NPHC life at Howard
 

Can anyone who's a Howard student or alum talk a little about Greek life there? With so many of the Divine Nine having been founded there, it seems like it would be pretty intense. Do Greeks "run the school" in the sense that they do at places like Alabama? Are Greek-independent relations good or strained? Also, do Greeks have houses or dorm space?

Thanks! :)

Try greekpages.com

It will come up greekgear, but before it fully loads, - the site and will come up greekpages.

Then you can Navigate from there!

PM Me!!!!!!:)

Interesting website that is badly in need of maintenance. But I don't think it will answer LXA's questions.

LXA, I am not an HU alumni, but my daughter is. What I know is that while the D9 are popular there, they do not necessarily control everything. The richness of HU is its historical being and the fact that Blacks in general are enriched by the school. Thus, your greek affiliation, if any, plays less of a role than your leadership ability.

My daughter was an accomplished student and leader in her predominately White high school here in Minnesota and considered an overachiever. When she went to Howard, she was the norm, not the exception.

I would venture to say that many of the students there become members of the D9 after they have shown leadership ability on campus, not before. Because that is one of the main things we look for.

As far as a house or dorm space--no Delta did not have one. I don't think there were any Greek houses on the campus. But they did have space available for the orgs to meet.

I hope some HU students/alum with personal experience will respond. Otherwise, does this help?

Tom, why do you always recommend people look at greekpages?:confused: It's even been pointed out to you several times that this website is incredibly out of date and inaccurate.

Plus I don't see how much it could really answer the OP's question.

Do they pay you a referral fee or something?:confused: I don't understand why you would recommend someone to incorrect information

i saw pics of probates for the k's and the deltas.

*making out my christmas list*

:rolleyes:

As an example, it doesn't list my chapter under Kappa Sigma, despite the chapter being around for 18 years and having a website for the past 2.5 years.

:cool:


hi.

Has it been submitted? I submitted my chapter's site and it went up fairly quickly.

That would probably be the problem.

The site can be linked through the Kappa Sigma site and through BU's Student Activities Office., so I think they might just leave it at that.

Re: NPHC life at Howard
 

The presence of the Greek organizations on campus is very overwhelming. Not only the D9, but the presence of other greek lettered organizations. 5 of the 9 being founded there definitiely plays a part in the tone of the campus and adds to the intimidation. There is a lot of pride and I found that even people not interested in greek life show respect. It is amazing to walk around the campus and "feel" the history of the university. History is a MAJOR part of the Howard University experience.

There are not any houses on campus, but some organizations do have houses. My chapter opted to use the money for our house to fund the Delta Towers, which is a housing complex for senior citizens. Service always comes first!!

As Soror Ladygreek stated before, it may seem that Greeks "run the campus" because almost all of the leadership positions were/are held by members of greek organizations. You cannot walk down Power Hall without seeing a member of a greek organization, especially Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. During my 3 1/2 years at Howard, all of my HUSA presidents were greek except during my junior year. But hey what can I say future leaders are just being groomed left and right at Howard!! I love my alma mater!!

Here is a page on Howard University from the Department of Education:

http://www.ed.gov/about/reports/annu...te-howard.html

-Rudey
--Looks like some over achievers. Good for them.

That website is seriously out of date. Beta Theta Pi hasn't been on campus in years.

LOL!

While I can't speak to the question firsthand, a perusal of some of the Alpha Chapter website could give you some "flavour."

http://www.blackpgs.com/alphachapter/

"The value of our fraternity is not in numbers, but in men in real brotherhood..."-Bro. Walter H. Mazyck,Esq., The Oracle, 1925.

Wow, I saw the name of one of my high school classmates that I had no idea had pledged Que. It's amazing they had the lines all the way back to the beginning. Good site.

Yes, it was also interesting to see how the line names evolved over the years.

Great website!

What is the average chapter size there? And although I'm not sure if I can ask this in a way that's most relevant to these orgs... is rush highly competitive there?

Are you asking whether the organizations have to compete for members?

No, the opposite. Is it comparatively MORE difficult to be accepted into the sorority of your choice at Howard than at other schools?

Take GPA for instance... say that to be an ABC, you need to have a 3.5 cummulative GPA. But to be an ABC at Howard, do only the girls with 4.0s get in? Obviously this is an overgeneralization that's focusing on only one aspect of membership selection, but I'm hoping you see what I mean.

I don't know about the discrepancies between collegiate chapters in NPHC orgs. Phi Mu has a national GPA standard, and individual chapters can bump it up if they would like. I also don't know about the size of your lines- can you take as many as the chapter wants, provided there are qualified applicants? Or is it something that is limited (which would be the case in NPC orgs)?

Delta has membership standards that can only be superceded by rules of the school (if they are higher or stricter.) That includes GPA, size of lines, etc. Chapters cannot impose their own such restrictions.

Thank you for that information. That helps me to better phrase my question.

My use of "competitive" then refers to the fact that there are a limited number of spots per semester. Although there is a baseline standard, I would assume at a school with such rich Greek history, the girls who are chosen for membership would truly be the "best of the best", making it more difficult to pledge at Howard than to pledge at another school. Is that an accurate assumption, or no?

With this in mind, (to the original poster of the question) it is highly competitive across the board but ESPECIALLY at schools with a large number of applicants.

Since these chapters with high numbers of "rush attendees" are not permitted to make up their own criteria, the cut-off point can become difficult. Particularly for Delta and AKA at Howard, there can be 50 to 150 young ladies who meet or exceed the bare minimum criteria for application acceptance and so forth.

Not speaking specifically on Howard, but this is IDEALLY the case at schools with a large number of "qualified applicants."

Best of the best would mean Howard is the best?

-Rudey
--They are over achievers

Best of the Howard women who are interested in that particular sorority.

Thanks to everyone for your answers- just one more, one that I asked earlier: What is the average chapter size at Howard?

Honestly it varies to each organization. For example, one organization only had 1 member for the 2004-2005 school year. Last Friday, they crossed 137 young ladies. Another organization crossed about 6 young ladies and maybe had 7 in the chapter for the 2004-2005 school year. Some organizations just have more people seeking membership and some have less.

So they are not the best of the best but the best of Howard?
If so why would it be more competitive there?

-Rudey

Because it's a school with a lot of history... I know if I were going there, I'd want to go Greek! So my logic is:

higher interest= higher # of applicants= higher standard to get in

I don't understand your logic one bit.

-Rudey

Ok here is a hypo:

ABC org has a rush and 300 women attend. Of those 300 women, 150 exceed the minimum requirement of gpa, community service, and leadership, 75 meet the basic requirements and 75 fall short. Now, the chapter can not accept all of the women and the pool of qualified applicants is extremely large. The organization has the job of selecting say 100 members from a pool of 225 applicants. That means that 125 girls that meet (or exceed) the minimum qualifications are not going to make it. Thus the applicant must do any and everything to make them shine in order to get one of the spots.

Now, if you combne this with a school that has higher requirements than the national org, only the " best of the best will make it" Or to say it another way only the over qualified of the qualified will make the cut because those that meet the minimum qualifications are just average compared to the other applicants that exceed them.

make sense now?

Here's what I'm saying:

ABC organization, with their Alpha chapter at Howard, 25 open slots, must have 3.5 GPA and 75+ hours previous community service, etc.

You say the Howard students are "overachievers", so we'd assume a high proportion of these students are going to make minimum GPA requirements. In addition, there's the fact that 5 of the Divine 9 have their Alpha chapters at that school, meaning going Greek is a BIG deal there. Also factor in the large groups of people who have grown up with that org in their families and maybe even chose Howard because of that (what I would call a legacy). To me, those characteristics are going to mean that there will be a high number of qualified (qualified meaning meeting the baseline standard) applicants, more applicants than there are open spots.

So if there are 25 open spots on a line and 150 applicants... the 25 that get in are going to obviously be the cream of the crop- higher GPAs than 3.5, excellent community service record, plus there's that X Factor of membership selection where everyone likes her, classy, good leader, etc.

This obviously differs from a school where going Greek is not as big of a deal. They may have the potential for 25 open spots as well, but have trouble finding applicants that meet the baseline standard. Or it's possible that (with exceptions involving that X Factor) the majority of qualified applicants are accepted.

Thus, it would be easier to be an ABC at the second school than the first. At the second school, you are meeting the basic standard and making sure everyone likes you. At the first school, you have to do those things AND making sure you're better than the majority of applicants: COMPETITION.

Obviously I am not in an NPHC sorority nor do I attend Howard, but this is just my interpretation of what might happen. I'm not saying this is what happens, but I'm trying to better understand. I don't see how it's flawed logic, but it's entirely possible that there are factors I'm missing.

I might have not been serious about the over achiever remark. I'm not sure now that I think about it.

-Rudey

Yes, the "Mother Pearl" website is exceptional for its historical coverage. What can be obscured are the people behind the names on the lists of the "lines" from the beginning of the Fraternity to teh present. For example, the current President of Howard Univ., Patrick Swygert, was a member of the '64 line, and late Fr. John Burgess, graduate advisor of Alpha chapter, was Episcopal Bishop of Massachussets, the first African American to serve as a diocesan bishop in the Episcopal Church, There are many more!

"THe value of our fraternity is not in numbers, but in men in real brotherhood.."-Bro. Walter H. Mazyck,Esq.,The Oracle 1925.

I don't understand your logic.

Carolina Cutie, you are pretty much on point.

I would have had to argue something for you to look for logic.

But anyway, Howard students are not exactly better than say...Harvard kids...so how exactly are they the best of the best and better than kids at other schools?

-Rudey
--But who knows.

What are you talking about???!!

No one said that Howard students were better than students at other schools. Best of the best means that only the best applicants in the pool will be selected for membership. A pool that is comprised of extremely qualified applicants.

Are you looking to incite an argument?

No, I'm not looking for an argument. I am just saying that to be the best of the best, you go to the best pool of people and take the best from there. For those BLO members to be the best of the best it would mean their school was the best to start with.

-Rudey
--What about the BGLO members at say...Harvard? How would they feel? :(

Ok,

How about this:

The best and brightest group of applicants from the campus of Howard University, located in Washington, DC.

That better?

Sure. I guess. You got all specific.

Anyway, I would hope that GLO applicants at any campus are the best and brightest, but I am sometimes disappointed in those hopes.

-Rudey