Big 12?
 

I was talking to a friend about his fraternity the other day. someone said they had never heard of it (theta chi), and he said "oh really? It's one of the big twelve." I asked him and he said Pike and TKE are part of the big twelve also, but not really what that meant. Anyone know what its is and what other fraternities are in it?

I've never heard of anything like that. Maybe it's the 12 oldest national fraternities, or something like that? Some colleges have something like "the big 4," which is basically the 4 frats that think they're the coolest on campus, but it's basically meaningless.

I think he might mean it is (drum roll) one of the 12 biggest fraternities. I know TKE definitely is, but I honestly didn't think that Theta Chi was that big.

Big 12
 

The big 12 are the 12 most "succesfull" fraternities in the nation. (Succesfull meaning most chapters, most awards, biggest numbers, best reps, etc...)

Is there such a thing for sororities then? I would imagine it would be something that would include Tri-Delt and Chi-O, but I wonder who else.

I've heard the following referred to as the "Big 5" sororities: Pi Beta Phi, Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Kappa Alpha Theta and Kappa Kappa Gamma.