Perception of sororities nationally

[TriDeltaSallie]

The other night I was reading a couple of different threads and ended up on the old Why is Rush So Cut-throat on the Sororities' End at Large Greek Schools? Very interesting thread. What struck me was the ranking of the sororities by tiers at UTexas which was shared in this comment.

As someone who went to a Big Ten school, the entire southern sorority thing is completely foreign to me. I mean I understand it and I don't understand it. But what was so interesting to me is that these girls are DYING to get into a top tier sorority and if you had given me six guesses, I would NEVER have guessed that Pi Beta Phi would have been THE top group. I mean no disrespect to the Pi Phis here. I know it is an excellent organization. It just never would have occurred to me that it would be the most sought after sorority at Texas. Most of the rest of the list I would have easily guessed, although not in the correct order.

Just an observation that our perception of sororities can vary so much based on our collegiate experience, alumna experience and geography.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by TriDeltaSallie

The other night I was reading a couple of different threads and ended up on the old Why is Rush So Cut-throat on the Sororities' End at Large Greek Schools? Very interesting thread. What struck me was the ranking of the sororities by tiers at UTexas which was shared in this comment.

As someone who went to a Big Ten school, the entire southern sorority thing is completely foreign to me. I mean I understand it and I don't understand it. But what was so interesting to me is that these girls are DYING to get into a top tier sorority and if you had given me six guesses, I would NEVER have guessed that Pi Beta Phi would have been THE top group. I mean no disrespect to the Pi Phis here. I know it is an excellent organization. It just never would have occurred to me that it would be the most sought after sorority at Texas. Most of the rest of the list I would have easily guessed, although not in the correct order.

Just an observation that our perception of sororities can vary so much based on our collegiate experience, alumna experience and geography.

You may get flamed for mentioning Pi Phi directly, but I agree with your thought. I know so many people who think that the reputation of a group on their campus is representative of the sorority as a whole which is often far from the truth.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

You may get flamed for mentioning Pi Phi directly, but I agree with your thought. I know so many people who think that the reputation of a group on their campus is representative of the sorority as a whole which is often far from the truth.

I would think that this would have lessened somewhat with the internet.

When I was in school I had NO idea of the biggest groups on my campus was one of the smallest nationally, as they were so prominent on campus and in my state in general. Nowadays, I can go online and see exactly who has how many chapters. I can see which chapters have the pretty girls and which have the not as pretty girls.

Then again, you really can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear online.

[TriDeltaSallie]

Originally Posted by 33girl

When I was in school I had NO idea of the biggest groups on my campus was one of the smallest nationally, as they were so prominent on campus and in my state in general.

And when I joined Tri Delta, it was not a top group on my campus. I went through informal rush and loved the girls there. That's why I joined. I had no real grasp of its strength nationally until I went to our Centennial Convention. (Yes, I'm dating myself.) But I came from a total non-Greek background so I knew very little other than I loved my sorority on my campus. The excellent national reputation was just an unexpected bonus.

[red10]

I've heard advisors on campus tell people not to put which social sorority they were in on their resume/applications for things, just to put "social sorority president", because the person reading your application may think "she was an XYZ? they were *insert stereotype* at my school." and it could affect your chances for things, sad as that is.

[TriDeltaSallie]

Well, I wasn't trying to be inflammatory and tried to word it carefully.

Maybe this would explain it better... If I met a woman and she told me she was a Pi Phi at Texas I would think... Nice organization, never met a Pi Phi I didn't like, and competitive Greek school. I wouldn't have thought "transcendent epitome of sorority membership in the state of Texas" like many women would who are more acquainted with the various reputations of schools in the south.

Again, so much of our thinking is shaped by our experiences and location. That's just the point I was trying to make.

[Kansas City]

Maybe I'm a bit naive but don't most NPCs have excellent national reputations? The tier and who's best is only a collegiate thing. Once a member becomes active as an alum, best/worst/strong/weak thinking becomes a moot point.

[PenguinTrax]

Originally Posted by Kansas City

Maybe I'm a bit naive but don't most NPCs have excellent national reputations? The tier and who's best is only a collegiate thing. Once a member becomes active as an alum, best/worst/strong/weak thinking becomes a moot point.

Couldn't agree more.

[WarEagle07]

This post is really, really bothering me and I am not exactly sure how to articulate this well so I hope this makes sense. My own opinion is that national reputations do not matter when it comes to a chapters campus status. What matters most is what the campus perception of that sorority is. So lets turn the table on what you just said about Pi Phi (who are really strong at Auburn by the way). Because a sorority has a great national reputation (I assume you mean well known) should that mean that girls at every campus should be eager to get in? It doesn't work that way. Every national has weak chapters, some would be considered bottom tier, somewhere in the nation. So before you judge the Pi Phi's, just know that on some campus somewhere your org. is bottom tier and struggling with membership and reputation.

[33girl]

I don't think she ever said that wasn't true (that national reps have nothing to do w/ campus status) and I don't think she was "judging" the Pi Phis. And I don't think she said every Tri Delt chapter is awesome everywhere.

What I think she meant is....put it this way, if you described my chapter to someone at Truman State, or Truman State's ASA chapter to someone at my school, they would look at you, head askance, and say, "You ARE talking about Alpha Sigma Alpha...the ones in red and white...right?"

It's not a matter of "better" or "worse", just DIFFERENT.

Face it, if there was such a thing as "best sorority nationally" there would be a sorority with NO closed chapters. That sorority doesn't exist.

[TriDeltaSallie]

Originally Posted by 33girl

I don't think she ever said that wasn't true (that national reps have nothing to do w/ campus status) and I don't think she was "judging" the Pi Phis. And I don't think she said every Tri Delt chapter is awesome everywhere.

Face it, if there was such a thing as "best sorority nationally" there would be a sorority with NO closed chapters. That sorority doesn't exist.

Yes. And it would be totally inappropriate for me to judge another chapter or sorority when my own chapter has closed (which I discussed at length in another thread I started a long time ago). And I mentioned in this discussion that it was not a "top house" on campus so I'm hardly looking down my nose at others from my own perceived elite status.

My point was that when reading these rush stories about how some women (and in some cases, their mothers) are dead set on getting into a particular sorority on a particular campus, it varies so much from campus to campus as to which sorority is "the one" that the women are gunning for. Reading those sorority descriptions from that Texas magazine was just really fascinating for a Yankee with no southern sorority experience.

The same thing could be said about sororities with which I have no experience. There are a number of NPC sororities with which I don't think I've ever had any interaction. They weren't at my own campus and I've never met anyone from them in real life. So those too are groups that wouldn't automatically come to mind. I'm much more apt to think of the chapters on my own campus.

So, to go back to my original point... The way we think about things is greatly influenced by our collegiate experience, our alumna experience and our geography.

[Denise_DPhiE]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Face it, if there was such a thing as "best sorority nationally" there would be a sorority with NO closed chapters. That sorority doesn't exist.

Amen, NPC sista!

[WarEagle07]

Originally Posted by 33girl

And I don't think she said every Tri Delt chapter is awesome everywhere.

What I think she meant is....put it this way, if you described my chapter to someone at Truman State, or Truman State's ASA chapter to someone at my school, they would look at you, head askance, and say, "You ARE talking about Alpha Sigma Alpha...the ones in red and white...right?"

It's not a matter of "better" or "worse", just DIFFERENT.

I knew I wasn't articulating my thoughts well. I'll try again...the part that bothered me was that the OP was so shocked about Pi Phi being on top but yet she was stated that she could have easily guessed the rest. Really? Out of how many NPC sororities...26? I always thought of it as a given that everyone knows that chapters are not equal from campus to campus, region to region...so why the surprise at Pi Phi and yet the remaining chapters were easy to guess? I'm not affiliated with Pi Phi but just the fact that it was called out by name along with the statement 'I could have easily guessed the rest' sounds a bit like a slam to me.

[irishpipes]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Face it, if there was such a thing as "best sorority nationally" there would be a sorority with NO closed chapters. That sorority doesn't exist.

At the risk of being flamed, I'll go out on a limb and say that I do think that there is one sorority that stands out to me as being the best nationally. I'm not talking about the quality of the sisterhood enjoyed by its members, but rather a combination of statistical success along with a consistently positive reputation. It's just my opinion, of course, but I know it is one shared by people pretty high up in my org. I'm just talking about the organization as a whole, not the individual members or chapters. Like every org it has some weak chapters and individual members, of course. That doesn't mean I would rather be a member of that org - just that I respect it as the best overall nationally.

[gee_ess]

Originally Posted by WarEagle07

This post is really, really bothering me and I am not exactly sure how to articulate this well so I hope this makes sense. My own opinion is that national reputations do not matter when it comes to a chapters campus status. What matters most is what the campus perception of that sorority is. So lets turn the table on what you just said about Pi Phi (who are really strong at Auburn by the way). Because a sorority has a great national reputation (I assume you mean well known) should that mean that girls at every campus should be eager to get in? It doesn't work that way. Every national has weak chapters, some would be considered bottom tier, somewhere in the nation. So before you judge the Pi Phi's, just know that on some campus somewhere your org. is bottom tier and struggling with membership and reputation.

I don't think this is what the OP was saying. I think her comments were actually more along the line of yours. I thought she was saying that, the opinion of NPC group is somehow affected by the campus they are on more than their national reputation.

And I agree that all NPC groups are strong - heck that is one of the benefits of the NPC. This organization gives all of us strength, common goals, etc. But I think it is also fact that some groups are larger(as someone said earlier- more resources like alumna and money) than others and this can contribute to a strong national reputation.