[Lightning Bug!]

It appears to be a tradition at many schools to make casual yet very damaging off-hand remarks about certain sororities on campus. The people who make them are just doing it out of tradition more than meanness..."Oh, they're all good, I guess...as long as you don't go Alpha Alpha Alpha, though...they're the reject house." That's what was said to them the year before, so that's what they repeat to PNMs. Problem is, if you sit down the people who make the remarks, 9 times out of 10 they end up admitting that they know some AAAs, the AAAs they know are both cute and fun people, and that the house probably has a much worse reputation than it deserves...but the damage is done. This is how schools end up with 'bottom tier' houses. But of course, if you fill a 'bottom tier' house with a great pledge class, then the house already is 25% 'better,' and the next year those girls will be the ones rushing the freshman PNMs, and if the process is repeated, the house will then be 50% 'better.' I put 'better' in quotation marks because of course this is a weird way to think about things, but if that's how it works, then you see how quickly houses can change. In any case, I've always thought that pref should happen over two days, so PNMs can get to know the girls who might be their new member sisters, since they as a group are going to have a lot to do with where the house is headed.

But the point of all this rambling is that there really are three factors to think about, if you are concerned about sorority rankings on campus: sisterhood, social life, and spirit. Some houses get bad reputations because, for whatever reason, the girls are all disenchanted with each other, never really bonded, really don't click at all, lots of disaffiliation, depledging, and resigning of active status...if you hear this about a house, see if you think the actives rushing you seem to like each other...that can give you a clue about whether this rumor/reputation has any merit. Re: social life...again, it depends what you are looking for. If you want to mix with the most popular fraternities, and you hear (from a reliable source) that Alpha Alpha Alpha never mixes with those fraternities, then obviously Alpha Alpha Alpha isn't going to work for you...this one is much harder to find out (you can't just ask the girls rushing you, "Which fraternities do you mix with?"...maybe look at chapter websites, use Google Images, Facebook, talk to some sophomores who know sorority members but aren't in sororities...). But if you are looking just for an enhanced social life, almost all sororities have mixers with fraternities, date nights, cookouts, semi-formals, formals, etc....it just depends how much you care about mixing with the 'best' fraternity on campus or not. Then there is spirit...some houses get bad reputations because the girls don't really seem to have any interest in making themselves into better people (which is one of the top reasons to join a sorority in my opinion...women encouraging each other to reach their full potential)...you'll know this because they don't seem to be involved in any extracurricular activities around campus (Google search, talking with sisters), they don't seem very interested in their philanthropy, they have a very low GPA, compared to the other sororities (the Greek Life website should have this information), they seem very negative during rush (it's one thing for an active to smile sympathetically and admit she's tired too, it's another to complain incessantly to a PNM and roll your eyes about everything under the sun).

So the root of any negative 'tent talk' you hear may refer to one of those three things...lack of sisterly love, lack of a 'premier' social life, and a negative attitude...it's up to you to do some Googling and maybe talk to less-biased non-Greek women and men (it made a big difference in my pledging decision that every non-Greek I talked to before and during rush told me that their favorite house was the house I ended up joining!) and to determine through your rush conversations how much of this is true and how much of this is just old rumors that have perpetuated themselves, even thought there isn't much truth in them. Lack of sisterly love and a negative attitude are serious problems, but failing to mix with the 'best' fraternities on a regular basis is something that you have to decide how much it means to you (remember, you'll still be overwhelmed with events, just perhaps not with The Top Dogs on Campus). In any case, good luck!