question about southern schools
 

hey guys im from pittsburgh and hoping to attend a southern school next year. im a senior in highschool. Im probably deciding between Ole miss, bama, usc (carolina), and FSU. will i not get a bid because i am from the north?

First, choose what school you want to go to.

ill be making my decision based on which school would be best for me. i heard fsu is better for northerners but i doubt ill get in.

Please worry about Greek life later. The first step is to get into a school.

What school is best for you means thinking about what major program you'll be interested in (or if you're interested in more than one area, finding a school that can has good programs in those fields), what the campus is like, whether you'll be happy in the setting/climate, and lastly, choosing from the schools you are actually admitted to.

Once you've gotten all of your acceptance letters, make an informed decision. If you like two schools equally and they have similar offerings academically, then look at the social life, sure. But don't let that be THE deciding factor.

I was in a sorority at Ole Miss and several of my sisters were from Illinois and some from other areas of the country. My husband was in a fraternity and he had many brothers from the North. It is not impossible, though more unlikely in the larger and more elite (or perceived so) groups.

Also it depends on which HS you go to as to how great the culture shock will be...but I think you probably figured that out.

The IFC fraternity culture at Alabama, Ole Miss and South Carolina is decidedly 'southern'. The FSU IFC fraternities reflect the population of the state, so there is both a big 'southern' influence and there is a powerful 'south Florida' influence as well. There are around 25 fraternities; many of the chapters are very large. A few fraternities are identifiably 'southern' and a couple of others might be loaded with south Florida guys. Most chapters are a mixture.
FSU is a great place to go to school, but you should not come here just becasue it is a less 'southern' campus. The other three schools you mentioned are great Greek campuses and you might find that you really enjoy the experience.

What is it with Choppers Posting Under the Influence?

I don't see any problem with researching and asking questions about Greek Life as part of the college research and application process. While academics are important, so much of what you'll take out of your college experience is what happens outside of the classroom. Why would he apply to a school that won't offer the extra-curricular life that he wants?

Frankly, any of the large flagship public schools in the South will have great to decent departments across the board. Some programs, like Auburn's engineering or Alabama's journalism, really stand out as being exceptional. FSU is known for its music and drama departments, but that doesn't mean you're not going to get a good education if you're a math major. The South has put its money where its mouth is in terms of the quality of the education you'll get from a public college.

If you know you want to be a traditionally Southern Greek school, there's nothing wrong with that being part of your research.

Yes. It can. Night and day. And if you admittedly don't know, keep you posts to yourself.

No matter what anyone says, Greek life is secondary. You can make your Greek experience work no matter where you end up. He needs to worry about getting into college before worrying about what Greek life is going to offer.

Who's to say that he's not worrying about getting into those colleges? Who's to say that he's hasn't already looked at his college options very realistically and knows where he stands a reasonable shot at getting in?

This is GreekChat and not CollegeConfidential...the OP is asking a reasonable question about Greek Life at colleges in which he's interested in. What, exactly, is wrong with that?

I don't think anyone would say that Greek Life isn't secondary to academics, but academics is only PART of the larger experience. I picked my undergrad in primarily because of the phenomenal academics, but also for a number of reasons: my parents were willing to pay, it wasn't hard for me to fly in or out of, I could play Division I sports as a walk-on, and the Greek system seemed more appealing to me than it did at other schools. Once I narrowed down my list of schools to places I knew I could get into, I focused on the extra-curricular things and I'm glad I did. Going to the college I did prepared me for the life I wanted to live--and the academics were only a small part of that.

From the OP:

Quote:

Originally Posted by fratguy24 (Post 2005372) hey guys im from pittsburgh and hoping to attend a southern school next year. im a senior in highschool. Im probably deciding between Ole miss, bama, usc (carolina), and FSU. will i not get a bid because i am from the north?

This tells me that Greek life is a more important issue than it should be. It's coming off as "if Ole Miss won't give me a bid, can I get one at FSU?" -- that shouldn't be the thought process.

Obviously, I know that academics is only one part of the college experience -- I am Greek, after all -- but, you're able to make the best of your college experience no matter where you end up.

He doesn't need to be convinced to "Go Greek", as he is obviously already interested. And telling him he will find a group wherever he goes is totally misleading since, as he suggested in his first post, there are groups of Southern Greeks that most likely would cut him for being a Yankee. Not every group at every school would, but those groups absolutely exist.