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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have two at UVA both in Greek system, b[b]oth in houses considered “middle tier” meaning not the super rich people.[/b]  Most of the sororities are pretty low key, there are 15 of them so really a good range. Going through rush she’ll get to meet all of them and then both sides whittle down the list as rush goes on. As long as she doesn’t have hopes for any particular house, she will be fine. Dies for mine are about $800-1000 per semester, more the first semester. There are wide variances on dues FYI depending on the house. [/quote]

immigrant here who is totally clueless on Greek life... can you explain more what "tier" means... are these fraternities/sororities sorted out by economic status? [/quote]

It is just part of the grossness.

My kid chose schools that ban organizations which are not open to all students.

Please don’t think that Greek life is embraced by most Americans. [/quote]

"Most Americans" don't go to four year colleges. The Greek experience is a college one for those who choose to participate.[/quote]

Obviously, yes. But I did not want this immigrant to think of this choice as American, or even chosen by most American college students[b] (and to understand that many progressive families avoid schools that still allow Greek organizations on campus[/b]). [/quote]

This is laughable and completely inaccurate. So wrong.[/quote]

NP here.  Certainly one family is not a trend, but this is absolutely true of my family.  Whenever my kids talk about UVA we end up circling around to the Greek scene, though I have heard from some (and believe them) that there are sororities for normal kids, not just pretty and rich ones.  And in fact, segregation by wealth is common in universities, even outside of the Greek scene, simply because some kids can afford to go out all of the time, go on expensive spring break trips, etc. and others can't... so they sort of segregate over the course of freshman year.

What I hate about Greek life is the rush system, even if it is organized more humanely than in years' past.  At its heart, you are taking teenagers who are naturally insecure about themselves and how the world sees them.  And who are almost always away from the security blanket of home for the first time.  And putting them through a process where their peers are judging them based on relatively little information and a limited timeframe and very explicitly grouping them into "people they like" and "people they don't like." (or worse, "people who are not good enough for us."  That's a tough situation for anyone, but if you had to pick one time in your life where it is particularly problematic, it is late adolescence when you are away from home for the first time.

This is one of the reasons that many schools have pushed Rush back to January-- the kids are on a bit more solid ground and not the first weeks away from home.  But even so, I strongly encourage my kids to consider this in the college selection decision, and my oldest dd (now in college) -- who rarely considered my opinion on many aspects-- tended to concur on this one and had a column in her college wish-list spreadsheet about the prevalence of sororities, and warns her younger sisters whenever they speak about a school where Greek life is big.[/quote]

You are projecting your own insecurities on to your children.[/quote]

Insecurities?   I'm not the PP, but I attended a college where Rush was held during new student week.  yeah, 3rd day on campus rush started.  Classes were still 6 days away from starting.  Most had only met kids in their dorm or in their "new student week" group.  A future friend and I watched as the other 40+ girls on our floor all rushed.  On Monday, X, Y and Z were their "top" sororities, on Tuesday after not being called back by x, y or z, then A, B and C were their "top
" ones they must absolutely get into.  And it chances again on Wed based on who "selected" them for the next round.  There were lots of tears and genuine being upset because people they had just met "didn't want them" back.  These poor girls had barely had time to meet any new people (2-3 days) and were now essentially allowing the rush system to select their friends.  I watched girls who had seemingly enjoyed hanging out the first 2-3 days (my roommate and my future friend's roommate) and looked like they could be good friends.  However, their paths went different ways when they got into very different sororities (tier-wise).  Rush continued thru the first 2-3 weeks of classes.  These girls were way more focused on Rushing than their actual academics during that time.

S[b]o while I'm not a fan of the greek system, I think it is definitely much better if Rush doesn't happen until at least January of freshman year.[/b]  Let kids adjust to campus, make friends, join clubs, attend CLASSES, etc before they can rush.  Let them be social beings and meet people, socialize and find their place first.  There is already so much change going on fall semester, let kids adjust first.  Then rush in January[/quote]

Which is the UVA system.  Can we PLEASE keep to UVA.  Other comments are irrelevant![/quote]

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