"Southern" Sororities?

[BamaDad DZ]

UVA has a lot of Northern Virginians and a much larger out-of-state population than most big Southern schools. Reminds me of my old alma mater, the University of South Florida in Tampa. Neither institution left me with the Southern flavor of my daughter's school - she is a DZ at the University of Alabama. I have never been to UNC at Chapel Hill, but I suspect it is a lot like UVA.By the way, I think all these schools are fine institutions.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by BamaDad DZ

UVA has a lot of Northern Virginians and a much larger out-of-state population than most big Southern schools.

True to a degree -- I would describe it as a mix of Southern and non-Southern probably, but definitely in a Southern context.

I have never been to UNC at Chapel Hill, but I suspect it is a lot like UVA.

I advise you never to tell anyone from UNC that.

Seriously, about 83% of the undergraduate student body there is from North Carolina (compared to UVA, where 69% of undergraduates are from Virginia, and as you said, a fair amount of that 69% comes from Northern Virginia). It is still very much a Southern school.

I'm going to be quiet on this now. I think I've said enough as to my original point, which was simply that "Southern" means different things in different parts of the South. I've beaten the poor horse enough.

[alum]

I agree with BamaDad to some extent. One major difference with UVA/UNC/Emory/Duke vs. the Bama/UGa/OleMiss population is the geographic diversity. Kids from the Northeast/New England area have no qualms about applying to the first 4 schools. These are schools all very high in the national research university rankings. The key word is national. The admissions offices of these schools want students from all over and thus send their admissions staff across the country on recruiting trips.

The great thing for the taxpayers of North Carolina is that the state-supported public universities are required by state legislature to cap the OOS population at 18%. The 2 Virginia flagship schools (UVa and William and Mary) each have about 1/3 OOS. Emory and Duke are private but definitely have a greater non-South population than Vandy or Wake. Both Duke and Wake have specific merit-based scholarships earmarked for NC residents

[shinerbock]

Well I'm sure you're right about Charlotte being marginally NC...However, the people I'm referring to (we have a lot of kids from charlotte, but several I happen to be very good friends with ), are I guess Charlotte high society of sorts? I'm not really aware of what social scheme exists in Charlotte, but they're very well connected and have long time NC roots. My former roommate and pledge brother's family is diehard republican, and so are the others they've introduced me to. His little brother is a soph at Chapel Hill this year, so I'll ask him about the top fraternities (we've gone over this before, supposedly there is a group of like the top 3 or 4 there, for some reason I think they even have a nickname for the top tier, but i'll have to ask)...

Regarding the conservative tendancies I allege, here is my reasoning...At most schools, especially in the south, the top fraternities consist of the most well connected, "southern aristocracy" type students, and in turn are generally fairly elitist, whether by purpose or simply through existance. Most of these people tend to be Republicans in my experience/opinion, with the exception of New England. I think this is even more the case at large public schools, because greeks there tend to have some continued connection to the university, hence them not going to a good private or out of region school. This may be kind of confusing, but if you're from one of those schools you probably understand what I'm saying.

[alum]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

Well I'm sure you're right about Charlotte being marginally NC...However, the people I'm referring to (we have a lot of kids from charlotte, but several I happen to be very good friends with ), are I guess Charlotte high society of sorts? I'm not really aware of what social scheme exists in Charlotte, but they're very well connected and have long time NC roots. My former roommate and pledge brother's family is diehard republican, and so are the others they've introduced me to. His little brother is a soph at Chapel Hill this year, so I'll ask him about the top fraternities (we've gone over this before, supposedly there is a group of like the top 3 or 4 there, for some reason I think they even have a nickname for the top tier, but i'll have to ask)...

Regarding the conservative tendancies I allege, here is my reasoning...At most schools, especially in the south, the top fraternities consist of the most well connected, "southern aristocracy" type students, and in turn are generally fairly elitist, whether by purpose or simply through existance. Most of these people tend to be Republicans in my experience/opinion, with the exception of New England. I think this is even more the case at large public schools, because greeks there tend to have some continued connection to the university, hence them not going to a good private or out of region school. This may be kind of confusing, but if you're from one of those schools you probably understand what I'm saying.

Aren't you contradicting yourself? On the one hand, you say that your non-North Carolina state university draws a lot of students from Charlotte and then on the other hand you say the greeks tend to stay in the region.

[Sailboat Sis]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

His little brother is a soph at Chapel Hill this year, so I'll ask him about the top fraternities (we've gone over this before, supposedly there is a group of like the top 3 or 4 there, for some reason I think they even have a nickname for the top tier, but i'll have to ask)...

The Big 4. There are a definite top 3, the fourth house is up for debate.

[macallan25]

I heard Beta was a top tier at UNC.

[mystikchick]

Originally Posted by shinerbock

Regarding the conservative tendancies I allege, here is my reasoning...At most schools, especially in the south, the top fraternities consist of the most well connected, "southern aristocracy" type students, and in turn are generally fairly elitist, whether by purpose or simply through existance. Most of these people tend to be Republicans in my experience/opinion, with the exception of New England..

see it's interesting to me that you would say that because on my campus (in ct) judging by facebook, most of the Republican men on campus can be found at DKE or Beta. The Psi U guys are very offbeat, kinda quirky, and if I had to guess I'd say they're more likely to be liberal/Dems. i've never understood why the distinction exists.

[JWithers]

Originally Posted by joescott

Completely agree. If I didn't go to Florida, I would have been the first to go somewhere else since 1910 and immediately disowned. I have family in Georgia and Tennessee, so they were the only worthy out of state options.

Out of our six or seven top tier fraternities, at least five can be described with your words.

UF grad here, too. And it wasn't even an option. Everyone since 1919 went there. (Except Mom). I went to a small liberal arts school for my first two years, and it was only acceptable b/c I was a girl. Then I finished up at UF. I am always surprised when we get left out of Old South college discussions. It's not like we're U of Miami or something!