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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would also look more deeply at campus culture, without ruling out a school with a high percentage of students in Greek life. For example, my DDs LAC has a rule that all students must be able to attend all fraternity parties so no student is left out, although my DD says that doesn't mean that all students will be served. The school also has eating houses for female-identifying students so any student may participate if they choose.

I think our kids are at the same school!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rather than asking for a list of Greek and sporty schools to avoid, why don't you tell us what your daughter is looking for and we can help you come up with options that aren't dominated by those groups?

FWIW, DC had an amazing experience at Berry College and is neither Greek nor sporty. It has a fantastic work program designed to give students meaningful work experience. While the enrollment is relatively small, the campus is huge, which is great for nature lovers. The college talks about educating head, heart and hands. While this might be common rhetoric for educational institutions, Berry students really embrace the philosophy and pride themselves on service. There is a strong sense of community.

The greek feature was also a rule out for my daughter, so I "get" this poster.

The question usually comes up on campus tours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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

+1. NP. This was my first thought as well. If a student want lots of things to do on the weekend that aren't frat parties, then try to be in or near a city, especially in the mid size university category. Would she have a problem with, say, Jesuit schools?

Also OP, on the price, did you check Net Price Calculators to make sure you wouldn't be eligible for need based aid? If you'll need to rely on merit, how much is your annual budget and what are your D's stats like?

Some mid-size to large universities to check out further, some might have Greek but less heavily than large publics or rural LACs, various prices and selectivity levels, in or nearby a city, just a starting point: American, Boston Univ, Brandeis, Case Western, Clark, Creighton, Drexel, Fordham, Gonzaga, GWU, Loyola Chicago, Loyola Marymount, Marquette, Northeastern, RIT, St Louis U, Syracuse, Temple, U Denver, U Miami, U Rochester, U San Diego, USF, Villanova

Villanova is VERY into sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would also look more deeply at campus culture, without ruling out a school with a high percentage of students in Greek life. For example, my DDs LAC has a rule that all students must be able to attend all fraternity parties so no student is left out, although my DD says that doesn't mean that all students will be served. The school also has eating houses for female-identifying students so any student may participate if they choose.

Davidson? I thought the difference between gender options there was odd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Np. My dd is not a drinker or a partier. She wanted a smaller school because of smaller class size and access to professors. She has found that bc of the remote location and the lack of other activities on campus (which may have to do with Covid and the fact that the student center is being renovated), most social love revolves around drinking. She realizes that she would be better off at a larger school. Even schools with a “party school” reputation have lots of groups and activities to join and people can find their niche. I went to a so called party school but I hated going to parties. I had good friends that also hated parties and we did other things. However, I also had friends who partied and while I didn’t party with them, we did other things. One of the benefits of a big school. I think my dd would have been better off at a school in the 5,000-10,000 range. She will likely end up at a school with around 20,000 people (as a transfer) and I hope she is happier.

Thank you so much for this. Hope she likes her new school.

To avoid this, we always asked what there is to do on the weekends.

Some schools (like we heard Conn), drinking is the main menu item.We avoided those(my kid's preference).

Others sponsor fun events (like paintball) purposefully so that kids who don't want to party still can have fun.

Again, UNIGO has survey data on this.

[Anonymous]

Which schools are considered as “sporty colleges” ?

[Anonymous]

I have a similar DS and I’m trying to help him formulate a list - he’s in 10th grade. This is our working list:

William and Mary
St Mary’s of MD
Mary Washington
UMBC
Carnegie Mellon
Pitt
Oberlin
Wooster
Case Western
Tufts
Brandeis
Vassar
Wesleyan
Swarthmore
JHU
Franklin and Marshall
Villanova

He wants to stay on the east coast or relatively close, so no west coast schools on this list

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at Vassar.

I was going to post this. They had something in their materials about “0 Greek Organizations (and that’s the way we like it”.

My kid is at Oberlin, which may be the least Greek, least sport involved school in the country. (Your kid may feel left out if they aren’t involved in some form of fine arts though).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a similar DS and I’m trying to help him formulate a list - he’s in 10th grade. This is our working list:

William and Mary
St Mary’s of MD
Mary Washington
UMBC
Carnegie Mellon
Pitt
Oberlin
Wooster
Case Western
Tufts
Brandeis
Vassar
Wesleyan
Swarthmore
JHU
Franklin and Marshall
Villanova

He wants to stay on the east coast or relatively close, so no west coast schools on this list

A good number of this schools -- Tufts, Villanova, Franklin and Marshall - are probably mischaracterized. They definitely lean sporty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which schools are considered as “sporty colleges” ?

Even if the teams are not good the athletes can have a very imposing presence on campus. I was surprised at the Bowdoin info session when they made a big deal about how now the athletes work out in the same facilities as “regular” students and this was done to ease the separation and tension between athletes and non-athletes.

[Anonymous]

When I went to American (10 years ago) it was decidedly unsporty and Greek life is really small.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a similar DS and I’m trying to help him formulate a list - he’s in 10th grade. This is our working list:

William and Mary
St Mary’s of MD
Mary Washington
UMBC
Carnegie Mellon
Pitt
Oberlin
Wooster
Case Western
Tufts
Brandeis
Vassar
Wesleyan
Swarthmore
JHU
Franklin and Marshall
Villanova

He wants to stay on the east coast or relatively close, so no west coast schools on this list

Good list!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a similar DS and I’m trying to help him formulate a list - he’s in 10th grade. This is our working list:

William and Mary
St Mary’s of MD
Mary Washington
UMBC
Carnegie Mellon
Pitt
Oberlin
Wooster
Case Western
Tufts
Brandeis
Vassar
Wesleyan
Swarthmore
JHU
Franklin and Marshall
Villanova

He wants to stay on the east coast or relatively close, so no west coast schools on this list

A good number of this schools -- Tufts, Villanova, Franklin and Marshall - are probably mischaracterized. They definitely lean sporty.

I’m the PP and yes we’ll see. We obviously haven’t visited yet. There are lots of considerations of course, including location, course of study, and selectivity.

[Anonymous]

Women’s colleges may be a good option. My DD did not think she’d like all female but was impressed with Smith & Mt Holyoke (visited same day).

[Anonymous]

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.