The truth about fraternities is this: the fraternity you join determines your rank according to the sororities on campus, so ignore the rush chairman when he says "yes, we have activities with a lot of the sororities."
Be wary of houses whose actives say "well I joined for the brotherhood, not just for girls." They probably don't have too many exchanges or social activities.
No girls will ever openly tell you what they think of a particular house. If you really want to know, ask a girl you know *very well* to ask her friends what they think of a particular house. But then why are you thinking of joining in the first place if you only care about reputation? However, I have to admit that being on the bottom of the food chain sucks. But also realize that chapters from different schools vary tremendously. At UCLA, Sigma Chi is pretty much the top fraternity socially, because they have exchanges with the four "best" sororities: Delta Gamma, Pi Beta Phi ("Pi Phi"), Kappa Kappa Gamma ("Kappa"), and Kappa Alpha Theta ("Theta"). Sigma Chi seems to be a bunch of glamorous jocks. My fraternity is (I think) labeled as a group of nice guys, which of course means that we never get to do stuff with the "good" sororities. AEPhi likes us though.
But when the DG's are 35 and their washed up cool husbands ditch them for 25 year-olds, that will be my revenge...
The bottom line is to make sure you are joining the right group by visiting them all. The most important thing is to be confident and let the actives in a particular chapter see your confidence. If you believe in yourself, you will get bids from all of the houses. I know that my fraternity is the right one for me, and those who joined the wrong house will never be as happy or as satisfied as I will be.
Most importantly, be sure that the fraternity you join is the right one for you; be true to yourself.
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