Tiers?
 

I know this is going to sound like a stupid question. I went to a medium sized school in the south and we only had 3 sororities at the time so I really am clueless on this one. I keep reading about tiers. How is this determined - word of mouth, is there a list somewhere? Do the tiers change from year-to-year or do they stay the same for decades. At my school, you would get into a sorority unless your grades were bad or you were a MAJOR ho-bag. And each sorority had a clique of girls that hung out at each of the fraternity houses. It wasn't sorority A only hung out with such-in-such fraternity. But from reading these posts, it seems to be that way at some schools. Thanks.

it's totally subjective and unofficial. i would hazard to guess that it's more prevalent at the really large systems with lots of chapters.

I liked this thread before it got closed.

okay, okay, okay..... I am going to say this because I have been thinking about this all day. So here goes......

I think that anyone who comes to a message board and asks an open-ended question should be prepared for all types of answers: good, bad, sweet, nasty. Is this always right, is it always best? Can there be a better way? Who knows. But I do know that the questions and answers posted can be subjective. YOUR perception is yours, it does not always have to be mine and everyone else's.

I think the original post of this thread is going to lead to some very nasty posts. Why? Because we are asked to talk about rank. Nobody wants to hear that their group is not 'top-tier', but the OP is asking in that vein.

I think that people need to realize that Greek Life is different at every school. What may fly at TAMU may not be the thing to do at U of Houston. UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENS AT *YOUR* SCHOOL. You are not doing yourself any good by asking random people who don't know you or your school. That is why you (the general you) are going to get the varying types of answers you get. If you are not prepared to get some not-so-pretty answers then don't post. You would do much better by finding someone AT YOUR SCHOOL who can answer your questions.

My question was an innocent question - how are tiers determined? Thats it. I'm not asking for chapter rankings or anything nor am i trying to start a nasty post. As I stated in my post, I went to a school with 3 sororities and we never ever talked about tiers. I thought this was a forum where questions and ideas could be exchanged.

Well, since there is no official list of tiers, really, there isn't an official, across-the-board way that they are determined.

I know that you asked an innocent question, but your innocent question can quickly turn into a nasty fight a la' 'When should you not re-rush' thread that got closed. People can easily take things out of context.

Some GC advice - asking questions like who is and what is better / best / bigger / most popular / top tier - almost always turn nasty. Trust me.....

I think your question is certainly valid, but the answer is really just common sense.

Tiers are determined much the same way the popular cliques in high school are determined: vague word of mouth, sheer force of belief, and sometimes founded in very real, substantiable facts and accomplishments.

Tiers are reinforced in much the same way as high school as well: rumors, status by association and tradition, etc.

It IS possible to move from a lower tier upwards, just as it's possible to slide downwards. I've seen both happen at my school, but we're not a big Greek school. It's probably harder to slide up the tiers at an SEC school or similarly big Greek campus, because the tiers are often known to non-Greeks and incoming freshmen, so again you have reinforcement of artificial status by sheer force of assumption and belief.

And, as is always true in life, it's a heck of a lot easier to slide down in status through a single misstep than it is to climb up. It can take years to repair the damage to a group's reputation, long after whatever incident caused the downfall and the involved people have graduated.

DD:

Good answer.

It's totally subjective though, and really, it's not set in stone. You may look for different things in a top tier group. It's purely subjective though.

Question for the OP: What is the purpose of your question? We might be able to come up with better answers if we knew that.

I don't think I realized that thread got closed.

Some of you kids gave Kappa Sig a hard time because of Godfather's post, y'all realize he isn't a kappa sig don't you?

And to answer Kdonline, I honestly wasn't aware that Kappa Sig didn't enter the top tier in any Florida school. *shrug*

Then consider yourself lucky that you didn't have to put up with superficial crap like this.

It's not really superficial. It's simply true that some organizations perform better than others. Success breeds success, therefore, we defintely end up with tiers, even in the NPC system where the rules try to keep it from happening.

It's pointless to try and ignore the situation. If you do, you'll only be passed by someone that isn't ignoring it.

Re: Tiers?
 

Tiers are in the minds of the students and the alumni. No formal data is kept, it varies from Greek System to Greek System, and even from chapter to chapter on the same campus. It's just generally acknowledged gossip which can effect the outcome of who asks whom to do socials, homecoming pairings and the "tent talk" at recruitment. The chapter who wins all the awards at Greek Awards isn't necessarily the highest ranked in this imaginary system. It's just a matter of who's hot, who had the most competitive recruitment and the flashiest socials. It's nothing tangible, nothing real and nothing to go by if you are a PNM or a sorority member. It's just like high school and being considered one of the cool kids over one of the not cool kids-- there's no rhyme, reason, nor necessity, yet it rules the social laws of the school.

Which just goes back to our mantra here at GC-- PNMs should rush with an open mind and join the GLO where they feel most at home-- not where everyone will envy you and admire you for having "gotten in."