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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Pretty much every school has a greek system and every school has sports of one type or another.  Join or don't join.  It's not a big deal.

If you are thinking small schools -- they will be D3 athletics which means that they will not be doing their sport 2/3 of the year.  If you were thinking possibly a big school like a Big 10 or SEC they will have lots of sports and a greek system and those kids will collectively make up about 10% of all the kids on campus.

Understand that kids can be in a frat/sorority and also participate in other things.  Pretty much all do.  So - what then really is the concern?  I want to party, but I do not want to party with people in a frat/sorority?  That seems odd.  Frankly, if the prospective student is looking not to party (at least according to their parent) then don't go to a party.  The reality is pretty much everyone will go to some and try it on for size.  They may like it.  They may not like it.  They may like parties put on by XYZ grojup and not ABC group.  Fine.  Even a small school can be a big place and effort needs to be given to find your groups.  In a big school there are more groups to try though you have to find them too.

None seek you out.  That bears repeating.  Absent being on a sports team -- campus groups do not come knocking on your door saying "here is a personal invite".  They put up signs where allowed and have internet presence, and your kid shows up or not.  That's it.  Kids have to stick their noses out there.  It is the only way.

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At several small schools we’ve toured the tour guide says the teams tend to live together in off campus houses. These teams -even DIiI — tend to hang out, work out, live together all year. (Yes, they are in other activities too.) So no, they don’t seek you out but a non-athlete is not often included in their socializing. In the schools in small towns there’s not much to do on weekends if you’re not on a team or Greek. Many clubs do not fill weekend nights. [/quote]

True and not true.  No surprise.  The thing at any school, small or big, is that team members spend a huge amount of time doing team stuff.  Practices, game, travel, workouts.  Even at a D3 it can be very time consuming when "in season".  Basically, kids on a team work a near full time job and go to school during their season.  When it is not their season the commitment requirement changes a ton based on whether you are D3 or not.  D3 schools can really have rather limited contact with athletes out of their proscribed  season.  Kids still will do "voluntary" activities like fitness and weightroom stuff.  At a D1 school kids on a team, in the off-season, are limited to 8 hours of practice.  BUT (big but) that is a mandatory time allotment.  If a kid is doing "volunteer" work -- will that does not count against the 8 hours.  So, basically, practices will be 8 hours a week (say 4 days for 2 hours a day), and if everyone on the team also volunteers to do weight training 4 hours a week, and skill work another 4 hours a week -- great.  And, of course, the time limits do not include time spent getting to and from practices, getting prepped for practices (taping ankles say, stretching, etc) and getting ready again after practice (shower, etc , , ).

If everyone in an apartment is keeping the same type of schedule then it can be a little easier on everyone because they will eat at the same hours, need to leave for practice/games/road trips on the same schedule etc. . . The big downside though is when something does not work out.  A kid gets cut.  A kid gets injured.  A kid loses a starting position (maybe to a roommate).  It can work out.  My kid played soccer for 4 years and she and one of her roommates for 3 of the 4 years played the same position at times and fought it out for playing time, but were able to get along fine off the field and thus were roommates.  That would be fairly unusual though.

Anyway -- having an athlete as a roommate when you are not an athlete also could be a bit of a pain in the rear, because of the weird time requirements.  Athletes get special training table meals.  Sounds good, until you realize that really means that the cafe near the practice facility will stay open longer because practice ends at say 8 p.m. and otherwise they would not be able to eat.  So - they get whatever is left over from dinner that day heated up nicely.  That does not make for a great roommate unless you are also on the same type of schedule.

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