Tiers of the Big 12

banditone · #1 03-22-2008, 09:21 PM

Macallan / EW, I'm interested in your thoughts. I think highly of greek life at the top 4 I have listed here, for sure. I have no respect for Tech's setup, but I put them pretty high due to what I have 'heard' about their fraternities strength on campus.

Texas
Kansas
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Nebraska
Missouri
Texas Tech
Iowa State
Kansas State
Texas A&M
Baylor
Colorado

Lucky SC · #2 03-22-2008, 10:06 PM

lol its spreading

macallan25 · #3 03-23-2008, 01:25 AM

Kind of hard for me to comment to be honest. I have never visited KState, Iowa State, or Nebraska (well, I've been to some football games in Lincoln but didn't spend any time with the greeks.) I've spent some time at CU-Boulder but was only around one fraternity. It's just a different environment up there. Lot of fun though. If you can't have fun in Boulder something is wrong with you.

I'm really just throwing this out there:

Texas
Oklahoma
Texas Tech
Kansas
Missouri
A&M
Baylor
Okie Lite
Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas State, Iowa State

Elephant Walk · #4 03-23-2008, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by macallan25

Kind of hard for me to comment to be honest. I have never visited KState, Iowa State, or Nebraska (well, I've been to some football games in Lincoln but didn't spend any time with the greeks.) I've spent some time at CU-Boulder but was only around one fraternity. It's just a different environment up there. Lot of fun though. If you can't have fun in Boulder something is wrong with you.

I'm really just throwing this out there:

Texas
Oklahoma
Texas Tech
Kansas
Missouri
A&M
Baylor
Okie Lite
Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas State, Iowa State

co-sign.

Though Okie Lite below Kansas? I don't know. Oklahoma St. seems to be the equivalent of Miss St. to Ole Miss. So it's proper, perhaps.

After having visiting brothers from the bottom tier there...they are deservedly bottom tier. I can't imagine any of them getting into a good chapter at the UofA, much less anywhere else

oldu · #5 03-23-2008, 11:05 AM

Are you sure you are not ranking these schools on your experience with your own fraternity? Sometimes if your own fraternity is not up to your standards you tend to assume that is true of all fraternities at that institution. Several chapters at Kansas State and Nebraska have won awards from their fraternities...especially Kansas State which appears to have a very strong Greek system.

banditone · #6 03-23-2008, 12:00 PM

KSU and OSU are pretty strong in my opinion. I put CU so low because they have no university backing. I'm pretty sure the University doesn't acknowledge the fraternity system there or something (no IFC).

macallan25 · #7 03-23-2008, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by banditone

KSU and OSU are pretty strong in my opinion. I put CU so low because they have no university backing. I'm pretty sure the University doesn't acknowledge the fraternity system there or something (no IFC).

Yeah that is true about CU. Forgot about that. I just really disliked OSU when I went up there. Stillwater is just a bad college town, in my opinion. Sorry to offend anyone if they go/went there. Just thought it was boring. I have a buddy in Sigma Nu there though, and from all indications they were a very strong house, probably the best on campus......and the only house it seemed to have the type of guys that you would find at your good Souther greek schools.

tallgreekalum · #8 03-27-2008, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by banditone

KSU and OSU are pretty strong in my opinion. I put CU so low because they have no university backing. I'm pretty sure the University doesn't acknowledge the fraternity system there or something (no IFC).

There IS an IFC at CU, it's just that the system as a whole withdrew from University recognition over some new regulations (I think it was deferred rush, but I'm not sure)

Tom Earp · #9 04-10-2008, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by banditone

KSU and OSU are pretty strong in my opinion. I put CU so low because they have no university backing. I'm pretty sure the University doesn't acknowledge the fraternity system there or something (no IFC).

KSU has a strong Greek system, cannot speak of OSU or ISU, Un Co. is not Greek friendly at all.

While never visited any of the Texas campi, UnNe. has a strong Greek base as does Un.Mo.

Un. Tx, seems to be gobbling up houses to expand.

I do not think anyone can belittle the Big XII schools for Greeks as most that I know are pretty strong. While spread out in housing sometimes it is hard to really tell.

Un. Ak should have joined the Big 8 when they had the chance and would not miss Un Co. at all!

macallan25 · #10 03-23-2008, 03:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldu

Are you sure you are not ranking these schools on your experience with your own fraternity? Sometimes if your own fraternity is not up to your standards you tend to assume that is true of all fraternities at that institution. Several chapters at Kansas State and Nebraska have won awards from their fraternities...especially Kansas State which appears to have a very strong Greek system.

Yep, I'm sure. I don't really have any experience with my own fraternity with any of those schools except for A&M, Tech, Oklahoma, and Baylor. However, I will say that SAE is very strong at all of those.

Like I said, I put KState, Nebraska, Iowa State and Colorado all together because I have zero experience with their Greeks. I will say though, that just because a chapter wins awards doesn't mean that they should automatically be considered one of the tops.

BigRedBeta · #11 04-09-2008, 06:59 PM

As a Big 12 Greek (Nebraska Alum, grew up in Kansas City and have a ton of friends at both KU and K-state, have visited OU, OSU, ISU, KU and KSU - the last two many times, met several CU greeks through various means...).

I'd also say that throughout the conference, there is a lot of quality, and actually splitting out the schools is requiring me to look at a lot of factors. There's not a lot of difference between #3 and #7, and there are plenty of reasons why a school could be higher or lower than I have them.

First "tier"
Texas (but from the few people I've talked to there, it's a stagnant system and losing ground)
OU - simply impressive, great numbers, great chapters, good environment
Mizzou - amazing history, chapter houses are phenomenal, benefit from having KCMO and STL to draw from along with Springfield.

Second tier:

K-State - gets the edge over Nebraska because of more houses being wet still - Manhattan sucks though
Nebraska - Greeks here get their shit done - dominate GDI's in grades and campus leaders, party well despite having to go off campus
OSU - similar to OU, but just not as good,
Kansas - Lawrence is a fun place, but there's a lot anti-greek hatred. Many greeks I know won't wear their letters on campus. Sororities are definitely farther along than many of the fraternities. There's a lot of ultimate frisbee played at KU.

Third Tier:
Texas Tech - Has to be better than A&M right?
TAMU - has to overcome the nutjobs in the Corps
Baylor - it's a religious school
ISU - the kids that aren't cool enough to go to Iowa end up at ISU. Ames is a hell hole. The ISU greeks I've met from a number of different houses just are huge nerds across the board.
CU - There's a reason why the Pac-10 has been rumored to secretly wish CU would join their conference - definitely more of a west coast hippie/surfer vibe than any thing else. I respect that their IFC has gone it alone without University recognition, but that's not a very good position to be in.

ComradesTrue · #12 04-09-2008, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigRedBeta

TAMU - has to overcome the nutjobs in the Corps

Giggle.

(with apologies to aggieaxo)

aggieAXO · #13 04-10-2008, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blondie93

Giggle.

(with apologies to aggieaxo)

That's ok Blondie-I am use to the aggie bashing on this site (and just about everywhere else I go).

em_adpi · #14 04-10-2008, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigRedBeta

TAMU - has to overcome the nutjobs in the Corps

Hey, not all of the Corps members are nutjobs- my brother is a cadet and I can assure you he is far from it.

Blue Skies · #15 04-10-2008, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigRedBeta

Third Tier:
CU - There's a reason why the Pac-10 has been rumored to secretly wish CU would join their conference - definitely more of a west coast hippie/surfer vibe than any thing else. I respect that their IFC has gone it alone without University recognition, but that's not a very good position to be in.

BigRedBeta, as a Boulder alum, I have to chuckle at your characterization of CU as having a "west coast hippie/surfer vibe". So true! I had never considered that we might be a better fit in the Pac-10, but you might be right about that. Arizona and Arizona State have always been favorite destinations for Coloradans who want to go to school out of state. And of course, many Californians head to Boulder for their college years.

Tom, there are no chapters of LXA, SX, KA, nor BTP at Colorado. I think my brother's GLO, DTD, used to be there many years ago, but no more. The fraternites separated from the University over the question of deferred rush (the sororites decided to play ball, but their numbers have suffered accordingly, although picking up to some degree more recently, I believe.)

IMO the University clamped down after the unfortunate death of the pledge during initiation at the Chi Psi house in 2004. One such incident can have repercussions that last for years, cancelling out the many, many positive contributions of the Greek community there.