one of them, and it happened to be one that was a very strong recruiting chapter. For numerous reasons, this was not the best fit for her. While the rest of us could see that, she could not.

By day 2 she had been cut from this chapter, so she completely dropped out of rush.

Next fall she registers to rush again, and tells everyone that will listen that she plans to be an XYZ. In her eyes they were the best chapter on campus and the only one good enough for her.

She was cut after Round 1.

Our rush was the week before school started, so Susie packed up her stuff and moved back home. She then enrolled in the hometown commuter school, went through their smallish recruitment, and yes got a bid.

So, guess who shows up back on our campus Junior year with the exact letters that she desperately wanted for 2 straight recruitments? Yep, and she even tried to affiliate. Surprise, surprise, the chapter voted to not affiliate her.

For those of you counting, yes that is 3x the chapter denied her membership.

For the next 2 years she continued to wear her precious letters that she had longed to receive. However, those letters came with zero sisterhood. To this day I wonder if it was worth it to her. I also wonder her involvement level as an alumna.

She could have been happy in any number of chapters on our campus had she given them a chance. She was a very nice person, but rather insecure and this came off in conversations, her behavior and her personality. I also wonder if finding a group that was similar to who she was, instead of who she longed to be, would have helped her confidence.

We will never know.

Ah yes, and Ellen is a proud Chi Omega!

Here's the issue that I have with the logic of "no one cares."

1. For decades, women in all parts of the country have been involved alumnae, not just in the south.

2. There's a boatload of non-southern GC'ers who are no longer collegiate members.

Some non-Southerners appear to care.

Regarding the no-tent talk at Illinois, that may be the case at Illinois, but freshman girls will be freshman girls. I know for a fact that tent talk was alive and well when my childhood best friend went through rush at Northwestern (not in the South), and her roommate from Seattle (also not in the south) was heartbroken to find out that she got a bid to XYZ. This stuff isn't limited to the south. I'm not saying that it happens everywhere, but it happens.

Love me some Ellen Gilchrist. She is awesome!

I didn't say "no tent talk", I said (or meant) less. People still pick up on things like 2-on-1 rushing, or events with the most popular fraternities, or older siblings, or whatever. My point is that a large number of girls show up on campus with no idea, and when you talk to someone from another school, it doesn't mean much to them, either.

And of course I didn't mean nobody cares about their sorority past graduation.

I hope she will! :D

Not to mention, she probably really hurt the sisters at the chapter that she pledged at when they realized the degree to which she was using them.

Twat.

I agree with all of this, but the bold part I emphatically agree with. When I say that I'm in a sorority to friends here, they ask which one, then immediately say that they don't understand the difference between them. No one knew whether Sigma was the 'hottest' sorority or 'weirdo' sorority, whether at Penn State or otherwise. To me that was a huge relief in a way, knowing that my decision would only be seen as going Greek versus not going Greek, not "I went Greek and joined the wrong organization". That, to me, would have prevented me from going Greek, most likely. I don't know if I could deal with that kind of pressure, even if I did love the women in the sorority.

Also I would love to know in what states different sororities have the most chapters. I know that AST and Sigma are PA, ZTA is FL, Alpha Phi is CA, would anyone else care to chime in?

The state with the highest number of Kappa chapters is California, which has 16. I would say that we're fairly evenly distributed throughout the country.

States with the most CHI OMEGA active chapters
 

13 - Texas
11 - North Carolina
10 Ohio