<p>I am thinking about rushing, and I wanted to know what the various reputations are of the different sororitys on campus. This is what I have heard so far from my friends that already go to miami.</p>
<p>1st tier:
Alpha chi omega
kappa alpha theta
delta gamma</p>
<p>2nd tier:
delta zeta
alpha phi
zeta tau alpha</p>
<p>and the rest 3rd tier</p>
<p>Do you guys agree with this?</p>
<p>I'll give you my perspective (in an IM) as a guy who is/was in a fraternity until an unfortunate incident happened last semester.</p>
<p>I have a D who will be rushing at whatever school she attends next year('08-'09), and I was in a sorority way back when I was at Miami. If you will humor me, I will tell you what I have told her and all her friends who are going off to rush this year at their respective colleges:
Picking the best sorority is a lot like picking the best college to attend, it is more a matter of what fits YOU rather than what others see and MUCH of it goes on your gut as rush parties are short and not very beneficial to really knowing what/who they are enough to make a life-long commitment. Would I love it if my D pledged my sorority? Sure, but ONLY if mine is the sorority she feels is her best fit. </p>
<p>A while back I posted a comment about rushing that elaborates on this, I will try and find it and post a link here. I had a roomie who rushed based upon what she thought were the "best" sororities and she ended up so unhappy she deactivated, whereas I was clueless and went with my gut and have never regreted my sorority decision. Besides, isn't sorority rush second semester? That gives you time to form your own opinion about the sororities on campus based upon seeing them in action in classes and such.</p>
<p>Without getting into the pros and cons of greek life, the OP's original question took me by surprise (but then I was a GDI in college). What makes a first tier vs. second tier sorority?</p>
<p>Well, the first tier sororities are the girls that the fraternity guys want to have the most socials with and are the ones that get invited to a fraternities biggest party of the semester.</p>
<p>Rush is second semester. Girls have to go back from winter break a couple days earlier than normal for their whole rushing thing (I still don't understand how it works). For guys there are three big days, which occur a week or so into the spring semester, where they rush a fraternity(or multiple ones).</p>
<p>So, the tiers are based upon what the FRATS want out of the sororities not what the women themselves want out of their sororities? That is fascinating.</p>
<p>I can shed some light on the sorority rush process, although the exact length of each round may be off. Hopefully this will de-mystify the process somewhat:
1st round: ALL rushees must attend a 20(?) minute intro to each and every chapter, will probably meet 4-6 exisiting members of each chapter.
After this each rushee may receive bids back to 2nd round and can accept up to 12(?) invitations. This is the "gut feel" level, for the existing members as well. Women who are themselves and try to just enjoy meeting new people will have a ball and get numerous invites.
2nd round: The parties at each chapter expand to 30-40 minutes(?) and start to have themes and refreshments. The rushees receives invitations to 3rd round and can accept up to 4 invitations.
3rd round: The parties expand again to 1-1.25 hours(?) and themes/refreshments get more elaborate still. Rushees receive invititations to final round then can accept two. At this point a rushee will be somewhere on the sorority's bid list of around 80 rushees (I think a full quota was around 30-40 women).
4th and final round: These go two hours long(or longer-can't quite remember, they were a lot of work, that is about all I can remember). The parties are sometimes VERY elaborate, decorated suites, entertainment by the existing members, costumes, gifts from the chapter for the rushees. A woman has not made it to this point unless the chapter wants her but has no idea which other chapter she may or may not be rushing. It is somewhat similar to college application process after the acceptances have gone out. The rushees after this go to "preferencing." They preference their first and second choice(if they want either sorority), or just one(if that is the only sorority they would be happy with) and if you are high enough on the 1st choice sorority's bid list, you are notified (in lots of fun ways :) ) that you have been invited to become a pledge.</p>
<p>I can't speak for every sorority or every campus (obviously) however, my chapter was very diverse and the women were very genuine. We had jocks, homecoming queens, philanthropists, brainiacs, artists, actresses, etc. We really were like a family of only girls. To this day, the sisters I am closest too and still in touch with, I would walk through fire for and I know would do the same for me. When I used to move around a lot, the first thing I would do when moving to a new city would be to find some alums from my sorority and I was always embraced with open arms.</p>
<p>Now yes, there are some sororities that are not like that, but they are pretty easy to spot (I think), for example (these are all true situations that happened during my rush):
+Walk in the suite and EVERY girl looked the same, and when questioned about their chapter answered the same (this was a chapter that would be considered Top Tier, from the definition given).
+At each party the rushee was quized about what she was wearing, where she got it, was it authentic (back then one wore their designer labels on the inside of their clothing-LOL). All conversations revolved around where one was from, what daddy did for a living, what were you like in high school.
and, this one is my FAV:
+Every exisiting chapter woman who opened their mouth, blatantly talked about all the frat parties they had, how "rowdy" and "fun" it was to be a member of their chapter and then looked at a loss when they were questioned about things like what their philanthropy project was, "Ah, well, we kind of switch around year after year...but we killed during Greek Week competitions the last four years!!! You will have a ton of fun in our chapter!"</p>
<p>I guess it all depends upon what you are looking for, and how much importance one places upon each aspect of being greek. It can be the sole focus of a person's college life or it can be an enhancement to the college experience, and everything in between.</p>
<p>Make it what you want it to be.</p>
<p>I also want to say a bit about hazing. I didn't worry about it at all back then (that was before reality TV and sensationalized news), although shortly after I graduated Miami got very hardcore about what they perceived as hazing. Now as a parent, it crosses my mind, but I still believe it happens but mostly in frats, and the big issues of it in the news are very rare (yet serious).</p>
<p>I say this because I know what has been prohibited now and I think it is a bit insane. Had the rules that were put in place after I graduated (and are probably still in place) been in effect when I was there, one of my fondest memories would not have happened, Big Sis Hunt. This was a week long time period where a pledge receives clues and does silly things to find out who her "Big" is. I'll spare you all the details, but it was fun, harmless fun. My Big knew me and knew it would be fun for me.</p>
<p>Again, I am not saying that serious hazing doesn't go on anywhere, but I just don't think it is wide-spread and I don't think sororities and fraternities that do that last very long, or flourish. For example, I don't know what happened to Corbis, but whatever it was, he is no longer in his fraternity. He left because of whatever happened (at least that is what I take from his comments). Furthermore, I would counsel my kids to leave their greek affiliation as well (especially if it was mine) were they abused in any way.</p>
<p>We were kicked off campus this past semester for hazing. What miami constitutes as hazing is pretty laughable since every chapter would be guilty of at least on one account e.g. You can't have pledges dress up the same(as we had to, in suits, for formal chapter). Miami does favor a few fraternities on campus and lets many things slide by with a slap on the wrist while they look down upon many (mine for example) and can't wait to boot them off campus for anything.</p>
<p>Hazing does exist, at least to my knowledge, in all the fraternities on campus to some degree (some a little, some a lot). Does it happen in sororities? I'm not really sure as I can't recall ever hearing anything about hazing in sororities.</p>
<p>"What miami constitutes as hazing is pretty laughable since every chapter would be guilty of at least on one account e.g. You can't have pledges dress up the same(as we had to, in suits, for formal chapter)." </p>
<p>I concur, thanks for clarifying, Corbis (you always have good input - thank you!). </p>
<p>Can't Interfraternity council address some of the issues with administration? Pledges can't dress the same? That is really over the top, I have a bazillion pictures of my pledge class dressed the same for everything from Greek Week to a Football game, and I can't imagine any reasonable person thinking that is hazing, geez!</p>
<p>Does the football team get in trouble for suiting up? Those uniforms are all the same.</p>
<p>That rule on hazing doesn’t apply to events like greek week ro formal because it is entirely optional to wear the shirts designed. Shirts are made and provided but members aren’t required or forced to wear them, its up to each student. The FORCED wearing of outfits is considered hazing by the school.</p>
<p>My D. did not give any thought about 1st tier, 2nd tier,…she wanted to be only in one sorority and she did not care about others. This sorority was matching what she was looking for. She had a great experience, one of them was gong to national in Miami, FL. She continue to be in touch with her sisters, was in couple weddings and a big body to a younger sister from her sorority (different UG) at her Med. School. Figure out what you are looking for instead of checking with others.</p>
<p>Are the NPC sororities very accepting of other races/ethnicities? I actually like a few sororities that are consider tier 1 and 2. I am black, white, and native american, I have mostly white friends so I would feel more comfortable in that type of setting.</p>