Top Greek Schools

[VT Tri-D]

Washington and Lee (#1) has only a little over a thousand student. Almost 80% of their campus is Greek because you can have little to no social life if you are not. I wonder if this is why they are ranked first-- because such a large majority of people are Greek?

[jessXIca]

Originally Posted by VT Tri-D

Washington and Lee (#1) has only a little over a thousand student. Almost 80% of their campus is Greek because you can have little to no social life if you are not. I wonder if this is why they are ranked first-- because such a large majority of people are Greek?

They have a TON of fraternities (15) but only 5 sororities. And the sorority GPAs are excellent.

[kddani]

Originally Posted by ucfpnm

And the sorority GPAs are excellent.

That's also a function of the school. Look at the all-women average. The sororities are right about that or a little above. Looks like W&L has grade inflation.

[SydneyK]

Originally Posted by kddani

That's also a function of the school. Look at the all-women average. The sororities are right about that or a little above. Looks like W&L has grade inflation.

Do you think W&L really suffers from grade inflation, or do you think their student body is just extremely grade-conscious? I don't have a clue... just thought I'd ask if there's a reason you'd say that or if it's just speculation. ??

Grade inflation is one of my all-time greatest pet peeves.

[kddani]

Originally Posted by SydneyK

Do you think W&L really suffers from grade inflation, or do you think their student body is just extremely grade-conscious? I don't have a clue... just thought I'd ask if there's a reason you'd say that or if it's just speculation. ??

Grade inflation is one of my all-time greatest pet peeves.

It says the non sorority women's average is a 3.3-something. I'd say that a pretty high overall grade average. That's over a B+ average for all of the women in the entire school. You can only be so grade conscious. What about curves? It seems off balance, to me.

I don't think you can outright see a sorority's grade point average and be like WOW! You should look at the all-women's GPA as well, for comparision.

[alum]

Originally Posted by SydneyK

Do you think W&L really suffers from grade inflation, or do you think their student body is just extremely grade-conscious? I don't have a clue... just thought I'd ask if there's a reason you'd say that or if it's just speculation. ??

Grade inflation is one of my all-time greatest pet peeves.

Most recent stats on the W&L website:
The Class of 2009…
Applied: 3949
Admitted: 1139
Enrolled: 466
Gender Ratio: 50% Female, 50% Male
Middle 50% for SAT I: 1340-1430
Middle 50% ACT Composite Range: 28-31

The school is known as a work hard/play hard school that takes both aspects of life very seriously. It's ranked #14 of top nationally ranked liberal arts colleges which as we all know have a different focus than research universities. In terms of LACs the only southern school that beat W&L's ranking was Davidson in NC and they don't have women's fraternities.

[breathesgelatin]

Originally Posted by ucfpnm

They have a TON of fraternities (15) but only 5 sororities. And the sorority GPAs are excellent.

To be correct, there are 14 NIC fraternities, 5 NPC sororities, and two NPHC groups (1 fraternity and 1 sorority).

[jessXIca]

Originally Posted by breathesgelatin

To be correct, there are 14 NIC fraternities, 5 NPC sororities, and two NPHC groups (1 fraternity and 1 sorority).

Oh, oops. Sorry, I must have counted wrong

[sport]

Originally Posted by ucfpnm

Oh, oops. Sorry, I must have counted wrong

At Accepted Students Day, they told us that it was 4 NPHC groups and that's what it says on the website (I just checked).

[breathesgelatin]

Originally Posted by sport

At Accepted Students Day, they told us that it was 4 NPHC groups and that's what it says on the website (I just checked).

Ha, I went and checked that myself. We didn't have AKA and Alpha Phi Alpha as of the time I graduated in 2005, so they must have come last year. That's all Dean Tammy's doing. She rocks. I knew there was interest. We only got Phi Beta Sigma and Delta Sigma Theta my senior year, in the first place. The lack of NPHC groups had been ridiculous and when Dean Tammy came in she spurred the interested people on into finding ways to join the groups and was able to work effectively with the organizations more so than the former dean.

Just checked the website.

The Delta Sigma Thetas are members of the chapter chartered at Roanoke College, Alpha Phi Alpha is a shared chapter with JMU, and the AKAs are members of the Roanoke graduate chapter. Phi Beta Sigma is chartered at W&L but has some members from JMU, I believe.

Actually I'm glad I saw that website because of my favorite people in the world is now an AKA. wow!

[breathesgelatin]

Originally Posted by VT Tri-D

Washington and Lee (#1) has only a little over a thousand student. Almost 80% of their campus is Greek because you can have little to no social life if you are not. I wonder if this is why they are ranked first-- because such a large majority of people are Greek?

Washington & Lee actually has nearly 2000 undergraduate students, plus around 300 in the law school.

My understanding is that the Greek life ranking is based on both percentage of those involved in Greek life and the responses given by students on surveys. Since most everyone's social life on campus revolves around being Greek (and even non-affiliated students would recognize on a survey that Greek life is the #1 aspect of social life), I would assume that is why W&L is number one.