He's clearly read his Deborah Tannen and Rachel has not.Probably more of a reading requirement for a Communications major than a Chemistry one.
At some point, Ragan's problem is going to turn into 'He's everyone's friend -- jury threat!' While he has people who like him, it's hard to pick out his alliances, real, potential, or 'we're just lying to him this week'. I'm not sure how deep his bonds go. Matt would discard him at less than a moment's notice, gawds only know what Britney thinks of anything, and the Meow2 will toss him as soon as the primary threats are neutralized. His influence is intermittent because people who can't think won't take his words to heart, and he doesn't have a discernible power base. Unless he's been good enough to keep everything invisible -- on the feeds...
I can't see him lasting past the F6-F4 range in the current house structure. Then again, the current house structure self-destructs every eight minutes.
Rachel is playing like Janelle, playing to win competitions, but Janelle was put in that spot by the horrible Fiendship; Rachel could have played differently.
At one point, Rachel said her wish was for Janelle to like her. Make of it what you will.