Again, Greek Life

[Anonymous]

He should stick to his plan on this one. I went to an undergrad heavily dominated by Greek life and did not like it. I was wary of it going in but was told about how you can make friends outside of it, etc. etc. That is true but you ate doing it within this larger, highly dysfunctional community. Don’t underestimate the amount of sexual violence that goes on in Greek life either.

[Anonymous]

WashU St. Louis

[Anonymous]

Wash U has a pretty significant Greek presence (35%).

If the schools that have some Greek life, here are some #s:

UNC (20%), USC (20%), Penn (25%), Tufts (24%), Carnegie Mellon (18%), U Mich (17%), Columbia (16%), UCLA (15%), U Wisc (14%), UT Austin (14%), NYU (13%), Brown (11%), Georgetown U (10%), U of VT (10%), Boston U (5%).

Any I am missing, mid to larger schools that have the intended majors?

[Anonymous]

Many sites and guidebooks tell the proportion of kids in greek life, whether it is dominant on campus, etc.

Check out UNIGO, NICHE, Princeton Review Guide

[Anonymous]

Avoid schools in the South in general to avoid Greek Life (Rice is an exception). Avoid schools that are generally in heavily rural areas.

Generally avoid schools with 25%+ in Greek life, especially if the school is mid-sized. That might sound like very little, but it's enough to subsume the rest of the campus culture. The rest of the population is basically made up of student-athletes and international students that have their own social clubs. This means there's a very small population of non-Greek, non-athlete, non-international students to find a niche in.

It seems like Greek Life is less prevalent/less strict in the west (California) and NYC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Avoid schools in the South in general to avoid Greek Life (Rice is an exception). Avoid schools that are generally in heavily rural areas.

Generally avoid schools with 25%+ in Greek life, especially if the school is mid-sized. That might sound like very little, but it's enough to subsume the rest of the campus culture. The rest of the population is basically made up of student-athletes and international students that have their own social clubs. This means there's a very small population of non-Greek, non-athlete, non-international students to find a niche in.

It seems like Greek Life is less prevalent/less strict in the west (California) and NYC.

The percentages get higher with upper classmen. That 25% figure includes all freshaman, many of whom don’t rush until sophomore year. If you have a school 30%+ in Greek life, that means the junior and senior classes are probably pushing 50%+ Greek. It’s definitely the main social driver on campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Avoid schools in the South in general to avoid Greek Life (Rice is an exception). Avoid schools that are generally in heavily rural areas.

Generally avoid schools with 25%+ in Greek life, especially if the school is mid-sized. That might sound like very little, but it's enough to subsume the rest of the campus culture. The rest of the population is basically made up of student-athletes and international students that have their own social clubs. This means there's a very small population of non-Greek, non-athlete, non-international students to find a niche in.

It seems like Greek Life is less prevalent/less strict in the west (California) and NYC.

The percentages get higher with upper classmen. That 25% figure includes all freshaman, many of whom don’t rush until sophomore year. If you have a school 30%+ in Greek life, that means the junior and senior classes are probably pushing 50%+ Greek. It’s definitely the main social driver on campus.

Yes, you are exactly correct and I hadn't thought of that before.

Also, a lot of students that enter college with no interest in Greek Life and want to remain 'independent', end up joining in sophomore year due to social pressure and exclusion. I.E. if not in Greek life you're considered to be a weirdo/shut-in if male and 'promiscuous' if a girl that still attends parties (must be sleeping with one or multiple brothers)

Basically Greek life is socially exclusionary not just towards those outside of their own fraternities/sororities but also outside of Greek Life in general. Within Greek life itself there are weird tier-based hierarchies among the various houses.