Colleges where it sucks if you’re not Greek or sporty - help us avoid them!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Counterintuitively, larger schools tend to be much better for introverts and students not interested in fraternities or sororities. There is a much bigger space for students to find their thing. Most SLACs would be nightmares for kids not interested in participating in Greek life.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Counterintuitively, larger schools tend to be much better for introverts and students not interested in fraternities or sororities. There is a much bigger space for students to find their thing. Most SLACs would be nightmares for kids not interested in participating in Greek life.

My DS is at a SLAC with no Greek life and it’s perfect for him. He is an introvert and is pretty academically/intellectually oriented. He has gone on some tours of large schools with his sibling and says it makes him so glad he didn’t go that route.

[Anonymous]

Washington & Lee

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP- my DD is loving W&M!

I’m so happy you posted an update! I was just thinking that W&M might have been a good option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP- my DD is loving W&M!

Yay!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NYU, BU, NEU

I think these schools are completely fine without greek or sports.

Not just fine,
NYU in NYC and Northeastern in Boston are probably some of the best in this category.

[Anonymous]

MIT is usually around 40% Greek. It isn't as sporty but does have football and value athletics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a whole bunch of "fratty" SLAC/Universities in Ohop, Pennsylvania and Indiana that fits this - Miami of Ohio/Dennison type places, and then the entire SEC (alabama, Vandy, Auburn) - and actually most southern schools, with Rice being the exception.

Vandy doesn't belong on this list. Sure there are a lot of greek and/or sporty kids but plenty that are not and there is so much to do in Nashville that has nothing to do with sports or frats.

Vandy has the highest Greek percentage in the whole got dam SEC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I know this is over-simplifying but my daughter is looking a tier lower than from what maybe she could have a shot at because we can’t afford $70-80 thousand. This sounds whiney but it feels like this makes it hard to avoid party-schools, which she would like to do. The big state schools seem so Greek and overwhelming to her — we visited some.)

Though I went to an Ivy and frats ruled the weekends because the school was so isolated.)

The big state schools that have 15,000+ students might have large greek systems, but if 15% is greek, that means 85% isn't...that translates to thousands of non-greek kids for your kid to find her tribe.

This. I’ve never seen a college where the majority are Greek. Number wise it’s not possible. I personally think the bigger schools, even with large Greek systems, still have more diverse students and activities to offer them the smaller ones.

Washington & Lee is 86 percent greek

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe this issue goes away at schools in cities?

Yes! I would encourage her to look at places where there are other things to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Counterintuitively, larger schools tend to be much better for introverts and students not interested in fraternities or sororities. There is a much bigger space for students to find their thing. Most SLACs would be nightmares for kids not interested in participating in Greek life.

My DS is at a SLAC with no Greek life and it’s perfect for him. He is an introvert and is pretty academically/intellectually oriented. He has gone on some tours of large schools with his sibling and says it makes him so glad he didn’t go that route.

PP, could you tell us which school? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. I know this is over-simplifying but my daughter is looking a tier lower than from what maybe she could have a shot at because we can’t afford $70-80 thousand. This sounds whiney but it feels like this makes it hard to avoid party-schools, which she would like to do. The big state schools seem so Greek and overwhelming to her — we visited some.)

Though I went to an Ivy and frats ruled the weekends because the school was so isolated.)

My DC goes to VT and it is less than 20% Greek. She didn't have any desire to join a sorority and had plenty of company - most students do not go Greek. She's got a great group of friends and is involved in many different activities.

Yep. I went to VT. Greek life didn't matter for the social scene. One of the things I loved about Tech.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a whole bunch of "fratty" SLAC/Universities in Ohop, Pennsylvania and Indiana that fits this - Miami of Ohio/Dennison type places, and then the entire SEC (alabama, Vandy, Auburn) - and actually most southern schools, with Rice being the exception.

Vandy doesn't belong on this list. Sure there are a lot of greek and/or sporty kids but plenty that are not and there is so much to do in Nashville that has nothing to do with sports or frats.

Vandy has the highest Greek percentage in the whole got dam SEC.

This is not close to being true. Vanderbilt has the least amount of Greek students in the SEC. Have you forgotten Alabama? Or Mississippi? Are you aware of what the SEC is? Vanderbilt is an anomaly in the SEC. Greek life is probably comparable to Cornell. It's there but it hardly dominates the campus like it does at other southern schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Counterintuitively, larger schools tend to be much better for introverts and students not interested in fraternities or sororities. There is a much bigger space for students to find their thing. Most SLACs would be nightmares for kids not interested in participating in Greek life.

Agreed.

I went to a huge Big Ten school with one of the largest Greek systems in the country and regularly gets onto the top party school lists. Yet, there are also so many groups, activities and even specific dorms and living areas that are decidedly not Greek or attract any type of Greek-oriented people at all.

I lived in a living learning community dorm for my first couple of years of college that was, for lack of a better term, pretty much all “artsy” people and the opposite of the Greek scene. I was actually in the minority there as a sporty business major that loves big-time football and basketball, but it was a great experience since it was almost like a liberal arts college community within a larger campus. (The number of students living in the dorm itself is probably the size of a lot of liberal arts schools.)

In any event, take heed of the advice that in a counterintuitive way, the larger schools (even those huge Big Ten/SEC with huge Greek systems) actually also often accommodate the non-sporty/non-Greek students better or at least provide more options. In contrast, if a personality doesn’t match with a small liberal arts college, it’s totally stifling because the school population is so small.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a whole bunch of "fratty" SLAC/Universities in Ohop, Pennsylvania and Indiana that fits this - Miami of Ohio/Dennison type places, and then the entire SEC (alabama, Vandy, Auburn) - and actually most southern schools, with Rice being the exception.

No. Did you go to any of these? I went to two, and taught at one. SEC schools are huge, and while they do have active Greek life, they are so large that many types of students have active social lives without ever setting foot into a frat or sorority.

+1 DS is at an SEC school and not Greek. He’s having a great time and quickly found his people.