Best Fraternities at UF?

[Firehouse]

"We've got a little over 150, averaging about 45 per pledge class, plus about 10 spring guys, and of course we'll lose some older guys to dues, transfer, etc. That said I know who everyone in my chapter is."

Same here. We'll initiate 50 a year; with graduation losses and drop-outs, chapter size is stable at around 180. Brotherhood in a large chapter is enhanced by group identity and winning. Define winning any way you want; whatever fires up the Brothers and makes them proud.

However, I do believe the size of a chapter is natually tied to the campus. If you're at Virginia, there are 33 fraternities and the "best" fraternities have an average size of around 60.
If you're at Ole Miss, there are far fewer fraternities, but the top chapter sizes are very large. It depends on the culture of the campus. If you're at Ole Miss, you cannot effectively maintain a 60-man chapter and compete with the Phi Delts, Sigma Nus, Pikes, Sigma Chis, etc. (I know I'm missing some).

[PhiGam]

Originally Posted by Firehouse

"We've got a little over 150, averaging about 45 per pledge class, plus about 10 spring guys, and of course we'll lose some older guys to dues, transfer, etc. That said I know who everyone in my chapter is."

Same here. We'll initiate 50 a year; with graduation losses and drop-outs, chapter size is stable at around 180. Brotherhood in a large chapter is enhanced by group identity and winning. Define winning any way you want; whatever fires up the Brothers and makes them proud.

However, I do believe the size of a chapter is natually tied to the campus. If you're at Virginia, there are 33 fraternities and the "best" fraternities have an average size of around 60.
If you're at Ole Miss, there are far fewer fraternities, but the top chapter sizes are very large. It depends on the culture of the campus. If you're at Ole Miss, you cannot effectively maintain a 60-man chapter and compete with the Phi Delts, Sigma Nus, Pikes, Sigma Chis, etc. (I know I'm missing some).

Yeah, you guys are huge here and I'm not saying that its bad for everyone, I just don't want to be in a fraternity that big.

[gtdxeric]

Originally Posted by PhiGam

Yeah, you guys are huge here and I'm not saying that its bad for everyone, I just don't want to be in a fraternity that big.

I agree: like most things in greek life, it comes down to personal preference. I personally like a chapter size of around 90 or so, which translates to pledge classes of 22-25. We got a bit bigger than that a few years ago, and there was definitely a different feel to chapter meetings, etc.

With that said, I've never heard anyone in a big (150-180) chapter say "I wish this chapter was half this size, so we'd have a closer brotherhood."

[62231]

Originally Posted by PhiGam

Having over 120 guys is stupid though.

I think it depends on what you're looking for. My chapter is at 135 right now, and I know every single guy fairly well. I don't mind the large numbers- it makes our campus seem a heck of a lot smaller.

And we're not even close to the biggest. Fourth or fifth, I think.
Sig Ep - A year ago they were over 170.
Beta - 150+
Phi Delt - 147 or something close
Kappa Sig - 135
Sigma Chi -130+
SAE and ATO hover around 100-110.

It's important here to have significant numbers, or our sororities of 180+ won't want to have socials with you.

ETA: Oh, and we have 26 IFC fraternities.

[Lucky SC]

Originally Posted by Firehouse

"We've got a little over 150, averaging about 45 per pledge class, plus about 10 spring guys, and of course we'll lose some older guys to dues, transfer, etc. That said I know who everyone in my chapter is."

Same here. We'll initiate 50 a year; with graduation losses and drop-outs, chapter size is stable at around 180. Brotherhood in a large chapter is enhanced by group identity and winning. Define winning any way you want; whatever fires up the Brothers and makes them proud.

However, I do believe the size of a chapter is natually tied to the campus. If you're at Virginia, there are 33 fraternities and the "best" fraternities have an average size of around 60.
If you're at Ole Miss, there are far fewer fraternities, but the top chapter sizes are very large. It depends on the culture of the campus. If you're at Ole Miss, you cannot effectively maintain a 60-man chapter and compete with the Phi Delts, Sigma Nus, Pikes, Sigma Chis, etc. (I know I'm missing some).

how many fraternties do you have on your campus if you got 150+ guys in it?

[Firehouse]

ElephantWalk ("We've got a little over 150, averaging about 45 per pledge class") goes to the University of Arkansas; my campus is Florida State.
Arkansas has twelve IFC fraternities (I'm not counting one small ethnic fraternity), and Florida State has twenty (counting an unrecognized SAE chapter).

The number of fraternities has almost nothing to do with size of the top chapters. Penn State has over 50 fraternity chapters, but the prestige houses have 55-75 thereabouts. The University of Illinois has even more chapters than Penn State, but the top fraternities all have substantially over 100.