Tiers of the Big 12

[BigRedBeta]

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]

Originally Posted by BigRedBeta

TAMU - has to overcome the nutjobs in the Corps

Giggle.

(with apologies to aggieaxo)

[aggieAXO]

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]

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]

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.