For those who are thinking about rushing fraternities in the near future, I applaud you. Joining Greek Life at your respective college/university can be one of the best decisions of your life. During rush, there will be this dreaded concept in the Greek Community called the “Tier System”. In the tier system, you will find 3 general types of tiers, and each of them has their own stereotypes.
TOP TIER:
These guys are the best as you can get. They probably have the largest amount of members, one of the biggest houses on/off campus, they are probably involved in athletics, philanthropies, and other organizations on-campus, and most likely every sorority girl wants to socialize with them. Their pledging is rumored as one of the most grueling tasks a person might have to go through, but their pledges will go through anything to be initiated into the so called best of the best. Some sorority girls might call them “douchebags”, others might call them “meatheads”, and even some might call them “fine as hell”, but whatever you want to call them, they are the top dogs. But as the saying goes “big trees fall the hardest”;because they are in the spotlight, they are often the ones to get kicked off campus.
MIDDLE TIER:
Fraternities in the middle tier are never defined the same. Some of them are smart, some of them are athletic, some of them are philanthropic, and some of them maybe involved. So what can be said about middle tier fraternities? Each one has their clear positives and negatives. They probably have a fraternity house somewhere on or off campus. It may not be the biggest or the best house, but it gets the job done. You may hear that middle tier fraternities are so called “try-hards”, and that their pledging is “easier than most”. Most sorority girls like to socialize with middle-tier fraternities, unless they find a good reason not to. Most potential new members want to end up in a middle-tier fraternity, and it’s perfectly acceptable to see why that is so. You will often find the strongest brotherhood bond in a middle-tier house.
Bottom TIER:
Fraternities in the bottom tier get a bad rap. They are the undesirables. These are the guys that are always the butt of every joke related to Greek life. They’re weird, they’re creepy, and a lot of them wear cargo-shorts. Other Greeks will call them GDI’s that wear Greek letters. Their pledging is a joke, they probably don’t have a house to call their own, and the only sororities that will talk to them are also bottom tier. Reasons why this fraternity is bottom tier may include the fact they got kicked off campus 5 years ago and they just came back; maybe they’re a colony chapter that’s trying to get its foot in the door; or maybe they just don’t have a care in the world about Greek Life. For one reason, or for multiple reasons, they are stuck at the bottom. Sure, the members might be doing the best they can to change the fact they’re at the bottom, but those things just don’t happen overnight. Being in a bottom tier fraternity can also present its members with the rewarding tasks of building a respectable reputation and growing its numbers.
After hearing all the stereotypes of each tier, should you follow the tier-system? ABSOLUTELY NOT.
When you rush a fraternity, you should look for the chapter you best fit in. Every fraternity that’s on your campus does the same things. They participate in athletics, philanthropies, and other organizations around campus. Each fraternity has sorority girls they associate with, and every fraternity parties in some form. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THE PEOPLE INSIDE THE FRATERNITY.
Sure, the fraternity you want to join may or may not be top-tier, but the real question you should be asking yourself is this; are you comfortable around the people in the fraternity? If you aren’t, please look somewhere else. If you are, then do what you need to do in order to get a bid, because it will definitely be worth it.
