Choosing colleges, did Greek life matter?
 

I was wondering, what role did the presence of Greek life on campus play when you were deciding what college to attend? Did it matter at all? Did the presence of a specific organization matter?

I was thinking about my own college choice. While I was looking for a campus where Greek life was not influential, I ended up applying to three schools with Greek life and one without. And I obviously changed my mind about being involved once I got there and saw the reality rather than just stereotypes.

I knew that I wanted to be in a sorority, but it was not a deciding factor in my college choices.

I was being recruited to play soccer and one of the things I did ask all of the coaches is if they allowed their players to join a sorority. My favorite response was "I guess. None of my players has ever wanted to do that before so I don't really know."

The only thing that mattered to me was whether they had my major and how much scholarship money they were going to give me.

Yes, actually. It came down to 2 schools for me. One had Greek life, one did not. While this wasn't the only factor that made me choose my school over the other, I knew I at least wanted the opportunity to join a sorority.

im sure this question has been discussed, but greek life had no bearing on my choosing a college. it wasnt on my radar at all. sororities dont pay tuition. if so, i need to call my HQ and tell them to get in touch with Sallie Mae!

I didn't care about it at all, personally. I've never understood when people choose a school in order to pledge, but to each their own, I suppose.

I chose a school that had Greek Life because I wanted the option...though I chose to wait until sophomore year to pledge.

Because of college costs and not knowing anything about greeks I could have cared less.

But becoming a little more informed in my first school, I could really not have cared as played base ball and tennis.

Second school was totally different. After the fact of course, cost was the first priority and then greek became very important .

I simply found something that I wanted and went for it.;)

I have never looked back with any regrets.

None.

Good to see you around!

As for me, yes, Greek Life had everything to do with the schools to which I applied. Or, I should say, my mother was instrumental - I applied to no school that didn't have my legacy chapter there.

The presence of Greek Life did not matter in my college applications. I applied to 2 Jesuit schools (ND and College of the Holy Cross) as well as Annapolis in addition to 3 universities with a small presence of Greek life. Obviously I ended up at a school with Greek Life but that was not even in my decision process when I was making my final decision.

It did matter to my daughter. She wanted a school with Greek Life. Although I was neutral on this issue, I think she recalled all the wonderful experiences that I have had as a connected alumna. Her Fighting Irish great-uncle really wanted her to apply to ND (and bribed her with the Uncle Joe Scholarship :) ) but she ended up not pursuing it because of the lack of Greek Life (and the rotten weather).

My son talks about being a xxx (my brother's fraternity) at Carnegie Mellon or being a zoomie at USAFA. GEN Alum is not pleased....

Good question. I did not make a choice based on whether there were sororities or not. But I was aware of how my religion may affect my sorority options at different schools.

My cousin chose a school with no Greek system on purpose. A good friend of mine chose a school with none of her legacy chapters (Kappa, Chi O, Pi Phi and Theta) because she did not want to deal with the family drama.

When I was applying, I had the stereotypes in my head and preferred a school without Greek life. I think none had Greek life besides my safety. However, I ended up going to my safety because I couldn't afford anything else, and I obviously changed my mind about rushing.

Thanks, Honeychile. I've been buried in grad-school land.

When applying to colleges, the only things that much mattered were the location of the school and my major. At the time, I was thinking about whether or not it had a decent art program. I had absolutely no idea about Greek life - nor did I want to. No one on my mother's side was Greek and I was the first on my father's side to attend college. There were only a few locals on campus and I didn't know much about them.

It wasn't until I transferred to a school with a larger Greek population, with many national organizations, that I made friends with girls in GLOs. They all seemed sweet and suggested I go through Rush. I think I made a good choice :)

No. I only applied to one school and knew I was guaranteed acceptance. The fact that everyone in my family attended held more sway than anything, including my anticipated major (which ended up changing anyway).

It really didn't matter for me because I didn't know UCSC even had Greek Life! I only applied here and Davis (I know, I know, I should've applied to more places) and Davis has a bigger Greek life. (Also, Kappa's president is from that chapter!)

I don't know if I ever thought about being in a sorority when I was in high school. Hmmm...

What really mattered to me was the free ride. :p Becoming a Sig Kap was the icing on the (all expenses paid) cake!

Nah, it didn't influence me.

I knew I wanted to join a fraternity when I was a senior in high school and all, but I chose my school because its close to home and the cost.

I guess it did for me. Two of the schools I applied to did not have Greek life, but they were also all-women. They were out quickly.

Every other school had Greek life, and I chose my small liberal arts school because I wanted to be a part of that (among other reasons). I was confident that I would have a better shot at sorority life than I would at a large school such as IU.

I guess I was right! ;)

^^^^Ditto that!

I didn't really know what a sorority was, and the only things I "thought" I knew where from stereotypical images in movies!

Hey ya'll! I'm new here... just thought I'd put my 2 cents worth in...
I always had wanted to be in a sorority, but I never thought I'd actually have the opportunity to do so... thus, I didn't really pay attention to it, but as it turns out, I did get to go Greek at my school. I love it and I'm so glad I did!

I didn't really know what a sorority was, so it had no impact. And if I had it to do all over again, it would still have no impact.

I wanted the option to rush, but lack of Greek life wasn't going to be a dealbreaker for me.

Greek Life was not a factor in my decision. I didn't even know my campus had any fraternities and sororities.

Had I chosen any of the other schools that accepted me, it's likely that I wouldn't have rushed.

It's funny; until I "met" you on GC, I didn't know your alma mater had fraternities or sororities, either.

Also, I just realized that you have roughly 10x as many posts as I do. That's pretty pathetic on my part.

:p

It didn't make a difference to me. I knew that I wanted a school in Florida and I wanted a large school. I considered applying to UCF, UF, FSU, USF and Miami which all have Greek life. I never really thought about a sorority when applying. I guess because I knew that there would be sororities no matter what school I went to. The specific Greek organizations didn't matter to me either.

I wanted only a top-tier school, and Carnegie Mellon offered that and an acceptable financial aid package.

Their rush program at the time was top-notch as well. I admit to being quite naive from time to time, and I didn't realize I was being rushed, really - or at least what rush meant. I rushed only DG and pledged because they added something to my college experience.

I wasn't even really aware of sororities until the summer before I went to college, so Greek life didn't influence me at all. As it turned out, all the colleges to which I applied had sororities. Once I learned about them, I would have gone through rush no matter where I ended up.

It mattered a little bit. What mattered more to me at the time was being able to attend my parents' alma mater. The Greek life there was icing on the cake after that.

Greek life wasn't on my radar screen at all when I was applying to colleges. I went after the schools that had the best programs for my intended major.

when i was applying to colleges i didnt even know what greek life really was lol. i heard something abouts fraternities when i was younger but i really didnt care. it was by coincidence that the school i ended up going to had a good greek life ( although it could be better)

Every place I applied had Greek life, so it was a moot point. The only place I even vaguely considered that didn't was Juniata and it was out after a quick look at the price tag.

Greek life wasn't a deciding factor- in fact a couple of the schools I looked at did have greek life, but I probably wouldn't have rushed if I had chosen them. I knew once I picked my school that I would rush, but I didn't pick the school BECAUSE I would rush.

Absolutely a factor.

Everywhere I applied had Greek life, but it wasn't on my radar until maybe 8 weeks before formal recruitment. I applied to Maryland, Penn State, Boston University, Northeastern, and Columbia. I got in everywhere but Columbia. BU was way too expensive, and although I got a half scholarship to Northeastern, my parents were not crazy about me going to school as far away as Boston. Penn State and Maryland are comparable academically, but I didn't want to go to college in the middle of nowhere, and pay more to do it.

So, basically, I chose Maryland because:
1. Large size, lots of places to find a niche
2. Proximity to home and a big city
3. Least expensive of my options

:eek:

:mad:

;):p

I did consider the presence of Greek life when deciding on which college to attend.

I wanted my education to extend beyond the class room. So the college experience I wanted (and received) needed to include, but certainly was not limited to, strong academics, a good social atmosphere, leadership potential, "big time" college athletics, an excellent fine arts department (not my major, but helps to round out the individual), strong alumni connections/support, as well as a "college town" lifestyle or culture within the local community - regardless of the size of the town. To be clear, academics was the primary consideration. But for lack of a better way of putting it, each area had some sort of minimum requirement that needed to be met. As it was, every campus I considered - from small private liberal arts colleges to big land-grant institutions - Greek Life was part of the campus culture.

Even as a legacy, the presence of a specific organization (or organizations - i.e. cousins' fraternities) was not as much of a factor in my decision as was the overall Greek system.