do rankings matter

I'm also rushing, but I'm a guy. Does ranking matter for guys too?

Yes and no. It will influence who you exchange with but it matters more that you fit in with your house and can form friendships that last.

To an extent. If your a girl, you'll get bids to better parties the better your sororities is, but if your cool/hot and make friends with guys in the better houses you can still go. As a guy, the better your house the better your parties will be, but again if your social and cool and make friends it's possible to go to the better parties.

First off. Congrats on your acceptance to Berkeley! And Second, Ranks do not matter. They only give a very general picture of the type of people you hang out with the most. Like top frats with top sororitys, middle sororitys with middle frats etc.

A top house will allow you to easily go to any party, but if you want to go to parties you can find a way to go to whatever you want. Either way you will have an active social life and have parties to go to in any house (except maybe gphi, tbh).

Suggest going in with an open mind and seeing where you think you would be comfortable - what's the vibe of the house? You will be spending a fair amt of time with people in the house and you will probably also live there so FIT is super impt imo. Also be aware of how people in the house interact with each other at events. Some houses have great sisterhood, other houses not so much. Maybe sisterhood isn't so impt to you and thats ok too. See if the house you are interested in is on probation either with the school or its national. Give serious thought to what your priorities are for your Cal experience and how much or little you want to party vs study. Houses vary on the party/study scale and you might not feel comfortable with a house that is quite different from your comfort zone. That being said most houses have a range of different types of sisters so its likely you will find a friend group in virtually any house. The recruitment process is described as being one of mutual selection but the reality is bit different than this imo. For the past few years many have walked away from recruitment when they were cut from the houses they thought they wanted. A number of these people regretted missing out on a 1st year greek experience which is unfortunate. As a jr I can say that the greek experience for me has given me a kind of home base and made a large school feel comfortable to me. I found the dorm experience somewhat isolating and things really changed for me in terms of meeting people after joining. Our school is pretty amazing as we have great houses across the board, so please don't get hung up on rank and the overall experience over 4 years goes so beyond a crazy ranking on this site. JMO but I hope it helps a few focus on the big picture and not run for the hills after the first two rounds of recruitment!