tbh
by: reb
Comment#3by: Go Greek!
Theta is a great sorority and it has strong sisterhood. The only reason they are considered lower is because they made up of mostly out of state students. If you really look at the Sorority the girls are cute and they are involved on campus. They just aren't going to spend their entire lives in Mississippi.
#5by: good vs. bad
Wish this talk would stop. There are no "bad" sororities - there are great girls in every house just like there are girls who aren't so great (meaning not so nice, kind, etc.) in every house too.
I think this thinking originates back to recruitment and yes, there are houses that struggle to meet quota....hence, the use of variable quota to help those houses meet their numbers. Theta has struggled with quota as have other houses through the years (including ADPi which actually was at OM years ago and closed before coming back a few years ago). It happens everywhere. Unfortunately when houses struggle making quota, they get labeled "bad." Which they are not, of course.
When all is said and done, all that matters is if you were with girls you really liked and had a sisterhood that made your years at Ole Miss better, richer and fuller.
Live and let live.
#6by: to ?
There are many factors that determine if a sorority's colonization is successful. Starting at a very competitive Greek school like OM is tough. Also a factor is how well the national chooses members (did they go for numbers or quality, etc.). Is that sorority known in the area? Is there good local alum support?
I had a relative here (in Kappa) right after Theta started - she said back then OM had few OOS students so no-one knew how strong Theta was nationally. Now OM has so many OOS students that new chapters like ADPi and APhi have a better shot since they're known elsewhere. The number of girls going through recruitment was much smaller back then (my relative said most houses had about 150 girls total) so fewer girls were left without a house to pledge.
I read on this board last fall - after recruitment ended - girls said they didn't pledge because they pref parties were ADPi and APhi and they "wanted a house with history at OM" - and that happens. Which means Theta would be up against that as well, not to mention not having a physical house for a few years which girls also want (especially back then since my relative said everyone moved into the house their sophomore year which was tradition).
by: not really
Starting at very competitive Greek schools is tough. But you said Theta was at a disadvantage when they started because there weren't a lot of OOS students that were aware of how strong they were nationally. Ok fine, let's go with that. But ADPi and Alpha Phi definitely do not have a better shot now just because they are strong nationally and there are more OOS students. Theta is still strong nationally, especially in places like Texas, and Ole Miss has more students from Texas than any other state except for, obviously, Mississippi. But those girls who know Theta's national reputation still do not want to go Theta. They consistently have the lowest return rates of any chapter during recruitment. If anything, theoretically, Theta should have an advantage over ADPi and Alpha Phi now, because they have been here for close to 40 years now. Yet somehow ADPi and Alpha Phi have higher return rates during rush. Given the choice, PNMs are still choosing both ADPi and Alpha Phi over Theta. Alpha Phi doesn't even have a house yet, and as a recruitment counselor during this past recruitment week, I know most PNMs that I talked to or heard about were choosing Alpha Phi over both ADPi and especially Theta. You have to hand it to Alpha Phi, considering this was their first formal recruitment and they don't have a house yet, they had a good rush. Already miles ahead of Theta.
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by: ^
You're both right, ADPi and Theta both started off chasing quantity and quantity only and that's the wrong way to approach a colonization. APhi selects their girls with as much selectivity that a new chapter at ole miss can and that's why they're gaining a better rep than Theta. I don't even think Theta is a bad house or throws a poor rush they're just stuck with the stigma that they'll accept anyone and unfortunately most freshmen go into rush with that mindset
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#7by: Not bad at all
The rankings are almost directly related to the order the Sorority was chartered on campus. (With the exception of DG which has had some issues). Theta didn't charter until late 70's and I suspect was made up mostly of out of state students. Of course the tiers have always been determined by the Mississippi 'top' tiers so any out of state sorority was going to be considered 'bottom'. As far as I can tell though, Theta has a great sisterhood, probably actually better than the sororities that are considered top tier.
by: you are right
I knew Chi O and Tri-Delta were first on campus but I googled the order of founding and you're right - the rankings are almost directly correlated to founding date which makes sense. Theta likely had a lot of in-state students when it was founded - back in the 70's there weren't many OOS students except from some surrounding Southern states and the random out of region state or two. My entire immediate and extended family has gone here and it was a small, sleepy Southern school back then.
Interesting that two sororities that were founded early on - Delta Zeta and Zeta Tau Alpha - didn't make it. They were founded in 1928 and 1939, according to a post that was actually put on this site.
One other thing I find interesting. AOPi and Pi Phi's houses used to be modern - they were founded in the 1960's so had a boxy, modern style (so was ADPi's which is now the Barksdale Honors College). My aunt told me that they renovated the exteriors - added traditional rooflines, columns, porches, shutters, etc. - to make them more attractive to PNM's since this is a traditional campus and housing styles matter.
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by: kind of
This is somewhat true but there are definite exceptions. From oldest to newest, the order the chapters were established on this campus is: Chi O (1899), Tri Delt (1904), Phi Mu (1926), Delta Gamma (1927), Kappa Delta (1927), Kappa (1947), AOPi (1958), Pi Phi (1962), Theta (1979), ADPi (2013), Alpha Phi (2015). Phi Mu is a great chapter, but not better than KD or DG, and KD probably has an edge in the tiers over DG. But Theta is still widely perceived as the "bottom" house even though they've been on campus over 30 years longer than ADPi and Alpha Phi. Their history isn't helping them, it's actually probably hurting them. Theta's biggest issue is having a bad reputation for being the bottom house and full of a lot of girls who were cut from other sororities. PNMs can be shallow and they don't want to be in the bottom house, so they'll pick ADPi or Alpha Phi to not be in the bottom house. Whether Theta will ever get past that reputation I'm not sure, but they haven't been able to yet and they've been trying since the 70s.
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by: @not really
#8by: hi
Honestly, I don't know what happened with Theta but I remember before rush everyone was scared to get theta and aphi. Not even because any of us knew girls in those house it was just word of mouth that those houses weren't prestigious. Obviously looking back that is extremely shallow but at the time it's how everyone felt. And that's why you saw girls crying when they got those two houses on bid day. And I think it's the reputation of being bad that had kept theta bottom and that keeps girl reluctant of wanting aphi, during rush they had really awkward girls talking to everyone and I think it reinforced that stereotype. I think the only way they will grow and get better is if they have a great rush and make girls exited about visiting their houses.
#9by: #
I read here that Theta actually started out fairly strong and was considered a good OOS house.
Two things that pushed them down in the rankings:
1) ADPi and ZTA closed in the 1990s. This is why people should root for struggling houses to survive -- when a chapter closes, another one has to take their place at the bottom.
2) Theta was the first NPC at Ole Miss to bid an African-American woman back around 1997 (?). Which is great, but at the time it had a bad effect on their rep.
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by: ?
I've never understood what causes a house to struggle with quota to begin with. Probably because its a behind the scene numbers game but are girls suiciding? I get it once you start that downward slide, but what causes the initial hit I wonder?
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