Cornell, Northwestern, Washington University St. Louis non Greek life?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know how social options are for students who do not want to go Greek? I was surprised that these school had such a high rate of Greek life.

[Anonymous]

Well, I was at Cornell 20 years ago, so things could very well be different now, but it was such a big place it was easy to find your niche without going Greek.

[Anonymous]

Well, I was at Cornell 20 years ago, so things could very well be different now, but it was such a big place it was easy to find your niche without going Greek.

I had the same experience,15 years ago. It is a big part of some people's social lives there, but certainly not everyone's, and there are plenty of other ways to socialize and have fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Well, I was at Cornell 20 years ago, so things could very well be different now, but it was such a big place it was easy to find your niche without going Greek.

I had the same experience,15 years ago. It is a big part of some people's social lives there, but certainly not everyone's, and there are plenty of other ways to socialize and have fun.

+1

[Anonymous]

Cornell definitely has a strong Greek presence, but as others have said, it's easy to avoid it and find other things to do. I would say though, that being in a sorrority or fraternity is one way to make a big school like Cornell feel smaller, since it provides a built-in friend group. It's easy to avoid Greek life at Cornell, but your kid should be the type who is comfortable navigating large, diverse groups of people.

[Anonymous]

It really is very big now at all these schools according to our DD, a sophomore with good friends at all these schools. What about Rice? A very similar school academically to the three you list, and it has NO Greek life, and a wonderful residential college system that really substitutes for the Greek system without any of the exclusionary aspects. If your kid hasn't considered it, take a look. It really is a fantastic school academically, the campus is lovely (despite being in Houston) and probably slightly easier to get into from this area compared to Texas/the West because not as well known in this area.

[Anonymous]

All of these are schools with a strong frat culture, particularly Northwestern.

[Anonymous]

Washington University does have a lot of participation in GLOS (32%), but there is a vibrant campus culture outside of GLOS. WUSTL is in the center of the city, near a lot of interesting things to do and there is a lot of other stuff going on at WUSTL. None of the sororities have houses and that keeps pretty much all of the freshmen and most of the sophomores (Greek or not) living in and around campus and on the South 40. The South 40 is the dorm/suite area and it's pretty fabulous. The school owns a ton of apartments in and around campus and is building new housing in the Loop, a few blocks from campus. (I have mixed feelings about this as a native. It feels a little bit like WUSTL is taking over the Loop.)

BTW, I would say that while sororities at WUSTL are thriving, fraternities are not. They've had problems with drugs and the school has pretty much told them to shape up or ship out. A couple have been kicked off and if the others don't fall in line, they will go, too. Per the WUSTL Greek Life office, "We are perfectly comfortable having no male Greek organizations on campus if that's what it takes. We are not going to tolerate this kind of behavior."

[Anonymous]

Thank you posters. Lots of good information. Will have to look closer at the schools, but Greek life is a turn off for dc. Rice sounds nice.

[Anonymous]

I went to Northwestern, albeit 15 years ago, and had a social life without going Greek. That meant a lot of theater parties (although I wasn't into drugs), but I still had fun. I loved it, but you definitely have to be comfortable being your own person if you don't want to go Greek. It was hard sometimes, but I loved the fact that the school had those types, crazy theater kids, geeks, and everything in between.

[Anonymous]

Grew up in the Chicago area and have many friends of all types who went to Northwestern. I also know several people who went to Wash U. None of my friends were into the greek life and they still found their social niches--in fact one of my NU friends doesn't even drink. All of those universities seem like a big and diverse enough student body to meet the needs of kids of all types.

Rice is a great school too, and if she's interested in Northwestern, Wash U, and Cornell without the greek it certainly makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Washington University does have a lot of participation in GLOS (32%), but there is a vibrant campus culture outside of GLOS. WUSTL is in the center of the city, near a lot of interesting things to do and there is a lot of other stuff going on at WUSTL. None of the sororities have houses and that keeps pretty much all of the freshmen and most of the sophomores (Greek or not) living in and around campus and on the South 40. The South 40 is the dorm/suite area and it's pretty fabulous. The school owns a ton of apartments in and around campus and is building new housing in the Loop, a few blocks from campus. (I have mixed feelings about this as a native. It feels a little bit like WUSTL is taking over the Loop.)

BTW, I would say that while sororities at WUSTL are thriving, fraternities are not. They've had problems with drugs and the school has pretty much told them to shape up or ship out. A couple have been kicked off and if the others don't fall in line, they will go, too. Per the WUSTL Greek Life office, "We are perfectly comfortable having no male Greek organizations on campus if that's what it takes. We are not going to tolerate this kind of behavior."

All those sororities sound horrible. Sorority culture can definitely be exclusionary and incompatible with academic excellence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Washington University does have a lot of participation in GLOS (32%), but there is a vibrant campus culture outside of GLOS. WUSTL is in the center of the city, near a lot of interesting things to do and there is a lot of other stuff going on at WUSTL. None of the sororities have houses and that keeps pretty much all of the freshmen and most of the sophomores (Greek or not) living in and around campus and on the South 40. The South 40 is the dorm/suite area and it's pretty fabulous. The school owns a ton of apartments in and around campus and is building new housing in the Loop, a few blocks from campus. (I have mixed feelings about this as a native. It feels a little bit like WUSTL is taking over the Loop.)

BTW, I would say that while sororities at WUSTL are thriving, fraternities are not. They've had problems with drugs and the school has pretty much told them to shape up or ship out. A couple have been kicked off and if the others don't fall in line, they will go, too. Per the WUSTL Greek Life office, "We are perfectly comfortable having no male Greek organizations on campus if that's what it takes. We are not going to tolerate this kind of behavior."

All those sororities sound horrible. Sorority culture can definitely be exclusionary and incompatible with academic excellence.

I agree that the rush/bid process can be exclusionary, but almost everyone in my sorority (at a nerd school) put academics first. Some of the smartest women I know are from my sorority. Sorority doesn't automatically mean big state school crazy Greek scene. I do think that some of the fraternities were more intense though.

Being in a sorority was just another way to meet people. It didn't define me or my college experience. And it was no big deal whether you were in one or not. I had many friends who weren't.

[Anonymous]

WUSTL does not really have too much of a Greek life.
Frats/sororities are there but it's not overwhelming.

[Anonymous]

Agree with everything said about Cornell. I was in a sorority and my husband was in a fraternity there. For both of us it was a significant part of our friend base and social lives, but we both also had several friends (guys and girls) who didn't join and they had great groups of friends who they met through dorms, activities, classes, etc. Greek life there is great if that's something you're interested in, but my perception (which admittedly may be somewhat tainted having been part of the Greek system) is that it's not so overwhelming that those not involved would feel like an outsider. Always lots of non-Greek student activities going on around campus, and as a previous poster said, lots of opportunities to find your niche.