Have the "who's who" books changed much since the 80s? Because back then, all you had to do to get your name listed in there was to cough up the $95 for the book.

It was a clever business model, actually. Prey on people's inherent vanity and get them to spend $95 just to see their name in print. Then sell all the contact info to mass marketers. This was pre-internet obviously, so it was kind of the spam of the 80s.

I laugh when I'm reading a resume and I see "listed in who's who". I'm thinking... "sucker".

But maybe my info is out of date.

wptw

I don't think it is. Only now, instead of buying the book, you can just "subscribe" to the Who's Who website.

Re: This thread got me thinking
 

Yes and no. The statistics may be powerful in some instances, but not nearly as powerful, I think, as the local experience with Greek life. I mean, how many people do you know who said "I wanted to be Greek because 80+% of US Presidents since 1900 and 85% of Fortune 500 executives are Greek"? No, you hear "I wanted joined because this was a great group of guys/girls who seemed to be doing great things and having fun in the process." The statistics may be more useful in changing public perception, but seeing as many of the people who think Greek life is all about elitism may be the same people most likely to dislike politicians, corporate executive-types and the like, I'm not even sure of that.

And as for the statistics themselves, the problem is that the numbers can be so slippery and can take on a life of their own. Take, for example, the claim that 85% of Fortune 500 executives are Greek. As of what date? Yesterday? Last month? Last year? Ten years ago? Executives come and go with some frequency. And who qualifies as "executives"? CEOs? CFOs? Assistant Vice-Presidents? And do we count Ken Lay? (See distrust of corporate executive-types above.)

See, even if the statistic is correct when first published, it will soon be out of date. Nevertheless, it will continue to circulate, probably being misquoted in the process. Bottom line: if the statistic comes from a group like the NIC, the NPC, the NPHC or the Center for the Study of the College Fraternity, I would be more inclined to trust it, especially if there is background information to prove veracity and timing (such as "As of date, 65% ....", or "these statistics were taken from..."). Otherwise, I'll stay skeptical.

when i got my letter (both years) it said that i was NOMINATED. i never sent in a dime. i didnt even order the book. and i got a certificate in the mail after i sent in my bio.

-actually...i never really thought about who's who...i had too much other stuff to do...joining was the last thing on my mind and i really didnt know much about it other than like EVERYBODY in the hall of fame was in who's who.

The HS version of Who's Who really doesn't mean too much (not putting you down! i swear! just learned from experience). A HS teacher or counselor is responsible for the nominating, I think they pretty much take the top 20% or so of the class.

When I was in it all four years of high school, your listing was free, but you had to pay like $10 to get your picture and like $35 to buy the book. Pretty much a money making scheme trying to take advantage of kids padding their resume. There are SO many groups out there that do this. I guess it's an honor to be dumb enough to fork over money to join 100 of these :o) I joined a few, then I learned better, and only joined orgs that actually did something.

I'm pretty sure the Americans version is a little different... wouldn't surprise me if they charged a fee just for the listing. As for the selection criteria, I have no clue. But I think they're a little bit more prestigous - I walked past a set of them in the law library just yesterday.

Also, when you try to do statistics as to who is "greek"- what constitutes greek? Just NPC, NIC, NPHC type groups? I noticed in the listing with the President's and their orgs, Phi Alpha Delta is mentioned for several of them, and you'll see that for many lawyers and judges as well. However, as a Phi Alpha Delta, I do not consider Phi Alpha Delta to be anything like a "traditionally" greek group. It's mainly a professional org, with some social aspect. If I was just a Phi Alpha Delta, I would not consider myself greek.

Also, just cause I was in Phi Eta Sigma as a freshman (along with about 500 other freshman on my campus) -would that make you greek?

Nominated, eh? Yes, I think all the letters I got back when I was in school said the same thing. But I don't...

Oh wait a minute... hang on, I just received a very important letter in the mail. Apparently, I may have already won $10,000,000.

I'll have to get back to you.

wptw

yeah. it really doesnt mean anything it just looks good on resumes and applications. just like national honor roll...i'm in that and it means absolutely nothing. neither of the two really do me any good other than looking good on my resume.

Ooohhh!!!!!!!!! Better be making a hefty donation to GC! ;)

Damn, I would have so much money if I accepted every offer that I was "nominated" or "chosen" for... but you know, there was just too much money, i wouldn't know what to do with it all.

/hijack, just being goofy today

Ouch :-(
 

Sorry Danielle I don't understand :( :confused: As far as I thought someone who was Greek was a member of a Greek Letter Organisation and that was the definition. The GreekChat bulletin board has had debate before over the merits of service, and professional (etc) versus social Greek Letter Orgs and posters seemed to reach a consensus that if non-social fraternities/sororities seemed "better" to someone it was a reflection of how active that group was on campus in general campus life, greek activities, philanthropy etc and the more a (for example) professional GLO did the more validity it naturally carried as a Greek group. It saddens me that someone questions whether they are "more Greek" :( than the next person simply because their Greek Letter org is a member of say the NPC or NIC rather than the NPHC or Professional Fraternity Organisation or whatever? That's because I created the list based on the The North-American Interfraternity Conference list (which only included their members) extending it to - correctly so far as I thought - include Presidents who were members of other fraternities which didn't happen to be members of NIC, such as APO or PAD.

Yes but when you look at Greek Life pages on college websites or fraternity webpages, you often see advice for parents, citing statistics such as these, serving as a reminder that there's more than one party to convince? Plus, there are a few more greek stats which we all see a LOT, than the three or so posted so far (I'll place them in another post), some of these may appeal to or draw one member, some other facts may draw another some may not be of interest, it's simply a matter of trying to cater for different audiences? Yes I agree, but this was my point. If we COULD with those widely used greek statistics know where they came from e.g. an academic study or an official body and when they came from then it would be a better idea to use them, than if we didn't know any of that info? This is what I was trying to do and why I went through checking information on 43 Presidents?

These are some of those Greek Statistics
 

Agree 100%. At least with the over 80% of US Presidents since 1900 being greek example, we know have a 100% verified situation, based on information from official bodies. Only a few more to verify :p

Without further ado...

Greek Statistics

• 71% of those listed in "Who's Who in America" belong to a fraternity.
• Of the nation's 50 largest corporations, 43 are headed by fraternity men.
• 85% of the Fortune 500 executives belong to a fraternity.
• 40 of 47 U.S. Supreme Court Justices since 1910 were fraternity men.
• 76% of all Congressmen and Senators belong to a fraternity.
• Every U.S. President and Vice President, except two in each office, born since the first social fraternity was founded in 1825 have been members of a fraternity.
• 80% of US Presidents since 1900 are greek verified
• 63% of the U.S. President's Cabinet members since 1900 have been Greek.
• A National Conference report shows a majority of the 600 NIC fraternity chapters are above the All-Men's scholastic average.
• A U.S. Government study shows that over 70% of all those who join a fraternity/sorority graduate, while under 50% of all non-fraternity/sorority persons graduate. (also vaguely recall it mentioned this was a Univ. of Missouri study; unable to verify so far)
• Less than 2% of an average college student's expenses go toward fraternity/sorority dues.
• Over 85% of the student leaders on some 730 campuses are involved in the Greek community.
• Over $7 million is raised every year by Greeks nationally.
• 850,000 hours are volunteered by Greeks annually.
• There are 123 fraternities and sororities with 9 million members total.
• There are 750,000 undergraduate members in 12,000 chapters on more than 800 campuses in USA and Canada
• The Greek system is the largest network of volunteers in the US, with members donating over 10 million hours of volunteer service each year
• The Greek system is the largest not-for-profit student landlord in the US, with over $3 billion in assets and more than 250,000 students living in Greek housing in more than 8,000 facilities

P.S (according to someone on GreekChat) Apparently Lyndon B. Johnson was in a local that later joined PiKA, although he was never initiated into PiKA and is not recognized by PiKA as a brother.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg is an AEPhi. I don't know about Sandra Day O'Connor. At least 50% of female Supreme Court Justices are sorority women. :)

What , women on the Supremeist of Courts?

Damn, give them the right to vote and look what happens!:(

Drive cars, have cell phones and go shopping!:eek:

"cream", will you be my legal eagle if I need, only Law I new was college and COPS Shop!!!!!:)

Re: These are some of those Greek Statistics
 

Funny... I heard the local later became a Sigma Nu chapter.

Possibly, KTSnake; I was only quoting directly what someone else on GC had said in a previous post.