<p>I know everyone hates to admit it, but…there IS a distinct ranking/tier system of sororities at UMich. Going greek is a great decision; the way rush works is that every girl who rushes is guaranteed a spot at a house (like OP said), although it may not be their top choice. On bid day, there were a ton of girls coming out of the Union screaming with joy, and others that were close to having a mental breakdown…
Girls rank their sororities, and sororities rank the girls, and a match is made that way. Panhel council is strict about infractions, dirty rushing, breaking the “vow of silence”, etc. All in all, Greek Life is fun, provides lots of opportunities for networking and fun, and is a great way to make this huge university seem smaller. </p>
<p>Social standing is a mix of how attractive the girls are, who your pregame partner is, who you party with, and the general disposition and personalities of the girls. </p>
<p>Tier 1:
Tri Delt, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Alpha Phi</p>
<p>tri delt - reputation on campus is “if your girlfriend won’t put out, tri delt”. They are very stereotypical, have a lot of pretty girls, gorgeous house, but a lot of people don’t take them seriously at all. Pregamed with phi psi this year: they wanted to pregame with SAE next year, but they are PERMANENTLY kicked off campus, thus this would be a huge no-no for the girls. Got asked by aepi, but are hesitant to say no or yes since they would just say yes for the sake of having a pregame partner at all.</p>
<p>kappa - also known as “visa visa mastercard”: very wealthy girls, approximately half Jewish. They also have a lot of gorgeous girls, but they are definitely NOT the nicest or most welcoming. It tends to be be very cliquey within the house. They hazed this year but didn’t get caught. Their reputation is iffy - this year there was a mini-scandal when one of their pledges had sex with a guy on the dance floor during a mixer. Pregamed with theta chi this year, will pregame with phi psi next year.</p>
<p>alpha phi - honestly, the phis that I’ve met are very catty and obsessed with their “rank” and image as a whole. Known to have quite a number of slutty girls. On the whole, they’re very attractive and have a good mix of Jewish/non-Jewish girls and in-state/out-of-state girls. Pregamed with SAE this year, will pregame with theta chi next year.</p>
<p>These three houses are, in general, always in “competition” with each other to be the top and it really drags high school melodrama ideologies into college. They do party with the top fraternities and have chock-full social calendars, but don’t be consumed by their social standing when choosing a house.</p>
<p>Tier 2:
Alpha Chi Omega, Sigma Kappa, Chi Omega, Kappa Alpha Theta</p>
<p>axo - great, gorgeous girls. Known to have a lot of funny girls. Mostly girls from Michigan. Their reputation is that they party, but don’t necessarily “put out” and are such branded as the “friend zone” sorority or the “wife-it-up” sorority. They seem really well-rounded, except for the fact that they have, at most, only 3 Jewish girls. This year, they pregamed with pike then somehow became obsessed with FIJI and will be pregaming with them next year. </p>
<p>sigma kappa - very similar to axo, except their reputation is for being the best drinkers on campus and partying VERY hard. They’re known to be a ton of fun and laid back. They have a great house, but the location is terrible. Pregamed with FIJI this year, will pregame with pike next year.</p>
<p>chi o - exactly like the Jewish version of axo - pregamed with sammy last year, the year before, the year before that, and will pregame with sammy next year, and probably for all of eternity to come. A lot of girls pref both axo and chi-o before finding out that chi o is mostly Jewish/or axo is barely Jewish. Highest GPA on campus.</p>
<p>theta - straight up East coast JAPs that all look the same, talk obnoxiously, and are not very well-liked except by themselves and other JAPpy fraternities (sig, ZBT). Pregamed with aepi this year - were DETESTED by aepi - and do not have a pregame partner for next year (which poses a problem to them). Were almost kicked off campus for exclusively bidding Jewish girls, when they are really a Christian sorority nationally. </p>
<p>Tier 3:
Delta Gamma, Zeta Tau Alpha, Pi Beta Phi, Delta Phi Epsilon, Sigma Delta Tau, Alpha Delta Pi</p>
<p>DG - really sweet girls. Their reputation is known as “delta grandma” but they are relatively drama-free and seem to get along great and throw great philanthropy events. They pregamed with sigep this year, will pregame with sigep next year as well.</p>
<p>zeta - up and coming (they were recently reinstated after being kicked off campus). It’s usually a hit or miss - some girls are great, others are a little strange. This might be because the founding pledge class has not graduated yet and they are still are a little shaky during rush. Did not have a pregame partner this year - are currently being fought over by phi delt and DKE this year. </p>
<p>pi beta phi - see adpi!</p>
<p>dphie - Jewish girls that didn’t get into chi o or theta end up here. VERY Jewish, but they are also very involved and their newest pledge class seems very close.</p>
<p>SDT - again, Jewish girls that didn’t get into chi o or theta end up here. VERY jappy - again, their pledge class seems really tight-knit and they do a lot of activities together. Pregamed with psi u this year, not sure about next year.</p>
<p>adpi - not very well known (this isn’t good or bad) but they have a pretty clean reputation and nice, friendly girls. I would say their reputation is “wholesome”.</p>
<p>Tier 4:
Alpha Epsilon Phi, Alpha Gamma Delta</p>
<p>aephi - extremely awkward girls, very small pledge class. They recently came back on campus after getting kicked off for hazing, partying, etc. and are going to need a few years to rebuild themselves. To be honest, they are really sweet and kind - but rarely have parties, are always made fun of by top/middle fraternities, and have a hard time filling up slots during rush. </p>
<p>agd - reputation is “alpha grab a donut”. They have a strange mentality that they are ranked higher and are more popular than they really are. Very similar to aephi, except the girls that I’ve met in agd are obsessed with “moving up”. They serenade other fraternities (when it is usually the other way around…) to try to schedule mixers. I feel like agd is a mix of girls who didn’t get into their top picks, but were still desperate to be a part of greek life.</p>
<p>DISCLAIMER:
I didn’t mean to sound *****y or condescending during this post - I am just trying to tell it like it is. If I sugarcoated things, it wouldn’t be helpful to those that want to know the actual truth. Keep in mind when rushing that the tiers DON’T MATTER - what matters is if you like where you are and you can look around at the other girls in the house and say “I can see us being friends for the next four years”. I didn’t want to sound biased either - Greek life has a lot of pros and cons that are debatable. To non-Greeks, Greek life is a stupid excuse for partying and “paying for friends”. To Greeks, it doesn’t seem like that at all.</p>