It’s all subjective, so there’s no “information on who the top houses are” to disseminate. There isn’t a USNWR rankings list to point to. Anyway, if you don’t care - and I see no earthly reason why a non-Greek “should” care - why would it bother you if people you don’t know, in an activity you don’t participate in, have decreed Kappa and TriDelt the top sororities or something? There’s no reason that shouldn’t be regarded as a tree falling in the forest. Let them think whatever; who cares? Lots of people I don’t care about have lots of opinions on things I don’t care about.
Does everyone feel this assessment is invalid?
Who are these ‘people who care’? I was in what would be considered a lower tiered house. (there were 9 sororities, 5 at quota, 2 at almost full, 2 that would have liked more members) We didn’t care, we had activities with fraternities without wearing bags over our heads, we had some absolutely gorgeous women in our house, we had the highest gpa of all the houses on campus. We did not, however, wear pins with our gpa’s on them.
I don’t agree that these mythical ‘people’ don’t care how many members are in a chapter. Numbers do matter because the more you have, the bigger presence you have on campus, the more members who are running other organizations, are visible on campus. I think it is most common to have most of the chapters full, having taken full quota for several years in a row, and maybe 2-3 with fewer members.
It’s a mark of strength in general to have a larger house and to make quota easily. And the idea that a “lesser” sorority would deliberately not want to get as many members as it could is strange to me. But luckily it all seemed to equal out … most houses made quota, and maybe a few of them were a little bit smaller.
BTW, for all those yammering about “exclusivity” … the stronger houses are the LARGER ones that have MORE girls (or guys). Which kind of puts the kibosh on exclusivity, huh?
But in the final analysis, if you enjoy the house you are in and enjoy your friends, that’s all that matters. Not some arbitrary ranking, which only matters to people who decide to care about that sort of thing.
No, nothing about larger being worse in any way.
I think numbers are more important 1) when greek participation is declining (like it was when I in a sorority) and houses are being faced with the threat of closures) and 2) for houses new to campus that are still trying to establish themselves (like my daughter’s sorority is now).
I would not really agree with the idea that the main considerations for all houses are finding people who are “attractive, smart, and put together.” I do think that different houses are looking for different things in their new members, and that that shapes their “personality” as well as their “popularity.” The sorority I was in was known for having girls who were athletic and out-going. Who knows how I wound up there, but the fact that I’m an introverted klutz probably had something to do with my general duck-out-of-water feeling during my two years there. At my daughter’s school there is one sorority that is known to have a lot of girls who are in the BS/MD program. Another is sort of the “hippie” house. (My daughter was disappointed when she got cut there, but in retrospect understands why.) My daughter’s house is new and establishing themselves. She likes that they’re considered a house that is gaining a rep as a sorority that has a lot of “nice girls” in it but also that she and the girls she knows aren’t “cookie cutters” of each other and that they will be able to shape the personality of the house over the next few years.
So while I do think sororities (and, I would assume, fraternities) select people based on “fit,” the variables often tend to be categorical rather than ordinal. If you look at sites like greekrank, you’d get the impression that houses are routinely ranked by how hot the members are and how hard they party. But that’s really a very skewed view of the greek scene and one that many, if not most, members would scoff at.
I’d also say that selection of people based on “wealth and high social class” had NOTHING to do with either my sorority experience or my daughter’s. (My daughter wore her combat boots to the first round of rush—Target-knockoffs of Steve Madden Troopa boots. And she still got asked back. 
)
Of course it didn’t. But as usual, the stereotypes of some systems that ARE that way get applied to us all.
@Pizzagirl A lot of you are hug up on this numbers equals strength thing. When I was in school the sororities on my campus had a quota of 55 to 80. Now it’s 160 and rising. The result is sorority houses with 400-plus members. Can none of you understand how it might be desirable for a sorority to choose to take fewer girls? But they aren’t allowed to.
Of course they are allowed to take a smaller than quota pledge class. Even if quote is set at 140 a chapter doesn’t HAVE to ask 140, but most do try to take quota because they want to be strong, they want to pay their bills. If all the houses wanted smaller classes, the panel would look at other options, like adding new houses or increasing quota for the smaller houses for a few years.
Again the goal is to have a place for everyone. If quota is 140 that’s because that is how many girls are still going through rush on the day quota is set. College admits more freshmen, more girls going through rush, higher quota. Adding houses takes time, usually about 3 years, more if a physical house is required. Schools keep increasing g I size and that means the schools need more clubs, student organizations or increase the size of the ones already there.
There are some sororities that may take a lower-than-quota class, but usually they are special interest houses, like music or religion. It just happens naturally that fewer members want to join and the house focuses on those rushing with the same special interest.
So why isn’t Panhel / the university asking for more chapters to colonize since demand is clearly that strong? That’s kind of irresponsible to let chapters and pledge classes get THAT large.
Anyway, better a pledge class is “too big” than girls be disappointed by getting in nowhere. Very Lord of the Flies.
Many schools are taking applications for new chapters, but it takes time. Sometimes the size of the rush group is a surprise. The school admitted 1000 extra students and if even half of those are female and even half of those go through rush, that’s 250 extra in one year. If there are 10 houses, that’s 25 more per house than last year. If schools decides it wants more houses, the applications from National organizations take time to prepare, find alums in the area willing to provide support, arrange housing, fund the chapter. To add a new house at U of Florida is taking 4+ years because they have to build a house, a $5 million house. Same at UGa. The school invited applications 5 years ago, but the students who needed the houses back then will have graduated by the time the new houses open.
A school can also have ‘too many rushees’ because of a house leaving a school. My niece’s chapter is about to have its charter pulled. It’s a big house, about 50 new members per year. Now those 50 girls are going to be added to other houses, so quote will (or should) go up for the other houses next year, a situation most of them aren’t prepared for. No time to ask another house to start a chapter on this campus.
@joblue I understand your naiveté in thinking that the Greek life around students that are not Greek does not affect them negatively because that is the politically correct way of thinking. But the tides are turning. It does affect them. I had no idea and was naive myself to the pain these organizations cause others. For instance in the other social clubs that a student can join, each sorority and fraternity have reserved and assigned slots for their members that can be assigned long after the applications are closed to the general population. If a member decides to not be on crew or community giving they just assign someone else to their 7 positions that they each get to control. If you are not in a fraternity or sorority, you must have applied to these by application by the second week of school when they close just 8 days after school starts. In our case, they were closed before we even knew they were an option. I know, thats a lot to understand and believe me we missed the cut off and watched the over 50% of the other kids on the dorm floor who were greek get to go to all of these things as well. The Greek dominance permeates almost every single place, organization, club, even internships and academic advantages, on the campus.
After reading most of these posts, I am thankful that some people see the harm these organizations do cause, and sorrowful that some still think that their girls “sorority parties” are so important that the admin and student body at their school have to spend so much time making sure those parties get to happen responsibly. I am also sad to think that I was blind to the pain and one-sided advantages these organizations cause to the general population. In hindsight I wish I had encouraged my son from the beginning to shy away from these groups and am proud of him for standing tall and making it through the rejection and sticking to his resolve to get the degree in spite of living among them all so closely. It is one thing to suffer a rejection,and certainly that happens in life, is a part of life, and quite recoverable, it is quite another to then have to LIVE among the rejection so closely. These groups have no place on college campuses.
In our world today, the tides are turning on social groups like this. Colleges are academic institutions with no place for this kind of discrimination. My son’s story is not the only one. He is one of many, many students these organizations cause harm to. Already, some are calling for not voting for politicians with Greek affiliations. They dominate local, state and federal governments at this point so little will be accomplished in their abolishment in the near future. The federal lobbyists for Greek life are armed with the funds they need to hide the ugly truths about hazing, alcohol and sexual abuses of the members.
I think the one question I have and would ask each of you who defend the need for Greek Organizations being on college campuses is Why?
Why does your child NEED to be in a sorority or fraternity?
@carolinamom2boys Cliques do not permeate college campuses, fraternities and sororities do. Name a clique that you are referring to.
@pixxagirl Unfortunately you use the term who “choose” not to be a part of Greek Life and that is not the case in some instances. My heart goes out to the kids who wanted to be a part, were led to believe they were a part, whose friends got accepted, and they did not. It’s a tough thing to take, to lose most every friend you have first day of college. Not all kids have the same experience and certainly this is one that can be recovered from with time. But is it really necessary so that a few kids can feel exceptional? I promise the kids who did “get in” feel superior to the ones who tried and were denied entrance. They have an entire group behind them.
For the second time I state…I didn’t complain to the governor, I simply stated she is my friend of 20 years and even knowing her does not help your child if he or she should be escorted out of the basement of a fraternity the day before his first day of classes. No one is going to believe you if you are treated badly by these organizations. My son did not join another fraternity because he said “I could never be that guy in the basement and do that to anther person”. He now lives among them and believe me they run the school in almost every aspect. I risk a lot to even come on here and tell of our experience with these groups. I get calls from other parents who have suffered these same things with their children, honestly mostly girls and sororities, but this is our story. I am not afraid to be the only person to point out that they hurt others.
Not necessarily. On many campuses, fraternities and sororities are present, but do not dominate campus social life or other activities to the point that those not in fraternities and sororities find their social options limited.
Agreed, ucbalumnus – there is quite a difference between a school with 10%, 40%, or 80% greek life participation. That percentage, and the impact on student experience, is something students should consider in choosing a school.
Are there colleges with 80% greek life participation? That would be a very high percentage indeed.