My kids have a few friends at LACs, and that seems to be a truly low-key Greek experience. Diverse pledge classes, little to no hazing, not everyone has to wear the same outfits for rush, etc. They were genuinely surprised by some of their friends who decided to go Greek, but the friends swear it's relaxed and fun.

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone still buy the bs that the midwest is somehow wholesome, after everything we've learned about the midwest in the last ten years?

Pray do tell. What have you learned about 18 year old Midwesterners?

Purdue does as well, lots of houses.

Indiana University has one of the most intense recruitment processes in the country. In my opinion, it sounds awful.

Many schools adjust the pledge class size to the the number of girls rushing / by the number of houses. Other schools don't and cut hundreds/thousands of girls from the process. (Indiana)

I think it varies from school to school. Even within Virginia - the greek systems at UVA, William and Mary, Tech, and JMU seem to be a bit different from each other too, from what I've heard and seen.

Depends on the school, but state schools like Indiana and Wisconsin still have a heavy sorority culture.

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone still buy the bs that the midwest is somehow wholesome, after everything we've learned about the midwest in the last ten years?

And what you’ve learned is . . . ?

Does anyone still buy the bs that the midwest is somehow wholesome, after everything we've learned about the midwest in the last ten years?

Indiana and Michigan and Wisconsin sororities are not "low key"

I was in one in Ohio back in 2004-2008. All of the sororities were pretty laid back. We didn't live in the houses (none of the Greek life did), and while a couple sororities were selective, for the most part everyone who wanted to rush seemed to get into one of the houses the felt comfortable in. We had sororities ranging from all types of girls and while each sorority definitely had a stereotype, it wasn't a big deal because you fit in with your sisters. If you were a quiet academic type, it was fine that you were in the sorority that had the stereotype of being quiet and academic. If you were the partier...same thing.

After visiting my friends in the South, it definitely seemed like my Greek life experience was far far more laid back than theirs.

I was in a sorority in Midwest, agree can vary school to school. Obviously not current information but doubt it’s changed, there is still a degree of vapid and superficial to it, but it’s a far cry from what you see down south. There are still top, mid, and bottom houses and who’s on top, what you wear and look like, etc. There are positives, but those are negatives.

This is your daughter's college experience not yours. If she wants to go through recruitment let her make that choice. Many girls think of it as a learning experience. In a society where all kids seem to have a 4.0 and are recognized for the most basic accomplishment, recruitment might be their first taste of the real world....not everyone gets what they want.

I think schools with higher academic standards have sororities that are less vapid

I would say it is more school dependent than location based. It is typically calmer at smaller schools that don’t attract wealthy students.

I'm not sure more humble is the right term.

SEC schools are their own world for sororities.

The rest of the country has a range of sororities less by region than from school to school, but none of them rise to the SEC schools level of nuts.

DD wants to rush but I think the whole sorority world is superficial. I didn’t do one when young. Is the midwest sororities more humble?