Is Greekrank.com the perfect source for all Greek news and rankings?
With the Fall semester in full swing, and fraternity and sorority events crowding the calendars, many first year students are noticing an uptick in the discussion about who is who and what is what. Naturally, if you are interested in joining a Greek organization, you may be looking for some (seemingly) unbiased information about the organizations on campus and therefore turn to a number of online sources to gather this information. Enter, greekrank.com.
Greekrank.com is an anonymous online forum where any person with internet access can post about the organizations at any given school, at any time. While the site monitors these postings, there is, essentially, free and anonymous reign over what is posted.
Typically, this site is frequented and updated with posts at larger schools. There are over 150,000 discussion posts on organizations at the University of Alabama, compared with only 322 on Wofford’s page.
Nevertheless, these entries still speak to the way that these organizations may be perceived by potential new members (PNMs) throughout the Class of 2025. Whether negative or positive, these posts provide a forum for which individuals can explore the commonly held opinions about Greek organizations they may be interested in joining in the Spring.
This may not be a new platform, but the relevance of Greekrank has risen in the past year as the restrictions on in-person engagement events rose. With these restrictions slowly receding, the posts and comments still remain and the impact of such entries still remain to be seen.
With all of these opinions accessible to first-years throughout the coming semester, prior to recruitment, what is the best way to navigate these forums?
Jana Marie Faircloth, ‘22, president of Panhellenic Council,the organization which oversees all female greek organizations on campus, said, “(First-years) should not be making the decision to join Greek Life or not, or join a specific organization, based off the anonymous opinions shared on Greekrank.”
Similarly, Michael Ferro, ‘22, president of the Interfraternity Council, or IFC, the organization which oversees all male greek organizations on campus, said, “the landscape of Greek Life (at Wofford) changes so often over the years, there’s no better way to find the organization where you belong than by meeting the members and seeing what you want in an organization.”
Both Ferro and Faircloth say that they knew vaguely of Greekrank during their freshman year but believe that it is peripheral to the Greek recruitment process at Wofford.
Specifically, Faircloth said, prior to her own recruitment period, “I personally did not give much attention to (Greekrank) and don’t know of many who did.”
Ashley Owen, assistant dean of students for leadership programs and fraternity and sorority life, echoed what Faircloth and Ferro asserted.
Owen added, “I think our Wofford students recognize that they should look at statements made on anonymous platforms, such as Greekrank…with a heavy dose of skepticism.”
With a deferred recruitment design like the one Wofford has, there are many months between students coming to campus and the day they receive their long-awaited bid card, granting them access to the sisterhood or brotherhood of their preference.
“The formal recruitment process is designed to help students find an organization that will be the best fit for them,” Owen said. “I would not suggest anyone expend much, if any, energy at this point in the process trying to gain genuine insights from these anonymous platforms.”
When it comes to Greekrank.com and the anonymous entries that describe organizations both favorably and maliciously, proceed with caution. While navigating Wofford’s Greek Life can be daunting and overwhelming, the formal recruitment process is designed to ease these confusions and assist students in finding their perfect fit.
