"Best" Colleges and their Greek Systems
 

This morning, I was thinking about a few things. Prior to coming to GC, I had my own notions on what a "good" school was. I generally believed that to be the highest ranked schools in US News and World Report. I many ways, I still believe this to be true.

But coming to GC and seeing how people go apeshit over rush at a whole bunch of schools I had either never heard of or never heard much prestige about, I thought wow, I'm in some bizzaro world where state schools are considered "good" -- clutch the pearls.

I have also read studies which suggest that boys choose a school based on perceived prestige, and if that's true, then I definitely fit in that number.

That said, in the list compiling spirit of naraht and the subtle snobbery of oldu, I have compiled a list of the "best" colleges and what their Greek scene is like, with NPC, NIC, and NPHC data.

Feel free to chime in with your anecdotal data about the schools listed.

Do I have any particular objective here? I don't know. I am curious as to which of the highest ranked schools has the most robust and thriving Greek experience.

But we all know that the best school is the one which is best for the student who chooses it, just as the best fraternity or sorority is the one which the members choose for themselves.











gag barf, yeah right

Harvard
Princeton
Yale
Cal Tech
MIT
Stanford
U Penn
Colombia
Chicago
Duke
Dartmouth
Northwestern
Wash U
Johns Hopkins
Cornell
Brown
Emory
Rice
Vanderbilt
Notre Dame
Berkeley
Carnegie Mellon
Georgetown
UCLA
UVA

Those are the colleges as ranked by US News and World Report in 2010. Rather than me going back and forth editing information about them (which I will quickly get annoyed with), let's just have free discussion on the topic at hand, which is the Greek systems at the aforementioned schools.

So as you all know, Georgetown has no NPC organizations.

As far as NIC organizations, there was a chapter of Delta Chi there in 1903 when it was a professional law fraternity. Wikipedia says that chapter existed until 1944, 22 years after the org switched to being a general social fraternity.

In 2001, Alpha Epsilon Pi came to Georgetown. In 2007 came Sigma Phi Epsilon, and in 2009, Zeta Psi. I knew the founding group of AEPi and they seemed like cool guys. I don't know the Sig Eps or Zeta Psi members, but it seems like they are all filling a niche.

None of them are officially recognized by the university but are recognized by the fraternities themselves.

NPHC organizations have had representation on campus since at least the 70s. Black fraternal life at Georgetown is a story with various twists and turns because not only are they all city-wide or core chapters, but sometimes Georgetown students would be moved from one core chapter to another. Example -- Georgetown girls used to be included with girls from American's AKA chapter, but later Georgetown, Catholic, and Trinity spun off into their own city-wide chapter.

Georgetown has Alphas, Kappas, Ques, AKAs, Deltas, and a Zeta. There was a brief Sigma presence in the 70s.

La Unidad Latina/Lambda Upsilon Lambda and Latinas Promiviendo Comunidad, Lambda Pi Chi also have chapters including Georgetown.

All in all, I would not recommend Georgetown for people who are looking for a large, diverse, and strong Greek experience, but it is fine for a small one to enhance your overall experience at the school.

I don't think anyone is saying that the academics etc are super turbo awesome, more that these are the places w/ the most competitive rushes (and therefore the most fun for rush-crazy women to talk about).

It's like if this was a basketball forum we'd actually use the word Gonzaga on a regular basis.

As of those ones you listed, I'd say UVA, Vanderbilt, Penn and Dartmouth have the most prominent (rather than thriving) Greek life. You have to realize that at a lot of the schools mentioned, there's a club system within the schools that is the true elite and the Greeks are second-class. Not sure if you have a subscription to Highbeam but if so you can read this:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...7/ai_n5561049/

Even at Dartmouth, I don't think that whether a GLO is local or not matters as far as its place in the pecking order is concerned, which is an offshoot of that sort of thing.

Things are different in the North vs the South for schools because people respond in say Baltimore to hearing that you graduated from Hopkins for medicine the same way that people in Louisiana respond to hearing that you graduated form LSU. The familiarity of the system and pride in the local university is very strong across the south. I can't tell you how many residents that I worked with who were very proud to say they graduated from UAB or UT-Southwestern. All the state schools in the south have a very good name in the south. In the north, state schools don't have a good name, and the thought of a state school doesn't reassure the public. Harvard, Hopkins, Yale, etc carry more weight. They're impressive names in the south, as well, but you just don't have that many people running off to those schools to try and impress the locals.

Yeah, even though the educational aspect of the schools is interesting, I'm really just curious about what Greek life is like at USN&WR's highest ranked universities and how it works.

Harvard University doesn't officially recognize fraternities and sororities, so any organizations on its campus does not get funding or a house, etc. However, there are three sororities (if I remember corrently, they are Kappa Alpha Theta, Delta Gamma, and Kappa Kappa Gamma). They function pretty much the same as any sorority anywhere else; all recruitment, parties, etc. are done in the dorms or on other common areas on campus. I also know some Harvard girls who participate in city-wide sororities, like our Boston chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha or the community-based sorority Delta Psi Sigma.

Greek life at MIT is surprisingly huge for a technology-heavy and northern school. We have 6 sororities and 26 (last I checked) fraternities. According to statistics, about 50% of men and 40% of women will pledge a GLO during their time here. We only have NIC/NPC organizations here, along with a service fraternity (APO) and a professional fraternity (AKPsi). There are no Christian, music, or MCGO's... nor do I ever recall an interest being present for any of them. I think most of our frats/sororities are diverse enough to begin with. Everyone is super loyal to their GLO, and while we don't host a ton of Greek events (think Cyprus-Rhodes Greek life), we do have many opportunities to show our support. Most of the GLOs on campus, in fact, are known for two things: 1) their parties, and 2) their annual philanthropic events. I definitely know that the sororities (aside from very blatant stereotypes that are tossed around) are best known for their annual events - AXO has Lipsync; APhi has the King of Hearts male beauty pageant; AEPhi has their Spaghetti Dinner; Theta has their KATwalk fashion show (clever); Sigma Kappa (which is NEVER called SigKap up here) has Late Night; and Pi Phi has their Pie Sale and Read-a-thon. As for frats, they are mainly known for their parties ;) There are definitely a lot of trends and "stereotypes" within each GLO, but I think that everyone accepts that and ignores it.

As a northerner, I would have to disagree. You have some very good public schools (some with honors programs/majors rivaling the great privates) and will draw the same level of pride.

You kidding?

Let me throw some names from the Midwest at you:

University of Michigan
UMN
Northwestern
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ohio State
University of Illinois
Indiana University


Any of those would be an EXTREMELY hard school to turn down. They're great schools, and getting into a school like UMich makes a LOT of people stand up and take notice. The vast majority of state schools in the North are extremely well respected.

Oh, don't get me wrong. I'm not slamming state schools, just defending southern state schools against a Northeastern mentality. Different regions have a different way of looking at their higher education systems, and my post by no means was all inclusive.

Penn State and Pitt come to mind for Northeastern State schools that carry a huge alumni following and for many programs are considered "one of the best" in the Northeast.

Of course, I like to think Penn State alumni are also some of the most annoying college grads on the planet, but that's just because I went to Pitt. ;)

The VP and one of the directors of my department have degrees from Ivy League colleges (Harvard and Yale). I don't feel like it carries that much weight, particularly not in my field.

Now that I'm in the midwest, University of Michigan and University of Illinois carry a lot of weight around here.

Thank you for responding!

Although I am not sure if there are any members currently on campus, I know for sure that the Alphas (MIT, Tufts, Harvard) and AKAs (MIT, Harvard, Wellesley) have had members from there in recent memory.

I think I'm the only regular poster from Johns Hopkins on here so I'll chime in. The Greek system at JHU is pretty different depending on whether you're NPC, IFC, NPHC or MCGLO.

This is a ridiculously long post. But in a nutshell, the Greek scene tends to be dominated by the NPC and IFC groups. MCGLO and NPHC groups are smaller and tend not to be well-known on campus. The NPC groups are very large and pretty social with each other whereas the IFC groups are smaller and more clannish. About 25-30% of the campus is Greek, and those who aren't Greek usually don't care much about those who are. I wouldn't say it's an anti-Greek campus - just indifferent. And they usually won't go to events thrown by Greeks unless they involve alcohol! :rolleyes:

If you want (a lot) more detail, read on.

There are currently 3 NPCs, Phi Mu, Alpha Phi and Kappa Kappa Gamma. Kappa Alpha Theta formed from a local in 1997 and was closed for RMF in 2009. Delta Gamma was around from 1990-1995, and I think it closed due to low numbers. There are no locals (at least not any well-known or University-recognized ones...). Both Alpha Phi and Phi Mu were founded in the early 80's and though I've heard Alpha Phi was reorganized once or twice, I can't say whether or not that's 100% correct. Kappa was installed in 1999, and Pi Beta Phi is colonizing this fall. I can tell you from personal experience that new groups have it tough here - even nearly 10 years after our founding, Kappa was still on somewhat shaky ground (doing much better now, though). Alpha Phi, Phi Mu and Theta (which was a local for quite some time before going national) were/are very well-established groups with high numbers, strong alum support and strong presence on campus. Kappa has gotten there, but not without a lot of work. Pi Phi will have a challenge in becoming well-established, but their extension team knows it and I think they'll do just fine. In any event, none of the sororities are housed and they are all pretty large - this spring the largest was 144 and the smallest was 123. There is a lot of crossover in terms of groups of friends, so Panhellenic unity is pretty good except for during Recruitment (where everyone just gets super-competitive) and Greek Week, specifically Powderpuff Football (ditto). There are some big events, but chapters aren't necessarily known for their events since they don't always do the same thing every year. Alpha Phi used to do King of Hearts, but they've done a Casino Night for the last few years. Phi Mu did a very successful Pastathon this year, but I don't think they did it last year. Kappa has done a cook-off and a charity fashion show in the past. All in all, the groups all have fantastic women in them and a lot of pride. Every group has their own lettered tote bag and you see them all over campus!

IFC fraternities differ in a few big ways: there are much more of them (11), they're smaller (last spring the smallest was 13 and the largest was 104, with most around 50) and they're housed. The University doesn't provide housing, and most of them have row houses that 5 or 6 brothers rent and live in, but the whole fraternity uses. Alpha Delta Phi and Pi Kappa Alpha, two of the largest groups, have small apartment buildings that they exclusively rent which house the whole chapter. Sigma Phi Epsilon and Sigma Alpha Epsilon have their own large houses that usually don't house everyone, but fit many of the brothers. My gut feeling is that the fraternities are more clannish than the sororities due to these three factors. There is some crossover in terms of groups of friends, but it's much more of a sense of once you rush, these are your brothers and this is where you go to hang out. Most of them do not have a big signature event, but there are some - FIJI Islander, Phi Psi Beach Party and SAE Paddy Murphy come to mind.

To be honest, I don't know a ton about the NPHC scene. A lot of NPC/IFC greeks don't even know there is one, which is unfortunate. The Alpha Kappa Alpha and Delta Sigma Theta city-wide chapters recruit at JHU but they're not recognized by the Office of Greek Life because they include non-JHU students and there are insurance issues(?). The Office does recognize a chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho and Alpha Phi Alpha, but they're small - 6 and 3 members last spring, respectively. There really aren't any events where the NPHC community and the rest of the Greek community come together. They really tend to do their own thing. A friend of mine in APhiA told me about step shows and events his chapter was involved with, and they were all Baltimore city-wide events or at other schools, like University of Maryland.

There are a few Multicultural GLOs and they also tend to do their own thing. They don't participate in formal recruitment - they do their own COB-style recruitment. There is only one fraternity in this category, Iota Nu Delta, which is South-Asian interest and very small (6 members). There are two Asian-interest groups, aKDPhi and SOPi, which are smaller (19 and 6 members last spring, respectively) and tend to be all-Asian and pretty exclusive. The most widely known MCGLO is Delta Xi Phi, which is multicultural-interest and usually has around 15 members. They've had the highest female greek GPA for years now and do a ton of community service. They also participate in Greek Week events (the other MCGLO groups are invited to but don't usually get into it). In general, the MCGLO groups tend to be small and not well-known on campus.

If you have any more questions, PM me!

ETA: I meant to add something about how Johns Hopkins as a school relates to the greeks there. I think the biggest thing is that there's definitely an atmosphere of "work ALWAYS comes first." In the past we've had some well-meaning LCs who had trouble with this - for example, one wanted us to go sit in the cafeteria for hours, wearing our letters, to promote the group. Sisters were pretty incredulous because they had too many other things to do, like research, lab work, studying, jobs, etc. In all the NPC groups here it's very much an attitude of school first, everything else (including my sorority) second. I've seen girls disaffiliate (in all 3 groups on campus) because they felt the sorority was demanding too much of them and it was interfering with their workload. And we don't even have that many required events, for that reason specifically! I don't know how much of all this is typical of greeks at other universities (regardless of US News ranking), but it's definitely something I've noticed here that differs from the attitudes of greeks I've met at some other schools.

Also the Northeast is the home of most of the "elite" old money institutions. But even at those institutions, which historically have been the bastion of Greek Life, less and less students are going Greek, with some exceptions of course.

Right but I'm talking more specifically about public institutions.

In terms of private, not-for-profit institutions (outside of the Ivy League), I can think of a handful more, including Syracuse University, University of Rochester, and a crap ton of the schools already on Sen's list.

This is true.

I'm fairly confident that the folks back home would be far more impressed with an Arkansas/LSU/Ole Miss degree than one from an infinitely better university besies Harvard/Yale or Stanfrd.

Coming from Texas, I can also partially vouch for this southern mindset. Most of my friends chose to stay at home in UT, Texas A&M, or SMU instead of accepting or applying to higher-ranked colleges out-of-state. In fact, I've had friends turn down schools like Carnegie Mellon and Stanford just so they could stay in-state, eep!

@ littleowl33: Was JHU all male previously? Why did it take them so long to get sororities?

Also, I'm having trouble with the nomenclature in this thread. To me, "state schools" are former teachers' colleges in PA, KS, NY State and a few others that have been Universities for the past 30 years. They are outright owned by the state. UWM, U of I, IU - those are "flagship" schools and a whole different category. Penn State and Pitt (and Temple and Lincoln) are state related, but they are not state owned. I don't know how it works elsewhere.

Pitt, Penn State, Lincoln, and Temple are all classified as Public Universities instead of Private, not-for-profit, like University of Chicago, or Private, for-profit, like University of Phoenix.

I know they're "state affiliated" according to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, but the Department of Education classifies them as Public.

That's what I'm referring to when I say "State" in reference to NY, PA, etc., - also, NY State has the SUNY system and most "state" colleges and universities fit into that SUNY picture.

Here, "state school" means "public school" -- created by the State Constitution (the University of North Carolina system as a whole) and the General Assembly (specific institutions within the UNC system or the North Carolina Community College System) and funded by taxpayer money. We have no distinction between "state related" and "state owned," and while UNC-Chapel Hill is often referred to as the UNC System's "flagship" institution, that's mainly a recognition of UNC-CH's historical place and its academic and research ranking. It doesn't mean anything any different with regard to how the school is governed or relates to the state.

That's correct - JHU was all-male until 1970. Beta Theta Pi was the first GLO on campus (in 1877, just a year after the university was founded) but the first NPC groups didn't come on until the early 1980's. I would guess they had to wait those 10 years for there to be enough of a female student body to support the colonization of our two first sororities (Alpha Phi and Phi Mu in 1981). I've heard that some NPHC sororities had sisters on campus in the 70's but I don't know this for sure.

Here too, state school = public. If there's any other ranking among them it's a slight negative perception towards "directional schools" i.e. ones that mention North, South, etc. in their names. And that's mostly gone away as those smaller cheaper state schools have come to be seen as a good education for a cheaper price than UIUC, UIC, etc.

The general public doesn't distinguish between "flagship" schools and state schools though the U of I has an excellent reputation statewide. I suspect there's probably a Chicago/rest of the state difference too, but I can't speak to that.

Here also, state school=public school. They receive state funding (and therefore have different resident vs non-resident tuition rates and their board of directors are elected.

We definitely have "tiers" within our state schools. The University of Michigan is clearly one of the best, if not the best, school in the state. Some private schools would compete, but are not as well known. Michigan State wants to be on that level but doesn't quite make it. Then we have the rest.. Wayne State, Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, etc. It really has more to do with selectivity of admission than anything else. It is hardest to get into Michigan, it is pretty easy to get into EMU.

Focus, people.

As far as I know Notre Dame has no greek life currently. They do however have a system where each dorm has a name and a kind of identity and dorms do things as groups like at pep rallies before football games.

You should know better than to expect that :p

Carnegie Mellon was very much the same way. Our campus was silent on Sunday through Thursdays. Mandatory functions were only held on the weekends.

I was at my GLO's regional meeting a couple of years ago when it happened to be in Baltimore. I spoke to a couple of alums who advised the chapter at JHU. They truly didn't understand the workloads of JHU students. Many decades ago, I remember the same problem with the CMU advisors. They just didn't understand the typical Tartan and the amount of work we had. My brother went to MIT, was very involved with his fraternity (lived in the house all 4 years), and even was an intercollegiate athlete for them. Somehow he managed to strike the balance.

What, you think that just 'cause you started this thread, you get to control any highjacks and sidetrips?

Silly rabbit. :p

MIT frats/sororities are pretty understanding of the workload, so it's not really hard to "strike the balance" in terms of balancing schoolwork and Greek life. For example, last semester I probably put in (max) an hour per week for AXO. Certain frats might even demand less (the only -mandatory- activities, really, are chapter meetings and house jobs). Of course, if you're on the exec board or active in a committee it might take longer, but still isn't that time consuming (I was also webmaster, and that took maybe 10 minutes a week, if even).

I am impressed, however, that your brother was able to be an intercollegiate athlete as well. I've heard from some friends (mainly in tennis/swimming) that the athletic schedule can be killer.

Part of the problem with staying on topic is that most of us are not from most of the schools on that list. That does make me think that the greek systems are not very strong on most of those campuses. (most, not all, because we know UCLA has a pretty strong greek life and Northwestern too, if it was on that list)

Your PMs are off! Message me if you can!! :)
 

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Slight correction from a crusty old alum... :)

There are two local fraternities at MIT: Nu Delta and Phi Beta Epsilon. I'm not sure exactly how old they are (their web sites both appear to be down) but they were both well-established when I was at MIT (mid 90s). PBE has been around for at least 100 years, if memory serves. There are 24 national fraternities with active chapters, and Pike is recolonizing.

There are six NPC sororities.

There are also five Independent Living Groups: WILG (Women's Independent Living Group), Student House, Fenway, pika, and Epsilon Theta. Epsilon Theta used to be a chapter of Sigma Nu, but the chapter wanted to initiate women, Sigma Nu's nationals said no, so they went local and took their chapter designation as their new name. pika (note lowercase) similarly was a chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha, and went local because their nationals wouldn't let them go coed. All the ILGs except WILG are coed.

The groups are collectively referred to by the acronym FSILG. Back in my day, all FSILG groups were members of IFC - in addition to Panhel or the Living Group Council where applicable. Now IFC governs just the fraternities.

As for NPHC, there was a pretty big Alpha Phi Alpha and Alpha Kappa Alpha presence in my day. Alpha is still a recognized student organization, but AKA is not (but I'd be surprised if they're not still around).

Greeks are highly visible around campus, particularly during recruitment (naturally) but also throughout the year. Each NPC sorority chapter is known for its major annual fundraiser.

Balancing your course load with your GLO obligations and the rest of your life was made easier, I think, by the fact that everyone has a killer course load, so if you had to punt something because you had a problem set due the next day, your sisters/brothers tended to be understanding.

OK, I will take a stab.

My husband went to Rice, so that is where I have obtained my (admittedly general/basic) knowledge on their system. Rice is a private school in Houston with about 2000 undergrads known for its sciences and engineering programs, as well as more recently their baseball team.

They do not have fraternities or sororities there, instead every student is randomly assigned to one of ten co-ed residential colleges. On campus these colleges function in much the same way as our GLOs.

Each college has its own dorm and most of them differ widely in architecture. Some are super old, and others have been built/created in the past 10 years. For most colleges the members live-in freshman, junior and senior years. Those that live-out typically do so sophomore year due to space constraints. Priority of living-in is given to freshman to assimilate them to campus and then seniority. Therefore, it is the sophomores who get booted off campus for a year before returning. With the building of several new colleges in the past 10 years perhaps there is less need for sophomores to move out.

In addition, each college has its own cafeteria/eating area, so there is no campus wide cafeteria. You eat all your meals with your college, which may be served family style. Memory is failing me on that.

Campus wide activities/competitions always pit college against college, as your college is where your loyality lies first and foremost. These are huge events that draw pretty much the entire campus body. One of the most popular is Beer Bike, which is exactly what it sounds like. Its so popular that it has its own tab on the website home page! Student government represenation, intramurals, pretty much everything is based on the colleges.

Each college has its own colors, team cheer, personality, and crest. I can't remember if there are mascots/symbols or not. My husband graduated 15 years ago, but is still as loyal to "Weiss College" as I am to my GLO. All of his closest friends from Rice were also in Weiss.

I'll ask my husband tonight if there is anything that I have left out.

Hope that helps.

@aephi_alum: You are absolutely correct, my bad. Phi Beta Epsilon still holds a large presence on campus (their rooftop party is packed every single year). Nu Delta is across the river in Boston, so you don't see them much. I think traditionally they have consisted of minority students, much like our deactivated chapter of Theta Delta Chi (they went co-ed and split from nationals). PBE was founded in 1890; not sure about Nu Delta.

The inter-collegiate Boston chapter of AKA (Lambda Upsilon) is still going strong, although most of the members now come from Harvard.

Interestingly, Pi Kappa Alpha recolonized at MIT last semester and already has a good group of brothers. They will be doing formal rush with everyone else this September.

Uh, so, I may or may not have turned off my PMs then forgot how to turn them back on... working on it. :o

The NPC history at the US News Top 20:

1. Harvard University Cambridge, MA February 2011
Quota=
Campus Total=
*************
Kappa Alpha Theta Zeta Xi 1993
Delta Gamma Zeta Phi 1994
Kappa Kappa Gamma Eta Theta 2003

2. Princeton University Princeton, NJ: September 2010
Quota=
Campus Total=
*************
Kappa Alpha Theta Gamma Mu 1983
Kappa Kappa Gamma Zeta Phi 1990
Pi Beta Phi New Jersey Alpha 1990
Delta Delta Delta Gamma Omicron 1996-2005

3. Yale University New Haven, CT September 2010
Quota=
Campus Total=
************
Kappa Alpha Theta Epsilon Tau 1986
Kappa Kappa Gamma Zeta Xi 1987
Pi Beta Phi Connecticut Beta 1989
Alpha Epsilon Phi Beta Delta 1995-?

4. California Institute of Technology

5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA: September 4-7, 2010
Quota=
Campus Total=
Quota Last Year=35
***************
Alpha Phi Zeta Phi 1984
Alpha Chi Omega Theta Omicron 1986
Sigma Kappa Theta Lambda 1989
Kappa Alpha Theta Zeta Mu 1991
Alpha Epsilon Phi Beta Epsilon 1995
Pi Beta Phi Massachusetts Gamma 2008

6. Stanford University Palo Alto, CA: April 2011
Quota=
Campus Total=
*************
Kappa Alpha Theta Phi Deuteron 1891-1944/1978
Kappa Kappa Gamma Beta Eta 1892-1944/1978
Pi Beta Phi California Alpha 1893-1897/1905-1944/1978
Delta Gamma Upsilon (3) 1897-1944/1979-1999
Alpha Phi Kappa 1899-1944/1978-?
Gamma Phi Beta Mu 1905-1944/?-1992
Delta Delta Delta Omega 1909-1944/1984
Alpha Omicron Pi Lambda 1910-1944
Sigma Kappa Pi 1915-1930
Chi Omega Nu Alpha 1915-1944/1990
Alpha Chi Omega Zeta Iota 1979-1982
Sigma Delta Tau Beta Upsilon 1983-?
Alpha Epsilon Phi Colony 2007

7. University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA: January 2011
Quota=
Campus Total=
Quota last year=
***************
Kappa Kappa Gamma Beta Alpha 1890-1977
Delta Delta Delta Psi 1904
Alpha Epsilon Phi Theta 1917-1970
Alpha Omicron Pi Psi 1918-1958
Zeta Tau Alpha Alpha Beta 1918-1954
Alpha Chi Omega Alpha Epsilon 1919
Kappa Alpha Theta Beta Eta 1919-1970/1988
Chi Omega Beta Alpha 1919
Sigma Delta Tau Beta 1920
Kappa Delta 1921-?
Delta Phi Epsilon Nu 1926-1970
Phi Sigma Sigma Nu 1926-?/2004-2009
Alpha Xi Delta Alpha Phi 1927-1966
Delta Zeta Beta Epsilon 1928-1934
Delta Gamma Beta Phi 1946-1958
Alpha Phi Eta Iota 1988
Pi Beta Phi Pennsylvania Iota 1992-?
Sigma Kappa Kappa Iota 2002

8. Columbia University New York City, NY: February 2011
Quota=
Campus Total=
Quota last year=
***************
Alpha Epsilon Phi Gamma 1915-1917
Alpha Phi Zeta Chi 1984-?
Kappa Alpha Theta Epsilon Upsilon 1986
Delta Gamma Zeta Theta 1988
Alpha Chi Omega Theta Psi 1989
Sigma Delta Tau Gamma Tau 1992

9. University of Chicago Chicago, IL: October 2010
Quota=
Campus Total=55
Quota last year=19
**************
Alpha Omicron Pi Phi Chi 1986
Kappa Alpha Theta Epsilon Phi 1986
Delta Gamma Eta Zeta 2000

10. Duke University (Trinity College) Durham, NC: January 2011
Quota=
Campus Total=
Quota last year=
***************
Alpha Delta Pi Omicron 1911
Kappa Delta Sigma Delta 1912-1967/1976-1990
Zeta Tau Alpha Phi 1915-1987/2005
Kappa Alpha Theta Beta Rho 1928
Kappa Kappa Gamma Delta Beta 1930
Delta Delta Delta Alpha Omicron 1931
Sigma Kappa Alpha Psi 1931-1967
Pi Beta Phi North Carolina Beta 1933
Alpha Epsilon Phi Alpha Epsilon 1934-2004
Phi Mu 1934-1987
Alpha Phi Beta Nu 1935-1970/2003
Delta Gamma Beta Theta 1939-1974/1986
Alpha Chi Omega Beta Upsilon 1942-1976
Chi Omega Mu Kappa 1976
Alpha Omicron Pi Delta Upsilon 1979-2008

11. Dartmouth College Hanover, NH: October 2010
Quota=
Campus Total=
Quota Last Year=29
****************
Sigma Kappa Zeta Lambda 1977-1986
Kappa Kappa Gamma Epsilon Chi 1978
Alpha Chi Omega Zeta Mu 1980-1990
Kappa Alpha Theta Epsilon Kappa 1982-1992
Delta Delta Delta Gamma Gamma 1984
Delta Phi Epsilon Epsilon Alpha 1984-1990
Delta Gamma Zeta Beta 1987-1997
Alpha Xi Delta Theta Psi 1998
Alpha Phi Iota Kappa 2006
Kappa Delta Colony Fall 2009

12. Northwestern University Evanston, IL: January 2011
Quota=
Campus Total=
Quota last year=
***************
Alpha Phi Beta 1881
Delta Gamma Sigma 1882
Kappa Kappa Gamma Upsilon 1882
Kappa Alpha Theta Tau 1887
Gamma Phi Beta Epsilon 1888
Alpha Chi Omega Gamma 1890
Pi Beta Phi Illinois Epsilon 1894
Delta Delta Delta Upsilon 1895
Chi Omega Xi 1901
Kappa Delta Lambda 1907
Alpha Omicron Pi Rho 1909-1973
Phi Omega Pi Epsilon 1913-1943
Alpha Gamma Delta Lambda 1913-1995
Delta Zeta Alpha Alpha 1920
Zeta Tau Alpha Alpha Phi 1920-1969/2007
Alpha Epsilon Phi Omicron 1921-1988
Alpha Xi Delta Alpha Theta 1921-1972
Theta Upsilon Epsilon Alpha 1933-1940
Sigma Delta Tau Sigma 1938-1970
Alpha Delta Pi Gamma Beta 1945-1971/2002-2006

13. Washington University St. Louis, MO: January 2011
Quota=
Campus Total=115
Quota last year=
***************
Kappa Alpha Theta Alpha Iota 1906-1973/1987-2000
Pi Beta Phi Missouri Beta 1907
Delta Gamma Alpha Epsilon 1914-1973/1990
Gamma Phi Beta Phi 1917-1988
Alpha Chi Omega Alpha Zeta 1920-1989
Kappa Kappa Gamma Gamma Iota 1921
Phi Mu 1923-1966
Alpha Epsilon Phi Psi 1925
Delta Delta Delta Delta Phi 1926-1954
Alpha Xi Delta Beta Beta 1929-1963
Zeta Tau Alpha Beta Chi 1931-1967
Sigma Delta Tau Alpha Eta 1951-1973
Delta Phi Epsilon Delta Tau 1963-1971
Alpha Phi Zeta Upsilon 1983
Chi Omega Tau Mu 2003
Alpha Omicron Pi Delta Kappa 2009

14. Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD: January 2011
Quota=
Campus Total=96
Quota Last Year=
***************
Alpha Phi Zeta Omicron 1981
Phi Mu Gamma Tau 1982
Delta Gamma Zeta Kappa 1990-1995
Kappa Alpha Theta Zeta Chi 1997-2009
Kappa Kappa Gamma Eta Epsilon 1999
Pi Beta Phi Colony Fall 2010

15. Cornell University Ithaca, NY Informal September 2010/Formal January 2011
Quota=
Campus Total=
Quota last year=
**************
Kappa Alpha Theta Iota 1881-1965/1980
Kappa Kappa Gamma Psi 1883-1969/1977
Delta Gamma Chi (2) 1885
Alpha Phi Delta 1889-?/1990s?
Alpha Omicron Pi Epsilon 1908-1962/1989-2008
Delta Zeta Beta 1908-1932
Delta Delta Delta Alpha Beta 1913
Kappa Delta Omega Chi 1917-1969/1975
Sigma Delta Tau Alpha (Founding Chapter) 1917
Chi Omega Theta Alpha 1917-2003
Alpha Xi Delta Alpha Beta 1918-1964/2005
Pi Beta Phi New York Delta 1919
Alpha Epsilon Phi Kappa 1920
Sigma Kappa Alpha Zeta 1921-1955
Phi Sigma Sigma Beta Xi 1954-1969
Delta Phi Epsilon Delta Rho 1960-2003
Iota Alpha Pi Beta Delta 1966-1971
Alpha Chi Omega Zeta Phi 1984
Alpha Gamma Delta Zeta Xi 1985-1990

16. Brown University Providence, RI: Spring 2011
Quota=
Campus Total=
**********
Kappa Alpha Theta Alpha Epsilon 1897-1912/1984
Alpha Omicron Pi Beta 1908-1908
Sigma Kappa Kappa 1908-1912
Alpha Chi Omega Zeta Theta 1979

17. Emory University Atlanta, GA, January 2011
Quota=
Campus Total=
*************
Alpha Delta Pi Delta Alpha 1959
Alpha Epsilon Phi Epsilon Eta 1959
Alpha Chi Omega Delta Iota 1959-1988
Delta Gamma Gamma Psi 1959-?
Delta Delta Delta Alpha Omega 1959
Kappa Alpha Theta Delta Zeta 1959
Kappa Delta Gamma Pi 1959-1985
Kappa Kappa Gamma Epsilon Epsilon 1959
Phi Mu 1959-1973
Chi Omega Tau Zeta 1959-?
Delta Phi Epsilon Phi Lambda 1977
Alpha Phi Theta Pi 1993-?
Sigma Delta Tau Delta Epsilon 2001
Gamma Phi Beta Zeta Tau 2006

18. Rice University

19. Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN: January 2011
Quota=
Campus Total=
Quota last year=
***************
Kappa Alpha Theta Alpha Eta 1904
Delta Delta Delta Delta Gamma 1911
Alpha Omicron Pi Nu Omicron 1917
Gamma Phi Beta Alpha Theta 1924-1998
Alpha Epsilon Phi Chi 1925-1965
Sigma Kappa Alpha Rho 1926-1940
Pi Beta Phi Tennessee Beta 1940
Kappa Delta Beta Tau 1949
Chi Omega Sigma Epsilon 1954
Alpha Delta Pi Zeta Rho 1978
Kappa Kappa Gamma Epsilon Nu 1978
Alpha Chi Omega Zeta Omicron 1982
Delta Gamma Eta Epsilon 2000

20. University of Notre Dame

21. University of California Berkeley, CA: August 27 - September 2, 2010
Quota=
Campus Total=110
Quota last year=28
***************
Kappa Kappa Gamma Pi 1880-1885/1897
Kappa Alpha Theta Omega 1890
Gamma Phi Beta Eta 1896
Delta Delta Delta Pi 1900
Pi Beta Phi California Beta 1900
Alpha Phi Lambda 1901
Chi Omega Mu 1902
Alpha Omicron Pi Sigma 1907
Delta Gamma Gamma 1907
Alpha Xi Delta Omicron 1909-1969
Alpha Chi Omega Pi 1909
Sigma Kappa Lambda 1910
Alpha Delta Pi Psi 1913
Theta Upsilon Alpha (Founding chapter) 1914-1961
Zeta Tau Alpha Upsilon 1914-1969
Alpha Gamma Delta Omicron 1915-?
Delta Zeta Mu 1915-1969
Phi Mu Eta Alpha 1916-1971/1980-1990
Kappa Delta Phi 1917-1969
Phi Omega Pi California Alpha 1919-?
Beta Phi Alpha Alpha (founding chapter) 1919-1941 National absorbed by Delta Zeta 1941
Alpha Epsilon Phi Tau 1923-?
Alpha Delta Theta Iota 1924-1934 national merger with Phi Mu
Phi Sigma Sigma Mu 1926-1966
Delta Phi Epsilon Delta Zeta 1948-1969

22. Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA: September 21-27, 2010
Quota=
Campus Total=
Quota last year=25
***************
Alpha Epsilon Phi Alpha Nu 1943-1971
Delta Gamma Beta Nu 1944
Delta Delta Delta Alpha Tau 1944
Kappa Alpha Theta Gamma Theta 1944
Kappa Kappa Gamma Delta Xi 1944
Chi Omega Omicron Delta 1944-1992
Sigma Kappa Beta Iota 1945-1967
Alpha Chi Omega Kappa Nu 2006

23. Georgetown University

24. University of California at Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA: September 2010
Quota=
Campus Total=115
Quota last year=
***************
Phi Sigma Sigma Zeta 1921-?
Delta Gamma Alpha Sigma 1923
Chi Omega Gamma Beta 1923
Alpha Epsilon Phi Phi 1924
Alpha Xi Delta Alpha Xi 1924-1980
Alpha Phi Beta Delta 1924
Gamma Phi Beta Alpha Iota 1924-?/2000
Phi Omega Pi Sigma 1925-?
Alpha Gamma Delta Delta Epsilon 1925-1982
Alpha Delta Pi Alpha Chi 1925
Alpha Omicron Pi Kappa Theta 1925-1973
Delta Delta Delta Theta Pi 1925
Delta Zeta Alpha Chi 1925-?
Kappa Alpha Theta Beta Xi 1925
Kappa Kappa Gamma Gamma Xi 1925
Sigma Kappa Alpha Omicron 1925-1993
Alpha Delta Theta Mu 1926-1939 National merger with Phi Mu
Beta Phi Alpha Lambda 1926-1941 National absorbed by Delta Zeta
Pi Kappa Sigma Phi 1926-1939
Alpha Sigma Alpha Xi Xi 1926-1951
Alpha Chi Omega Alpha Psi 1926-?/2009
Zeta Tau Alpha Beta Epsilon 1926-1986
Theta Phi Alpha Pi 1926-1954
Kappa Delta Alpha Iota 1926
Pi Beta Phi California Delta 1927
Theta Upsilon Omicron 1927-1930
Sigma Delta Tau Lambda 1927-1987
Phi Mu 1927-1987
Delta Phi Epsilon Delta Lambda 1956-1971

25. University of Virginia Charlotte, VA: January 2011
Quota=
Campus Total=107
Quota last year=
***************
Chi Omega Lambda Gamma 1927
Kappa Delta Beta Alpha 1932
Zeta Tau Alpha Gamma Nu 1952
Delta Delta Delta Beta Sigma 1975
Pi Beta Phi Virginia Epsilon 1975
Alpha Delta Pi Zeta Xi 1976
Kappa Alpha Theta Delta Chi 1976
Kappa Kappa Gamma Epsilon Sigma 1976
Delta Zeta Lambda Delta 1977
Alpha Phi Zeta Iota 1978-?/?
Delta Gamma Epsilon Gamma 1978
Alpha Chi Omega Zeta Lambda 1980
Sigma Delta Tau Beta Rho 1981-1988/Colony 2010-2011
Sigma Sigma Sigma Delta Chi 1981
Phi Mu Gamma Omega 1981
Alpha Omicron Pi Chi Beta 1982-200?
Alpha Xi Delta Zeta Psi 1987-199?
Sigma Kappa Theta Zeta 1987
Alpha Gamma Delta Theta Kappa 1990-1992
Gamma Phi Beta Zeta Beta 1993

A lot of deactivated chapters =(

Some more info on Penn:
The KD chapter closed in 1994, Pi Phi in 2000.
The Tri Delta, Theta, AXO, SDT, and Phi Sig chapters were all part of the wave of Vietnam-era closures, but I don't know the dates when they closed. Tri Delta returned in 1985, Theta in 1988, AXO in 1990, and SDT in 1980. Phi Sig initially returned in 1977 and closed in 2002 before returning in 2004 and closing again in 2010.

There's a PDF with some historical information about the Berkeley Greek system here.

My sister and our dad went there. My sister was in Lovett College and got her BS. Our dad was in architecture and got his MS.


Kinda back on topic. Sorry Sen!!!

In Texas (and the South maybe?) state schools are considered land grant institutions. Something about them being established after the Civil War.

As far as my alma mater, Texas A&M, the greek scene is not very popular. It has become a bit more popular over the last few years though. From 1876 - ~1965, A&M was all male, all white, all military. So, for a loooonngg time only the Corps of Cadets (the military unit of A&M) was considered the only 'fraternity' on campus. So, I think the greek system at A&M is getting stronger, but probably compared to other campuses, it is not that strong and/or has a strong influence on campus.