Tiers in The SEC

[Lucky SC]

Originally Posted by SECdomination

I forgot about them. We have a few from the Fort Walton/Destin/Panama City area.



Here, in Florida, I think we get a lot less help from the private schools. Bolles and Stanton out of Jacksonville are great, and The First Academy out of Orlando, but that's about it.
I don't really know about the others at UF, but in my chapter we rely heavily on the "public-schools-that-might-as-well-be-private". Plant (Tampa), Nease (Ponte Vedra Beach), Lake Brantley, Lake Mary, Boone (Orlando) are good examples.
And the rest come from towns barely on the map.


Haha, mine too. I think they've won whatever national award DG gives for "best chapter" a couple times.

I never expected to see fraternity men in the same sentence as Panama City. Wild city, but def the redneck riviera lol

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by SECdomination

Here, in Florida, I think we get a lot less help from the private schools. Bolles and Stanton out of Jacksonville are great, and The First Academy out of Orlando, but that's about it.
I don't really know about the others at UF, but in my chapter we rely heavily on the "public-schools-that-might-as-well-be-private". Plant (Tampa), Nease (Ponte Vedra Beach), Lake Brantley, Lake Mary, Boone (Orlando) are good examples.

The "public-schools-that-might-as-well-be-private" is alot of what the Delta is. I take that back...alot of the schools aren't wealthy at all, but the people who are go to the UofA, the ones that aren't end up at UCA, SAU, or elsewhere. Very stratified.

Bolles is definitely a great school from everything I've been told.

The tier system of Universities is very based on the schools which the University recruits from.

Ole Miss and Alabama all have lots of people from Jackson and Mobile. Key recruiting areas in terms of top-notch fraternity men.

Texas has the entire state, which include cities I've mentioned before (HP, Tyler, parts of Houston)

Part of Kentucky's problem is that it draws alot from Ohio...which isn't so good. This is my problem with Arkansas (which draws heavily from the north Dallas, Oklahoma, and Missouri, and northwest Arkansas) Just my opinion, though.

[sasquatch]

Originally Posted by Elephant Walk

Good Question. You have to keep in mind to not only include the SEC, but also the Big 12 South. This disregards alot of great non-SEC/Big12South systems but still in the South, such as UNC, Hampden-Sydney, Sewannee and possibly FSU. All that being said...here's what I would go with:

Top Tier:
Ole Miss
Alabama
Texas
South Carolina (questionable, perhaps lower)

-in between-
Georgia
Auburn
LSU

2nd Tier:
Auburn
Tennessee
Vanderbilt
Oklahoma
Texas Tech

-in between-
Arkansas
Florida
Oklahoma St.

3rd Tier:
Mississippi St.
Texas A&M
Kentucky
Baylor

That being said...except for perhaps the 3rd tier, the top tier houses at any of these Universities could compete with one another.

Sorry, but IMO opinion this is way off. LSU and Texas should not be top, UGA should. Texas Tech? Oklahoma? What? Honestly, these shouldn't even be included at all.

I think all the Big 12 schools, except Texas are undoubtedly 3rd tier, along with UF and Mississippi State. Alabama, Ole Miss, and UGA are tops with all the remaining SEC schools falling somewhere in the 2nd tier.

ETA: What about UVA and Clemson? Those beat out any Big 12 school, even probably Texas.

[skylark]

Originally Posted by banditone

What's funny is that no one ever says "blah blah fraternity, the one no one wants to join". Or the like.

I think that is because of the perceived notion that through formal recruitment (for sororities) no woman would choose the smallest or least popular sorority... and because of the secrecy over the process and people's rankings, we rarely have enough info to dispel that myth. In contrast, with the guys often not having a coordinated system of recruitment, fewer people doubt that the people who joined XYZ fraternity wanted to be there (rather than just ending up there after an elaborate bid matching system).

[Lucky SC]

Originally Posted by sasquatch

Sorry, but IMO opinion this is way off. LSU and Texas should not be top, UGA should. Texas Tech? Oklahoma? What? Honestly, these shouldn't even be included at all.

I think all the Big 12 schools, except Texas are undoubtedly 3rd tier, along with UF and Mississippi State. Alabama, Ole Miss, and UGA are tops with all the remaining SEC schools falling somewhere in the 2nd tier.

ETA: What about UVA and Clemson? Those beat out any Big 12 school, even probably Texas.

maybe UVA based on the tradition of founding there, but its probably gone a bit off the deep end with it pretty much almost being of ivy leauge status these days, not knocking it at all. I want to go there for grad school.

And Clemson? Clemson? first off i go to USC so don't get me started on the purple and orange lol, but their fraternity houses are straight horrible, most don't have houses. And there is what like 2 bars in that town?

props to the UGA statement though, very true

I agree with all your other statements though about UGA, Bama, and Ole Miss being top tier. I like my school but i must admit, USC and the likes at USC, Auburn, or Tennessee are all still good but def of not the same stature. and UF is prob def on the lower end.

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by sasquatch

ETA: What about UVA and Clemson? Those beat out any Big 12 school, even probably Texas.

My pick on Texas being up there lays mainly on how strong the top two are and not the totality of the system honestly.

UVA and Clemson deserve to be on there somewhere.

I didn't put Georgia on top because of how small the chapters are compared to the rest of the school. Aren't normal fraternities at Georgia around 70-80 people?

And I did mostly place the Big 12 in the third tier, except for Oklahoma and Texas.

[sasquatch]

Originally Posted by Elephant Walk

My pick on Texas being up there lays mainly on how strong the top two are and not the totality of the system honestly.

UVA and Clemson deserve to be on there somewhere.

I didn't put Georgia on top because of how small the chapters are compared to the rest of the school. Aren't normal fraternities at Georgia around 70-80 people?

And I did mostly place the Big 12 in the third tier, except for Oklahoma and Texas.

I'm not sure how big most chapters at UGA are. I was just saying I don't think the Big 12 should have been included. Texas is the only school that compares to the SEC. Greek life may be huge at Oklahoma, but it just doesn't hold a candle to the SEC or Texas.

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by Army Wife'79

Speaking of "old money" in the South I'm always curious to know if you consider them the ones who originally were large landholders BEFORE the Civil War or the Yankee carpetbaggers who came down and bought up all the land for back-taxes? Because, many of the true Southern families lost all/most their land/money after the war. What you call "old money" now may not be original Land Grant owners or appear in the 1850 Census. What is your timeframe of "old money"?

Old Money is typically designated for people that have had money in their family for at least 3-4 generations.

[macallan25]

Originally Posted by sasquatch

Sorry, but IMO opinion this is way off. LSU and Texas should not be top, UGA should. Texas Tech? Oklahoma? What? Honestly, these shouldn't even be included at all.

I think all the Big 12 schools, except Texas are undoubtedly 3rd tier, along with UF and Mississippi State. Alabama, Ole Miss, and UGA are tops with all the remaining SEC schools falling somewhere in the 2nd tier.

ETA: What about UVA and Clemson? Those beat out any Big 12 school, even probably Texas.

No they don't, and I'm not saying that because I go to Texas. LSU shouldn't be in the top. Texas should....without question. The houses, the money, the guys that make up the top houses, the sorority scene, Austin, etc. etc. Texas Tech and Oklahoma? No, probably not.

[sasquatch]

Originally Posted by macallan25

No they don't, and I'm not saying that because I go to Texas. LSU shouldn't be in the top. Texas should....without question. The houses, the money, the guys that make up the top houses, the sorority scene, Austin, etc. etc. Texas Tech and Oklahoma? No, probably not.

Now that I think about it, you're probably right. I just think people sometimes give the Big 12 way too much credit, simply because of Texas. Greek life at Texas is great, but the rest of the Big 12 South is more comparable to the Big 10.

[macallan25]

Yeah I agree. I'm not a Big XII fluffer. The only other schools in the region that you can really include are SMU and TCU, and obviously they are not in the Big XII. It would even be hard for me to include TCU just because of how their set-up is.

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by macallan25

Yeah I agree. I'm not a Big XII fluffer. The only other schools in the region that you can really include are SMU and TCU, and obviously they are not in the Big XII. It would even be hard for me to include TCU just because of how their set-up is.

Agreed.

I think SMU should be somewhere up there, perhaps in the upper 2nd...the top houses are tops, the tier in the middle is very questionable. The people it draws from are not the people I would wish in my fraternity. But Phi Delt definitely does well.

[bowsandtoes]

"Old Money" isn't really considered a technical term anymore, in relation to the War of Northern Aggression. It mostly means that the family has been wealthy for several generations. Yes I know that wealth does not equate to class, but its impossible to deny some connection. It is true that "a fool and his money are soon parted" so the very fact that a family is able to maintain their wealth should be an indication that they're doing something right.

That said, I'm not from an old money family (not ashamed of it either), neither are some of my pledge brothers, and I can tell you that there is honestly no distinction between the two within our fraternity.

In terms of certain towns producing more top-house guys, that's also true. Just as with family money, a town or neighborhood that has money will likely have better high schools, etc. For example in Dallas, even if you're not from a high-class background, if you go to a good private school or Highland Park, some of that is going to rub off on you.

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by SECdomination

Guys on here talk about schools to recruit from and cities that we draw from because we know what to expect. That's why in bigger cities, certain high schools are important, and in smaller towns location is important.

100% truth.

At Arkansas, I can tell you where every fraternity recruits from.

It defines their fraternity (as it should).

[catiebug]

Why, bless your heart macallan. Where I come from (Highland Park - Fratty would be proud), that is considered new money.

And, as I consider myself a lady, I refuse to discuss money anymore. It just is *not done*.

Originally Posted by macallan25

Old Money is typically designated for people that have had money in their family for at least 3-4 generations.