New Top 10 Greek Schools

[Kevin]

Found this on MSN I think I've seen it on here -- it is the Princeton Review list... Maybe it's new:

1. Clemson University

Fraternities play a huge part of the social scene at Clemson. The students describe themselves as "friendly and outgoing," and that's sure to be the case at the many frat parties on campus. In fact, students say that only the storied Tigers football team could claim a more devoted following than the Clemson Greek scene.


2. Elon University

Greek parties dominate the late-night social scene in the "very small" town of Elon. Students boast that they live the good life in a "country-club kind of place." They're proud of their "good southern hospitality," and welcome students from a variety of backgrounds. But most students are from the mid-Atlantic and Southern states, and are, without question, "very Greek-oriented."


3. Washington and Lee University

The W&L social universe revolves around the Greek scene. Comments one student, "We have the greatest fraternity scene in the country. Period." Because "fraternity parties are open to everyone, except for special functions," W&L suffers less from Greek/independent antagonism than do many other Greek-dominated campuses.

4. Dartmouth College

The Greek life dominates at Dartmouth, where "frats are the entire social scene," as one student claims. But while fraternities play a big role in having fun, there are many other weekend options. Outdoor activities are a popular recreational alternative in this "beautiful, intimate, and friendly environment."

5. Indiana University--Bloomington

Students note that the Greek system has a very strong presence at Indiana, perhaps even as strong as the famous IU basketball team. While some students crow about the wonderfully diverse student body, others complain that while "the majority of people here are very friendly," the population "is very divided [by] race, Greeks/non-Greeks, and majors."

6. University of Alabama

Fraternities and sororities are extremely popular (about 20 percent of students pledge), and their parties are all the rage. Independent parties are another alternative, but rooting for the Crimson Tide's football program may be the most popular social activity.

7. Drexel University

Because Drexel is right in the heart of Philadelphia, students can take advantage of a wide array of cultural activities. But frat parties remain a popular draw, either on campus or at the neighboring University of Pennsylvania.

8. Centre College

Students say that social life here is, "as a rule, Greek," and it tends to be cyclical. "Everybody studies during the week," but the weekends are reserved for letting off steam. One student observes that "Danville is a dry city but Centre is a drowning campus on weekends." It's possible to party "every weekend at frat parties" here.

9. George Mason University

With a high proportion of students who commute to George Mason rather than live on campus, many complain that they feel isolated from one another. The Greek system offers a popular solution. One student writes, "To get involved (socially) you pretty much need to go Greek. If you aren't in a fraternity or sorority you don't have the opportunity to meet many people outside of your classes."

10. Pennsylvania State University

With a student population the size of many American towns, Penn State can offer a wide variety of social options. Fraternities and sororities offer some of the more popular social diversions, however. Most students agree that "Penn State is a party school no matter what anyone says. We throw a party for any reason."

[33girl]

Where in the world is Centre College? Also, how could they leave out DePauw - the school is like 80% Greek!

[AZ-AlphaXi]

Centre College is in Danville, Ky. A very small town west of Lexington.

[angelgal]

I can def attest to the fact that Elon has got some great greek socializing. The other thing about Elon is that everyone was so nice! I have only visited once, but I had an AWESOME time!

[KappaKittyCat]

One of Kappa's field reps who visited our chapter this year is from Centre. She rules!

Yeah, my campus'll never make it on there. We're barely a speck of dust on the proverbial radar screen.

Yay DePauw! I only know one Greek from there, but I love her dearly. She's an Alpha Chi. She and I formed our own mini-sorority when we were studying in Italy without any of our sisters.

[Eirene_DGP]

Indiana University... diverse? No they are sadly mistaken. They only have 8% minorities and that is with ALL of the minorities combined. I applied there for grad and instead of them sending me the proper documents first, they sent me a big brochure on how diverse they are b/c I checked the minority box on my app. I was like, if you have to convince me how diverse you are, you're not. I hate it when schools do that, knowing full well they wouldn't do that if I checked white.

[KappaKittyCat]

My friend's little sister is going to be going to U of MN this fall. She went to orientation and they were talking about how diverse they are. The speaker actually said, "We pride ourselves on the fact that we are 10% diverse." Beth said, "You mean, you're 90% white."

And don't forget my lovely hometown school of UW Madison who got in huge trouble for digitally inserting the photo of a black guy into a crowd shot of the student section at a Badger Football game. Puh-leeze.

[Tini]

Originally posted by KappaKittyCat
My friend's little sister is going to be going to U of MN this fall. She went to orientation and they were talking about how diverse they are. The speaker actually said, "We pride ourselves on the fact that we are 10% diverse." Beth said, "You mean, you're 90% white."

And don't forget my lovely hometown school of UW Madison who got in huge trouble for digitally inserting the photo of a black guy into a crowd shot of the student section at a Badger Football game. Puh-leeze.

OMG!!! That's terrible!! I can't believe she said that and they did that!!! Sad, sad, sad!!
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My school wouldn't make that list in a million years. Practically all of our greek societies operate "underground." We're working very hard to change that, though.

[FuzzieAlum]

I don't think a school should pretend it's diverse if it's not. There's no excuse for that. But a lot of state schools do draw mostly from local students ... so their diversity will only reflect the local population. If there aren't a lot of African Americans, or a lot of Jews, or a lot of Basques in the state, there aren't going to be a lot at the school, either, especially at the undergraduate level. I don't see that this is something they should be apologizing for or trying to hide.

Not to say that schools shouldn't strive for more diversity - but according to the 2000 US census, 87.5% of Indiana's population is white. So it would be better if 12.5% of the student body was non-white, rather than 8%, but that still wouldn't exactly be radically diverse, and it probably never will be, as long as Indiana isn't.

Anyway ... trying to decide the "top Greek schools" seems a little futile. If you just measure the percentage of students that are Greek, you would not come up with that list. If you base it on schools where Greek life is practically the only campus life, you'll come up with a totally different list. If you look at schools where there are harmonious Greek-non-Greek relations, that's a different list entirely. Or if you measure where the biggest parties are thrown, that's another different set of results.

[shadokat]

Drexel??? That list is ODD Drexel's frat parties aren't that great!

[APhiRattlerGal]

hmmmm, i was very suprised UT Austin wasn't on that list. INTERSTING.......

[sugar and spice]

KappaKitty -- I was just about to mention the thing about Wisconsin digitally pasting the black guy into the sea of white faces. And yes, as an ex student at Minnesota, I can assure that they are big on pretending they're racially diverse too.

I think most of the Big Ten schools are pretty white, though.

[maggieaxid]

I go Elon, and we are so excited about being in 2nd place!
Everything the mini article said was pretty true...a little exgerated, but true. Besides greek life, there isn't much to do bc you really are in the middle of nowhere.
however, most of the greek orgs get along most of the time, so there is always socializing. (the only time we don't get along is during greek week and rush!)

As for the diversity thing, i am not going to lie. most of elon is caucasion. however, we do have people of all races and ethnicities and religions in all the different national greek orgs. We also hold events and socialize with the NPHC groups. We also include the NPHC women in our recruitment process by asking them to help be rho chis or help with scanning the scantrons in bc they really could care less about who got in what chapter and they give an unbiased opinion of us all the time.

Angelgal--when did you come to elon? what glo are you in?

[Rio_Kohitsuji]

How did they get their information for something like this? I mean, what would be the criteria to be considered a top-level Greek school? I noticed in everyone elses posts that ya'll think different than the results *nods*

[breathesgelatin]

rawr!!!!! i go to washington and lee, the best greek school in the nation!! (well, number 3 is close enough, right?) it so rules! i loooove it! and one of my best friends from high school is a sigkap at elon! hooray greek schools!

my guess is, that they based the results on the surveys they conduct. at washington and lee around 80% of men are in fraternities. around 75% of women are in sororities. and 99% of the freshmen class goes through rush, even if they don't intend to pledge.