moving up

Really good pledge class

For a house to move up in rankings is dependent on a variety of key factors. The first and most important factor is the pledge class. If a pledge class is "bad" one year, or they don't get at least a handful of the highly sought after PNMs that year then it can really throw off where the sorority stands in the rankings - that's a reason why it's so hard for bottom tier houses to move up because since they're bottom tier the highly sought after PNMs don't want to pledge them. The pledge classes also really help mold the sorority's reputation. Since freshman are on campus more often than upperclassmen, it's a lot easier for freshman to make an impression on the other people around them... So if that really hot girl in your english class is in ____ sorority then that gives people a better first impression of the sorority. but if that weird crazy girl is in ____ sorority then that gives people a weird vibe about the sorority. This year Phi Mu didn't get as good of a pledge class they were hoping for so you can see them slipping in the ranks whereas Zeta did surprisingly well and you can see the slowly moving up. Money is also another factor. If a house has a lot of alums willing to donate hefty amounts, that money can go into big things, like a new house, or those smaller things that positively strike PNMs during rush, like decorations, for example Gamma Phi did well this rush because of their new house and you can see them slowly moving up.

It's really hard for a bottom house to move up significantly in the ranks. The houses in every tier have been the same for decades and a house can only move up in their tier, rather than move up into a different one, if that makes sense. The reason why it's so hard for bottom houses to move up is because of the cycle and process in which rush and basically everything else is performed... The best way a house can improve their rank is by getting a really, really good pledge class - that means getting the top recruits (smart, pretty, fun, etc) - and more so than not, those top PNMs usually go to top tier/top middle tier houses. And so year after year during rush, the bottom houses are losing those top girls that could've improved the house as a whole... And it's not that the bottom houses aren't good enough or trying hard enough, it's just that the top houses have the reputation and label of being top. It's all just basically a cycle - top houses stay top, unless something significant happens to knock them down, while the bottom houses stay bottom even though they may be trying to improve. Ranks don't matter though.

Everything I'm reading is so so sad. It's all so shallow.