Quote:
Originally Posted by Miriverite
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.
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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.