Anonymous
Post 02/24/2026 09:25     Subject: Bucknell for sciences?
Bucknell is in the Patriot League comprised of some decent schools. Colgate and Holy Cross are the top dogs then Bucknell, Lehigh, and Lafayette. Colgate is very Greek life while HC has no Greek Life.
Anonymous
Post 02/24/2026 08:25     Subject: Re:Bucknell for sciences?
Bucknell is great for the right student. My DC is there and knows plenty of science majors going for med school and engineers. Great school with happy kids. Do not listen to the DCUM crazies. Do your HW. Greek life is heavy to be sure. A lot of kids are involved in numerous activities on campus. There are a lot of clubs (outdoors club, for instance) that are def. outside the Greek-life norm. Is it going to be a very different experience than a city school? Of course! But it is 4 years of college not a life-sentence. Good luck.
Anonymous
Post 02/24/2026 08:02     Subject: Bucknell for sciences?
When questioned somewhat subjectively,
Bucknell students placed it second nationally in this survey-based result:

Colleges with Lots of Greek Life | The Princeton Review https://share.google/tGFSMVUtOrYs54YpO
Anonymous
Post 02/24/2026 07:52     Subject: Bucknell for sciences?
OP here - appreciate all the insights, thank you!
Anonymous
Post 02/24/2026 01:41     Subject: Bucknell for sciences?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:These sites will help you compare Bucknell to other colleges by Greek participation:

2026 Colleges with the Most Students in Fraternities | US News Rankings https://share.google/htYZLeLEOw4NJYLcT

2026 Colleges with the Most Students in Sororities | US News Rankings https://share.google/0d16Hc4ZNTh7dBbTX

OP here - thanks! It’s interesting that 43% of women are in sororities vs 31% of men in fraternities.

I’m never quite sure about schools with percentages in the 30s and 40s. It’s still a minority of students, but it’s a sizable minority. A little hard to parse out how a non-Greek student would do socially.


Bucknell grad here, from 15+ years ago but still close to people on campus. Those numbers seem way low. The Greek component is very heavy.

I initially pledged a fraternity and then de-pledged because the fraternity would have taken too much of my time and I was involved in other clubs. Being non-Greek is doable but without question campus social life revolves around the Greek system.



Anonymous
Post 02/24/2026 01:33     Subject: Bucknell for sciences?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:These sites will help you compare Bucknell to other colleges by Greek participation:

2026 Colleges with the Most Students in Fraternities | US News Rankings https://share.google/htYZLeLEOw4NJYLcT

2026 Colleges with the Most Students in Sororities | US News Rankings https://share.google/0d16Hc4ZNTh7dBbTX

OP here - thanks! It’s interesting that 43% of women are in sororities vs 31% of men in fraternities.

I’m never quite sure about schools with percentages in the 30s and 40s. It’s still a minority of students, but it’s a sizable minority. A little hard to parse out how a non-Greek student would do socially.


Those are high percentages. Great if your child hopes to be part of Greek life. Otherwise, I personally wouldn’t have suggested Bucknell for an artsy STEM kid. Definitely visit to see for yourself.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 22:09     Subject: Bucknell for sciences?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:These sites will help you compare Bucknell to other colleges by Greek participation:

2026 Colleges with the Most Students in Fraternities | US News Rankings https://share.google/htYZLeLEOw4NJYLcT

2026 Colleges with the Most Students in Sororities | US News Rankings https://share.google/0d16Hc4ZNTh7dBbTX

OP here - thanks! It’s interesting that 43% of women are in sororities vs 31% of men in fraternities.

I’m never quite sure about schools with percentages in the 30s and 40s. It’s still a minority of students, but it’s a sizable minority. A little hard to parse out how a non-Greek student would do socially.

To clarify these figures a bit, note that they are for all students. In terms of eligible students (first years excluded), they convert to ~57% and ~41%.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 22:02     Subject: Bucknell for sciences?
Can’t imagine spending 4 years at Bucknell unless lots of merit money. What do kids do on weekends. Way too remote.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 22:00     Subject: Bucknell for sciences?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:These sites will help you compare Bucknell to other colleges by Greek participation:

2026 Colleges with the Most Students in Fraternities | US News Rankings https://share.google/htYZLeLEOw4NJYLcT

2026 Colleges with the Most Students in Sororities | US News Rankings https://share.google/0d16Hc4ZNTh7dBbTX

OP here - thanks! It’s interesting that 43% of women are in sororities vs 31% of men in fraternities.

I’m never quite sure about schools with percentages in the 30s and 40s. It’s still a minority of students, but it’s a sizable minority. A little hard to parse out how a non-Greek student would do socially.


Either you are in a frat and hang out and party or you don't. There is nothing to do there.

So what do the other 55-70% of students do?


I never understand these comments. I graduated in 1997. Correct, Bucknell is not in or near a city. So the majority of what students do for fun at night is go to fraternity parties or the couple of bars in town or to a hang out at friends’ house. That sounds exactly the same as my nephew’s social life at Colby except that at Colby the parties are hosted in houses by the sports teams instead of fraternity houses at Bucknell. There are tons of colleges not in a city or city adjacent and most of the nighttime social life is just parties, whether they are hosted by a fraternity or a soccer team.

If a kid wants comedy clubs and bars and plays as their social life in college, then correct they should not look at Bucknell nor a million other colleges, including UVA, William & Mary and VA Tech.

To OP’s point, I knew many pre-meds at Bucknell who were natural science majors and they did well in med school admissions. My own kid is a biology major at Haverford, and they love the flexibility of a LAC as they have a lot of academic interests outside of science.


Great point about UVA. DCUM loves to dump on Lewiston, Lewisburg, Worcester and numerous other gritty college towns, but Charlottesville is just as dumpy. UVA Law grad here, campus was nice but C-ville was the pits.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 21:03     Subject: Bucknell for sciences?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:These sites will help you compare Bucknell to other colleges by Greek participation:

2026 Colleges with the Most Students in Fraternities | US News Rankings https://share.google/htYZLeLEOw4NJYLcT

2026 Colleges with the Most Students in Sororities | US News Rankings https://share.google/0d16Hc4ZNTh7dBbTX

OP here - thanks! It’s interesting that 43% of women are in sororities vs 31% of men in fraternities.

I’m never quite sure about schools with percentages in the 30s and 40s. It’s still a minority of students, but it’s a sizable minority. A little hard to parse out how a non-Greek student would do socially.


Either you are in a frat and hang out and party or you don't. There is nothing to do there.

So what do the other 55-70% of students do?


I never understand these comments. I graduated in 1997. Correct, Bucknell is not in or near a city. So the majority of what students do for fun at night is go to fraternity parties or the couple of bars in town or to a hang out at friends’ house. That sounds exactly the same as my nephew’s social life at Colby except that at Colby the parties are hosted in houses by the sports teams instead of fraternity houses at Bucknell. There are tons of colleges not in a city or city adjacent and most of the nighttime social life is just parties, whether they are hosted by a fraternity or a soccer team.

If a kid wants comedy clubs and bars and plays as their social life in college, then correct they should not look at Bucknell nor a million other colleges, including UVA, William & Mary and VA Tech.

To OP’s point, I knew many pre-meds at Bucknell who were natural science majors and they did well in med school admissions. My own kid is a biology major at Haverford, and they love the flexibility of a LAC as they have a lot of academic interests outside of science.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 20:45     Subject: Bucknell for sciences?
My spouse has an engineering degree from Bucknell and has done well. Seem to have a strong alumni support in the DMV. I’ve also heard several coworkers mention that their children who are studying have had good experiences. Recommend checking it out and judging for yourself.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 16:20     Subject: Bucknell for sciences?
Anonymous wrote:I would check out F&M and Lafayette too.

Also on the list, with planned visits coming up (any Bucknell visit would have to be later, the current trip is set and can’t really be lengthened). Nice to have the confirmation, thank you!
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 16:17     Subject: Bucknell for sciences?
Bucknell has plenty of prestige among my banking colleagues, and I'm sure it's no different in the sciences.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 15:23     Subject: Bucknell for sciences?
I would check out F&M and Lafayette too.
Anonymous
Post 02/23/2026 15:22     Subject: Bucknell for sciences?
Anonymous wrote:Would also appreciate any insights on whether it’s more of a grind school or not, and how heavy-handed Greek life is. Thx!


I don't think it's at all a grind school. I think of it as at least somewhat a party/Greek school. Several kids are going there from dc's class who are not that academic.