What Auburn PNMs should know

First, if you see a ranking on this site that divides chapters into top, middle, and bottom tiers, take it with a grain of salt. Rankings are highly subjective, and most importantly they're often influenced by the perspective—and the bias—of the person posting them. There are members in every sorority that post here that truly need affirmation. PNMs are much better served by trusting the recruitment process, have meaningful conversations at rush events, and giving every chapter an honest look rather than allowing anonymous rankings to shape their opinions before they even arrive on campus. Also, there are things that AU Panhellenic does well and some things that they do poorly. A rush week where Chapters eliminate girls based on a short video (Ice Water Teas) to start rush is mind-blowing. I'm willing to note that they are a bit handcuffed due to the sheer numbers of PNMs each year but, in my opinion, that is very shallow.

For out-of-state PNMs, it's also important to have realistic expectations. Some chapters have historically recruited heavily from certain Alabama cities and established HS specific social networks. As a result, a PNM may find herself released by several chapters before they ever get a chance to talk to anyone in that sorority, even if she has a strong résumé and makes a good impression. That can be disappointing, but it isn't necessarily a reflection of her or what her overall recruitment experience will look like. Two quick stories: 1) I had a friend (OOS) that wanted one specific sorority b/c her mother and sister are both in that sorority. She was dropped from that sorority halfway through rush. 2) There was a certain sorority national advisor that had two nieces (OOS) go through rush. Both were dropped from that sorority. The struggle for OOS PNM's is real.

Another thing to point out is how similar many Auburn chapters actually are. If you took members from every chapter, put everyone in ordinary clothes, and removed the letters, most people probably couldn't reliably identify which chapter each woman belonged to. Every chapter has attractive women, academically strong women, athletic women, outgoing women, quieter women, quirky personalities, and everything in between.

That's why I don't think another "top, middle, bottom" ranking is particularly useful and honestly just pits sororities against one another. It's too subjective, and the person creating the ranking rarely acknowledges the experiences or biases influencing it. Anyone that is trying to prop up their sorority or degrade another with their ignorant rankings should be embarrassed.

Instead, I think it makes more sense to look at which chapters have been particularly strong over the last couple of years and which appear to be recruiting well now. After all, today's PNMs will be going to college with the current members and recent pledge classes—not the members who established a chapter's reputation decades ago.

Worth noting, I withdrew during pledging from a sorority in '24 and I'm OOS; With that said, given my hindsight, here are the AU chapters that align more with me given my values, experiences, opportunities, classes, and their recent strong pledge classes (no particular order).

PhiMu, Kappa, DZ, AOII, KD, ZTA, PiPhi, GPhi

This in no way means these sororities are better than any other or that you'll have a better experience with one of these than joining another sorority...just one person's opinion with as many biases removed as possible.