<p>Hi I'm an incoming freshman at NU. I was wondering what the best and worst sororities are. Also, what are their reputations? I am just genuinely curious and want to get a better feel for what greek life may be like. Thank you, I would appreciate your opinions.</p>
<p>Make those determinations for yourself and don’t be influenced by other’s perceptions.</p>
<p>As usual, arbiter is giving good advice.
From a parent’s perspective i would only point out that (i) the rushing system at NU is designed to give you time to get adjusted to NU before you have to even think about whether to go Greek or which sororities to shoot for, because there is no rushing until the winter term, and (ii) the rushing system all but assures that you will see all or almost all of the sororities and meet some of their members before the mutual narrowing and selection process begins.</p>
<p>As arbiter213 says, opinions about sororities are very subjective. D and many of her friends rushed, and they each liked very different things about different houses. My impression is that none were “bad”, just that some fit certain people better then others. Her friends landed in a variety of houses and all seem to be in great situations.</p>
<p>Enjoy your upcoming life as a Wildcat!!</p>
<p>Thank you all for your advice, but can anyone answer my question?</p>
<p>No. You should not go into rush with a pre-determination that these are the “best” sororities and these are not. There is a reason NU sorority rush is set up so that you have to meet and spend time with girls in all the houses. Because you need to go in and give every house a fair chance, and then after meeting them, decide which ones you like and which ones you don’t. There is no “best.” There is only the “best for you.” It doesn’t matter as long as you’re happy with the girls in the house and feel a friendship.</p>
<p>FYI for the OP, I’m a parent who was in a sorority at NU (was a rush director and a rush counselor) and have a son who is in the fraternity system there.</p>
<p>I’ll add that going in trying to get the “best” house is setting yourself up for disaster. This is a group of friends, people to whom you will grow extremely close. Do you pick your friends based on who the “best” friends will be? As in, oh, Tina will attract all the hot guys over, or Julia makes the best cosmos? Generally, I hope, you pick your friends based on who you have common interests, values, and personalities with, and with whom you enjoy spending time.</p>
<p>This thread may also be indicating something about the culture at NU where, in D’s experience, the students quickly figure out that EVERY student has extraordinary qualities and deserves your respect and attention. I assume the same is true of the sororities.</p>
<p>By the time they do recruitment (not until winter quarter), you’ll know the reputations but I feel this is the pretty general stereotype consensus</p>
<p>Most attractive (in no particular order)
Theta
Kappa
Tri Delt</p>
<p>Not necessarily in the top, but close
A Phi
Gamma Phi</p>
<p>Middle of the Road (no real strong reputation as good or bad)
Zeta
KD
DG
DZ</p>
<p>Bad Reputation/considered unattractive
ChiO
Alpha Chi Omega (refereed to as achio or alpha chi)</p>
<p>I think this is the answer you probably wanted, but I agree with the earlier comments. I know plenty of nice and pretty girls that aren’t in the “top” houses. In addition, how the recruitment system is set up, you have a chance to meet sisters from every house to see which girls you probably would best get along with. Generally, I find that most people are happy wherever they end up, regardless of the reputation.</p>
<p>No offense to the above poster, but OP, I would not pay any attention to that. Different people consider different things when ranking “top” and “bottom” sororities. As someone who is currently in the Greek system at NU, I would strongly urge you to base your opinions of different chapters on your experiences with them, and your relationships with chapter members, rather than what someone “ranks” them on some forum. Those who have the best recruitment experiences are usually those who go in with good attitudes and who give ALL of the chapters a fair shake.</p>
<p>RustlerJ, I think you’re a little off, especially considering that you forgot Pi Phi, which would be grouped with A Phi/Gamma Phi. And DG would definitely be in that group too, not middle of the road. I don’t agree with the hierarchy of the greek system, and I think it’s sooo high school that people buy into it, but it’s mostly based around what the frats say. Completely objectively, from what I’ve heard from my friends in frats, this is where sororities tend to stand:</p>
<p>First “tier”:
Tri Delt
Theta
Kappa</p>
<p>Second:
A Phi
DG
Pi Phi
Gamma Phi</p>
<p>Third:
Zeta
DZ
KD</p>
<p>Fourth:
Chi O
A Chi O</p>
<p>Ugh. (And I say this as someone whose house stacked up pretty well by the above criteria, LOL) It doesn’t MATTER. If you find a house of girls that you like and who like you, it is of no consequence to anything where they “rank” in some mythical ranking. Rankings are only important to the kinds of losers who are into rankings. You have better things to do at NU than pay attention to this kind of thing. If you find a house you like, you’ll have tons of fun, make great friendships that last a lifetime and it will not matter in the least whether your house is “top” or “bottom.”</p>
<p>As a current member of a sorority at Northwestern, it upsets me to see questions like this posted. However, I understand that incoming freshmen may have a skewed view of the process. The point of recruitment is for you to find a chapter that is a good fit for YOU. You should not be concerned with a sorority being “better” or “more attractive” than the others. Although you will only spend a few minutes at each chapter getting to know the active women, you will quickly find that no chapter is “better” than any other, they are simply different.
If you are looking to join a “top” sorority because of reputation, you may find yourself dropping out of recruitment because chapters look for important values in potential new members. I am in one of the chapters that is considered to be “top tier” and I love my sorority sisters, but it was not their reputation that drew me (in fact, I was unaware of reputations before recruitment because I lived in a dorm where no one rushed), but rather their class, leadership, and scholarship.
My advise to you is to just be yourself during recruitment. If you do that, you’ll find a chapter you’ll fall in love with, regardless of reputation. Thanks to our delayed recruitment, you will also make a lot of friends that will end up in other chapters. Greek life is a blast and ending up in the chapter that best fits for you will be important (Sometimes girls decide to put on an act for recruitment for “reputation” or whatever else and they end up deactivating because they figure out they don’t share the values of the sorority).</p>
<p>God knows, my daughter loves NU and her sorority, but it’s discussions like these (or rather, the question that started the thread) that make me glad that my college had no sororities. When my daughter said she was rushing, I thought she was joking. Ah well.</p>
<p>@EnoughAlready - we sound like kindred spirits! ;-D</p>
<p>To the OP - our D rushed last year, and her list of preferred sororities going in to the process looked nothing like those posted. YOUR criteria may very well be something a bit deeper than “most attractive”, and even on that score D’s personal assessment was different than some frat’s might be. ;-D</p>
<p>Heck, I bussed tables back in the day at “A Chi O”-- you say tier 4, what a great bunch of smart, gorgeous women. These rankings are a crock! All NU women are the Cats Meow and wicked smart!</p>
<p>.02 David</p>
<p>I would think that the “best” sororities are the ones that fit your schedule and personality best. </p>
<p>If you are an engineering student and you join a sorority that plans, runs, recovers from parties Wed-Sunday, you are in the WRONG house. period. </p>
<p>Find common interests and a workable schedule and build lasting friendships within that community. If they don’t match, you’ll end up quitting anyway.</p>
<p>to be blunt and answer the original question:</p>
<p>Kappa/TriDelt
Theta
PiPhi/Aphi
GPhi
KD/ZTA
DG
DZ
AChiO
ChiO</p>
<p>at least this is what it’s like right now
but i agree with the previous replies that it’s so much better when you get into a sorority that makes you feel at home rather than look at social status</p>
<p>This is over a year old. Give it up</p>
Wrong. G phi and KD have never been that high. Ever.
Top: Theta Kappa Tridelt
Upper mid: A phi DG Pi Phi
Lower mid: G phi Zeta KD
lower: dz chi o alpha chi