Not to their face.

I am a senior at Mason. While I agree that becoming involved in Fraternity & Sorority Life is one of the best ways to become involved at Mason, I do have one small issue here.

George Mason University is not a commuter school, and any current student that tells you that is bitter because Mason wasn't his or her first choice, or blind/stupid. As you noted Mason has been expanding rapidly and has left the majority commuter reputation behind for a few years. In fact, by 2012 we will be the largest residential campus in Virginia. Additionally, the majority of students who choose to live off campus live within a three mile radius of the university and are still very involved in campus life. Unfortunately this is a hard stereotype to break in NoVA, but I'm confident the days of Mason being known as a "commuter school" will soon be a distant memory. :D

The presence of absence of Confederate flags (itself a misnomer) is what defines an area as Southern? :(

I know plenty of people from NoVA who readily say they are Southerners, and with good reason because they are. I'm even related to some of them. I know also know plenty of people who live there but are not from there (to use a good old Southernism), who rightly say they are not Southern.

NoVA is Southern, the presence of an at times overwhelming number of non-Southerners living there notwithstanding. And I'd say that whenever a Southerner says NoVA (or Florida) isn't really Southern, that's what they mean -- that "too many" of the people living there aren't Southern.

Whoo NoVa! I'd personally never call myself a Southerner, I more identify with being "from the DC area" than being from Virginia.

I know of two girls from my school that went through recruitment at the *other* USC. One's a Phi Mu, one's a Kappa.

Best of luck!

also, I know some people who live further than three miles from GMU and do not live on campus. But I think most of my friends do live on campus.

That belief is one reason why some NoVA people are trying to pretend they aren't part of VA and aren't southern. :p Why be from VA if you only see VA as the home of the confederacy; and why be southern if you have a narrow vision of what the south represents.

It's cool because there are farms with confederate flags in NoVA. :) At the end of the day, it is all the south and there are different levels of "southerness" depending on where you are in the south and the people who live there. Yes, a NoVA young lady who goes through recruitment at a school in a deeper part of the south may be seen as northern because she is "not as southern as....".

I agree. It's kin to the syndrome we see here at GC from time to time, where "Southern" seems to mean "my experience of Southern." The South is no more a monolith than any other region of the country, and Southern culture takes a wide variety of forms.

I lived in GA and I was born in SC. I know "the south" and NoVa isn't it. Period. I have way too many friends who were born and raised in NoVa who have traveled to other parts of VA and have rightfully declared themselves not Southern. NoVa is an interesting gray area of VA and I, like the OP, always identified more with being from DC due to the close proximity. And I don't know anyone who would call DC southern. When I told people where I was from (and I think this is true for a lot of people from NoVa) I would say I was from the DC area unless I knew the person was familiar with that region.

In short, I'm sure we can all bring up points why NoVa is or is not southern. BUT, speaking from my experiences growing up there (8th grade through college) and having lived in SC prior to that, I would never have considered that area to part of the South. It had nothing to do with the presence of confederate flags on farms but I will say, once I moved to Prince William county, that felt like a whole new world and I have many friends from there who would agree.

So happy to hear this from a current student. It certainly felt different when I visited campus a few weeks ago.

When I was there, it was still very much a commuter campus but I hear that our 2006 basketball season changed the campus vibe to a more traditional feel and I'm glad for that. Honestly, it was my safety school when I was applying but I know that mentality is definitely changing and that just adds more credit to my degree :D

:) You know what you define as "the south." Period.

NoVA is in Virginia and is south of the Mason-Dixon line; it is an area that is most definitely historically Southern in culture, many if not most of its current residents notwithstanding. It is Southern. Period.

See how we could have fun and go around like this all day long? :D

This brings up notable point number one. You say you would never have considered it the South, and I would not argue with that. Who am I to argue with what you think?

But I do know people who have lived their entire lives there (or in Washington) who do consider it the South.

So, if we're going by geography, it's the South. But if we're going by a much harder-to-pin-down gauge of "Southerness," it's totally subjective, and is not so different at all from the folks from the deep South who have told me that North Carolina isn't really Southern.

And here's point number 2. Most every delineation of NoVA that I've heard includes Prince William County (and other counties further out from DC). Northern Virginia Magazine even seems to include it. (Hmmm, come to think of it, Southern Living magazine has always included Maryland.)

Maybe instead of discussing whether NoVA is really Southern, we should argue about what counties are and aren't really NoVA. :D

LOL. I guess it's all about what your southern criteria is:

http://ts1.mm.bing.net/images/thumbn...fThe_South.jpg

Where did VA go? :p Could it be? :eek:

(http://thesouthlandssteelmagnolia.com/)

And what about Hampton Roads--southern or not?

MysticCat, ever the diplomat brings it around full circle :D And I'm not being sarcastic there, I mean that seriously.

Nice photo there DrPhil! I'm not alone in my beliefs!

In my opinion, Southern Illinois is "the South."

Of course, Illinois outside of Chicago is kindof like Santa Claus to me - you think it might exist, then you're not sure, then you're pretty sure it doesn't. ;)

None of us are alone in our beliefs. :)

So, you believe that VA isn't the south?