Quote:
Originally Posted by EE-BO
The whole trouble with tiers is that often people take them to reflect on an organization as a whole- and react accordingly.
Any given chapter's reptuation will, I believe, be far more reflective of that specific campus and active members than of the GLO nationally.
But that said, top tier is not a predictor of anything- nor does it confer some magical social status. A person's success and social status comes from far earlier influences (i.e. their ancestry) and- more importantly- what they do with their own lives after college.
In short- I am agreeing with you and taking 2 pages to do it in detail  |
Thank you!
There were three very clear (and at times somewhat hostile) tiers at my school - to the point where women from different tiers would cross the road so they didn't have to pass by each other. But it is interesting because even though my own chapter would have been considered bottom tier, we had many wonderful women in our chapter who were not in any way hindered by being in a "lesser" chapter. In fact, I think it was a distinct advantage in some ways.
My second year in the house we had the Greek Pledge of the Year.
My third year in the house we had the Panhel President and a sister on Homecoming Court.
My fourth year in the house we had a finalist for Greek Woman of the Year and one of the University Outstanding Seniors.
We had Greek Week Co-Chairs I believe every year I was there and usually more than one each year.
Bottom tier does not mean inferior members. It just often means women who found what they were looking for somewhere else.
So if someone wants to look down on me because I was a low tier sorority member, that's their prerogative. However, I was the woman who was the finalist for Greek Woman of the Year and one of the University Outstanding Seniors. And I honestly don't think I would have personally won those honors if I had been in a top tier house. I had far more opportunities in a bottom tier chapter that was perfectly suited for me.
All that being said... and I realize I'm going way out on a limb here... If someone offered a million dollars to guess the top 6 groups on a campus, how many people would randomly pick 6 of the 26 groups? No one would. Every one of us would draw on our experiences and knowledge of the groups, the region the school was in, the strength of different groups by state and/or region, etc. to try to guess it accurately. Those who have a lot more knowledge about all 26 of the groups would have a distinct advantage in trying to guess as opposed to those of us who may only be marginally familiar with 8 or 15 or 20 of them or only have limited regional experience. I don't think that having ideas about different groups and their perceived strength both locally and nationally makes someone un-Panhellenic.
Now running for cover...