I didn't know anything about national reputation or number of chapters when I rushed. I had the opportunity to be a founding sister of a colony of a larger and older international sorority, but I chose D Phi E because I liked the sisters and fit in the best.
You also have to realize that as a New Yorker it doesn't matter to me personally that we have only a handful of chapters in the South or Midwest. When I was in college, we had almost twenty chapters in New York State many within a two hour drive of my campus. Not too many other sororities can make the same claim.
My campus had 7 sororities including 6 NPCs, 4 of which would be considered smaller. We didn't have any of the 5 that breathesgelatin's campus has or might have in the future. Ironically, two of the largest three sororities on campus were smallest in terms of number of chapters inter/nationally. I guess things are different in the North and New York.