- The reputations vary greatly from sorority to sorority (there are 13 in total). A lot of girls have their hearts initially set on "The Core Four" until they get cut from those houses after the first day. The Core Four is comprised of Delta Gamma (aka DG), Alpha Phi, Kappa Alpha Theta (aka Theta), and Kappa Kappa Gamma (aka Kappa). I certainly don't agree with all the reputations and stereotypes out there but here they are: DG has the reputation of being the "rich" and stuck-up sorority. People say that they don't view any other sororities as competition. Alpha Phi has the blonde hair, blue eyed, beautiful reputation, which is pretty much true. Theta has plenty of down to earth girls and is likely the consensus top pick for many girls entering sorority rush. I don't know a ton about Kappa. The middle tier is comprised of Sigma Delta Tau (SDT), Delta Delta Delta (Tri Delt), Pi Phi, and AEPhi. SDT is stereotyped to be highly Jewish as is AEPhi. Tri Delt doesn't have that same "bitchy" reputation. They mix well and appear to be very well liked on campus. The lower tier is comprised of Kappa Delta (KD), Alpha Chi Omega (AXO), Phi Sig Sig (Phi Sig), Alpha Xi Delta (AZD), and Phi Mu. KD has had a great reputation for a while here, but didn't have a strong mixing schedule and their pledge class wasn't as good as previous years so their rep suffered. AXO had a great incoming pledge class this year and are on the rise. AZD is the most expensive house to live-in but doesn't match up with the other sororities in other aspects. And Phi Sig isn't extraordinarily well-liked on campus - they are kind of irrelevant. Phi Mu just came to Cornell and doesn't even have a house yet. They are clearly a work in progress - they had to give bids to almost everybody.
- I think over 700 girls rushed but probably around 200 dropped for various reasons. Most of the PC's were capped at 43 members.
- Because there are so many girls in sororities you typically can only live in the house for one year. Most of the sororities have an annex though, which are houses in Collegetown unofficially affiliated with the sorority. Upperclassmen would live there.
Hope that gives you a better idea! (but again, this is just the campus reputation and not always an accurate representation)