Sorority Strongholds?

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by amIblue?

OK. What about the groups that have little to no reresentation in the south? They have to have pockets where membership is more dense than in other areas.

Right, but nobody cares before rush or after graduation, so it's not so much a stronghold, even if they have a lot of chapters there.

Illinois, one of the biggest Greek systems in the country, has very little tent talk, because nobody shows up in Champaign knowing a damn thing about any of the sororities. Sure, the internet has made things worse, but it's not like it meant anything when I went home over break and told my high school friends where I'd pledged.

[KSUViolet06]

There's a difference between caring in a sense of being active, and caring in a sense of viewing it as a status symbol. I obviously do care and Sigma matters to me, but I care about Sigma differently than someone who views her as a status symbol in her particular town (as I'm well aware that there are towns and places in which being a Sigma matters in that way.)

And I think every school has some level of tent talk/rumors/chapters that PNMs come to campus or recruitment with their mind set on.

[FSUZeta]

i went to our website to see which states had the most(active) ZTA chapters and they are

Texas-17
Pennsylvania-16
South Carolina-10

[IrishLake]

I just looked up active Theta chapters for states according to our website:
California - 18 (or is it 17? Didn't San Diego just close?)
Ohio & Pennsylvania - 8 each (wow! Because they're home to a lot of little private universities?)
Texas - 7
Virginia - 6

[AZTheta]

Originally Posted by IrishLake

I just looked up active Theta chapters for states according to our website:
California - 18 (or is it 17? Didn't San Diego just close?)
Ohio & Pennsylvania - 8 each (wow! Because they're home to a lot of little private universities?)
Texas - 7
Virginia - 6

California has 18, SDSU closed May 2011. There are several Theta chapters in San Diego, by the way.

FWIW - I don't see how counting the number chapters in a state is indicative of anything. What are we looking at? I mean, poor North Dakota - how can they ever compare with New York, for example. Arizona isn't much better, we really only have seven four-year institutions of higher learning and to the best of my knowledge, GLOs are only present at four of those.

Using that standard, Alpha Phi and Pi Phi would be top dogs in AZ as they are at UA, NAU, ASU.

Know what I'm saying?

ETA: lowCsharp just said what I wanted to say, only much more concisely (of course).

[DubaiSis]

I think there might be a semantics problem here. When I say "people don't care," I am talking about non-Greeks. In professional environments around the country, the chance of meeting a non-Greek is high enough that you risk the negatives brought up earlier. Now, if you're talking about joining the Junior League in any city USA, yes, you will probably encounter other sorority women and they may be impressed with your specific org based on their own preconceptions. But I wouldn't include it in an interview unless your skills learned there directly impact this particular job. And that's not really what we're talking about here.

And I was looking at the states I'm most familiar with and I think the reason I personally don't see this as much of a thing is because those states (Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Indiana) have a lot of sororities represented at fairly even concentrations. No sorority really owns any of those states. So as a result, as a grown up, saying you're a sorority woman is going to be at least as valuable as saying you're a member of any given sorority.

[WhiteRose1912]

Theta Phi is pretty spread out. These are our "denser" states:

State - Active Chapters/Total Chapters
New Jersey - 6/9 (including colony, 7/10)
New York - 6/10
Ohio - 7/11
Pennsylvania - 7/13 (including colony, 8/14)

[IrishLake]

It's just weird for me to think of things in these statistics. Arizona only has seven 4 year colleges in the entire state? Public and private schools included? I had no idea, and that is mind boggling to me. I feel extremely naive now.

[AZTheta]

Originally Posted by IrishLake

It's just weird for me to think of things in these statistics. Arizona only has seven 4 year colleges in the entire state? Public and private schools included? I had no idea, and that is mind boggling to me. I feel extremely naive now.

We became a state 100 years ago, and haven't had the population or history that you East of the Rockies folks have.

Waiting for the Big One so we'll have a coastline and lots of beaches, and THEN maybe we'll get some respect.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by AzTheta

We became a state 100 years ago, and haven't had the population or history that you East of the Rockies folks have.

Waiting for the Big One so we'll have a coastline and lots of beaches, and THEN maybe we'll get some respect.

#TeamTEXAS

[AZTheta]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

#TeamTEXAS

If I didn't like you (and not in a weird way!), you'd be hurting right now, sir.

FWIW I wasn't even thinking about SPORTS.

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by AzTheta

If I didn't like you (and not in a weird way!), you'd be hurting right now, sir.

FWIW I wasn't even thinking about SPORTS.

Me neither AZ < TX, just in general hahaha

[lake]

When I went through rush in the Midwest a million years ago, *the* chapters of choice were Alpha Phi, Delta Gamma and Gamma Phi Beta. From what I understand, this is still true at schools with these chapters, at least in my immediate region. Some sororities with more of a "big name national recognition" weren't as big a deal here as they apparently are elsewhere, and some of those chapters closed on their respective campuses. It's weird how perception is so different everywhere. It may be a big deal (to some) to say "I'm a Chi O from U of Arkansas", but in my part of the Midwest, when you say "I'm an Alpha Phi", that means something!

[ms_gwyn]

Originally Posted by AzTheta

We became a state 100 years ago, and haven't had the population or history that you East of the Rockies folks have.

Waiting for the Big One so we'll have a coastline and lots of beaches, and THEN maybe we'll get some respect.

As much as I love Tool, Maynard and that song (ie.. Ænema)...and the comedy routine....

I kinda like living in my state and city...so please don't wish for it to turn into Arizona Bay (and yes, I know how to swim )

[AZ-AlphaXi]

Yep, Arizona has only 7 4 year colleges and only 4 of them (UofA, ASU, NAU, and Embry-Riddle Aero) have greek life. Only 3 public universities.