Again, Greek Life

[Anonymous]

My DS doesn’t care if there is some Greek life, he just doesn’t want it to be all encompassing. He looked up online and showed me—there are sites that will weed out schools that have no Greek life or those known for great Greek life. Is there a site anyone can direct him to?

If anyone happens to know: What are mid-size to large schools (5000+) that might have some but not an overwhelming presence in the North, South, Midwest that is for a 4.0 private school student, just shy of 1500 SAT, interests in STEM and economics? He is just really turned off by big both big Greek presence and party schools in general (I don’t know where he got that from. I loved my party school, haha).

Thank you so much.

[Anonymous]

Greek life is on its way out.

[Anonymous]

OP, asking in order to maybe help you better -- Why the 5,000+ size requirement? Has he thought about schools smaller than that with good econ and STEM programs? Is it possible he's assuming that any school under that size is going to be in a small town and/or rural area (not necessarily the case), and he doesn't want to be in areas like that--? I'd really be looking first and foremost at the colleges with the majors and programs that are most tailored to what he really wants and is engaged in, and after he and you make that the first cut, then start weeding out those with big Greek/party cultures.

[Anonymous]

Make a list of schools for other reasons and use Greek life as a factor in culling that list. It makes no sense as a primary search tool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Greek life is on its way out.

Maybe, but that won't help OP's son in the next year or two. It will take time for the Greek system to fade and by the time he starts college, Greek party life will still be a thing on many campuses. So just saying it's "on the way out" doesn't assist him here and now.

[Anonymous]

My kid is an Econ and Stat double major that was also looking at mid sized schools around 5k. Every one he looked at had a large greek scene. You may have to be a little more flexible here.

[Anonymous]

University of Chicago, Notre Dame, Tufts, Rice (maybe too small), Pitt, Carnegie-Mellon, Case Western, Northeastern, William & Mary, RIT

[Anonymous]

Large schools, even those with greek life, will have enough kids not involved that he'll find his group of friends

[Anonymous]

You never know. My DS wanted nothing to do with Greek Life before going to college, thought it was really stupid. Ended up joining a semester after most of his classmates and it turned out to be something he really loved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make a list of schools for other reasons and use Greek life as a factor in culling that list. It makes no sense as a primary search tool.

+1 I'll also add that if a school is big enough the Greek life may have no impact on him at all. I went to a state flagship with a huge Greek presence (something like 30% of students) and I only had 4-5 friends in sororities or frats. If a school is tiny and very Greek he may feel like an outsider but even at my heavily Greek school 70% of the student body was non afilliated.

[Anonymous]

OP here. He really does not want to go to a small school.We managed to fit in some college visits before the pandemic hit and he felt like a small student body would not be a good fit for him. He would prefer urban or suburban but he is not opposed to rural.

The schools he’s been interested so far based on intended major, his stats, preferred size, also seem to show up on the lists where Greek life is prevalent. He is definitely not using that as main criteria, but it’s a factor for him and he’s disappointed that it is a big part of the social life at the schools he thought he would like.

He’s not shy, and wants a social life. He just thinks Greek life is toxic and doesn’t want a school where it’s very prevalent. Again, it doesn’t have to be zero Greek life, like Rice, etc.

He’s in his room now researching, but thought I’d check here to see if anyone just happens to know off the top of their heads of any he should check out.

[Anonymous]

Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Univ. of Minn, Northwestern

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. He really does not want to go to a small school.We managed to fit in some college visits before the pandemic hit and he felt like a small student body would not be a good fit for him. He would prefer urban or suburban but he is not opposed to rural.

The schools he’s been interested so far based on intended major, his stats, preferred size, also seem to show up on the lists where Greek life is prevalent. He is definitely not using that as main criteria, but it’s a factor for him and he’s disappointed that it is a big part of the social life at the schools he thought he would like.

He’s not shy, and wants a social life. He just thinks Greek life is toxic and doesn’t want a school where it’s very prevalent. Again, it doesn’t have to be zero Greek life, like Rice, etc.

He’s in his room now researching, but thought I’d check here to see if anyone just happens to know off the top of their heads of any he should check out.

What are the schools he liked?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. He really does not want to go to a small school.We managed to fit in some college visits before the pandemic hit and he felt like a small student body would not be a good fit for him. He would prefer urban or suburban but he is not opposed to rural.

The schools he’s been interested so far based on intended major, his stats, preferred size, also seem to show up on the lists where Greek life is prevalent. He is definitely not using that as main criteria, but it’s a factor for him and he’s disappointed that it is a big part of the social life at the schools he thought he would like.

He’s not shy, and wants a social life. He just thinks Greek life is toxic and doesn’t want a school where it’s very prevalent. Again, it doesn’t have to be zero Greek life, like Rice, etc.

He’s in his room now researching, but thought I’d check here to see if anyone just happens to know off the top of their heads of any he should check out.

What are the schools he liked?

Wake Forest, Vandy, Lehigh, U GA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. He really does not want to go to a small school.We managed to fit in some college visits before the pandemic hit and he felt like a small student body would not be a good fit for him. He would prefer urban or suburban but he is not opposed to rural.

The schools he’s been interested so far based on intended major, his stats, preferred size, also seem to show up on the lists where Greek life is prevalent. He is definitely not using that as main criteria, but it’s a factor for him and he’s disappointed that it is a big part of the social life at the schools he thought he would like.

He’s not shy, and wants a social life. He just thinks Greek life is toxic and doesn’t want a school where it’s very prevalent. Again, it doesn’t have to be zero Greek life, like Rice, etc.

He’s in his room now researching, but thought I’d check here to see if anyone just happens to know off the top of their heads of any he should check out.

What are the schools he liked?

Wake Forest, Vandy, Lehigh, U GA

Lehigh has a very active Greek scene. Some students report it's overbearing. Reddit, according to DS, also a rising senior and considering Lehigh says Reddit is the holy grail for real time, student input.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Lehigh/comments/b9zmwl/tired_of_greek_life_and_party_culture_here/?utm_source=xpromo&utm_medium=amp&utm_name=amp_comment_iterations&utm_term=control_1&utm_content=comments_view_all