"Best" Colleges and their Greek Systems

[Senusret I]

This is the best thread ever.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

This is the best thread ever.

[AnotherKD]

Amazing how it seems like Theta has a presence at the schools that have about 3 sororities- honestly, it makes them seem stronger in my eyes, though I don't know how on point that is. But to me, it's impressive that they are at the "top 3" schools, plus many others on that list, and not many other sororities are.

Coming from a school that had a lot of sororities but about 60 people in each sorority (large, public school), I can't fathom 75% of the student body in any school being affiliated with something like the Greek System or eating clubs. I know that it's different at different schools, as I can't imagine being in a sorority with 200 undergrad members either, but seeing as there are only so many eating clubs at Princeton, for example, and so many people join them... I'm not sure it would hold as special of a place in my heart, knowing that I was a part of something that a select group of others was a part of. (Not that I am thinking "I'm a so-and-so, na-na na-na boo boo.") Wouldn't it just seem like a given to be a member of an eating club, and not that big of a deal that you were there with hundreds of others? Especially since people who weren't involved in the eating clubs would be there and be able to join in everything as well?

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by als463

Both Penn State and Michigan State are land-grant institutions.

Michigan State and Penn State (in that order) were the first two land-grant colleges.

ETA: To keep the record clear, they were both established prior to the Morrill Act. Michigan State was considered a model for the how the Morrill Act would work.

[Munchkin03]

I wonder how much of the lack of prestige that historically white GLOs have at the Ivies is based on the fact that, except Cornell, the schools are older than most fraternities and sororities. That wouldn't quite explain the relative popularity of Greek Life at Dartmouth and Penn, but would explain the fact that at the other five (and even at equally old places like W&M and Rutgers, where Greek life is there but not strong), campus life was built up without them for the most part and they didn't get a strong toehold in campus life. Most of the "big" Greek schools were founded much later than the Ivies, and perhaps more professors and parents were Greek, and encouraged Greek life more.

It could also be that for the most part, the "good" schools are located in either large cities (NYC, DC, Atlanta) where there's a lot of other things to do.

As I've mentioned before, I wrote my senior thesis on the postwar architectural programme at Brown. Part of that programme was to construct a Greek quad, and I devoted a chapter to the things that the college did to control the Greeks (even immediately after WWII, it made Animal House look like an episode of Sesame Street). Greek Life wasn't even that strong then.

I've been pretty busy, but I do want to discuss Greek Life at Brown and Columbia. I promise.

[Miriverite]

For that matter, there is no Greek system at Caltech. They used to have frats way back in the 30's or something, but they no longer have them (at least not as recognized organizations). I would imagine no one has time to participate in one anyways

[Psi U MC Vito]

Originally Posted by Miriverite

For that matter, there is no Greek system at Caltech. They used to have frats way back in the 30's or something, but they no longer have them (at least not as recognized organizations). I would imagine no one has time to participate in one anyways

You'd be surprised. RPI is one of the best tech schools in the country, and Greek Life is huge there. Location might have a lot ot do with it though. I know the NYU Greek life is very weak because a lot of students don't see the need for it with all that is available in the area.

[Miriverite]

Originally Posted by Psi U MC Vito

You'd be surprised. RPI is one of the best tech schools in the country, and Greek Life is huge there. Location might have a lot ot do with it though. I know the NYU Greek life is very weak because a lot of students don't see the need for it with all that is available in the area.

I'm at MIT, and Greek life is huge here as well. I'm sure it's just a matter of the demographic and foci of the students. I definitely know that at Caltech, there is an amazing focus on research and academics. Not that they're all bookworms, but the students seem to believe that the main purpose of college is purely academics, and they are all very devoted to their studies. Pasadena isn't exactly the best college town with tons to do, but I would figure that Caltech students have enough on their plate without having to deal with pledging.

At MIT, Greek life isn't so much about the "party" aspect as it is about having a support group. The brothers and sisters in our GLOs are the people we go to for stress relief, for help with classes, for career guidance. In all universities, there are vastly difference reasons for the existence and purposes that Greek life plays, whether it's mainly social or mainly academic.

[Low C Sharp]

If it's only 10% of the school (and the "old money contingent at that") I think they'd be pretty easy to ignore if you didn't care about them

That's exactly right. And it's less than 10% of the school -- it's around 10% of the eligible students (they are upperclassman-only at both Harvard and Yale). The Yale ones don't have social events at all; they are solely for members. At Harvard, the old-money ones operate the same way: a drinking club for members, closed doors, no guests. The ones that have parties with guests are basically just local frats and not so hard to get into. They are strongly associated with certain sports teams, just like frats at most campuses.

Re: the silliness of a selective, elite institution believing in an egalitarian social scene: a lot of people think that competition belongs in some arenas and not in others. Anyone who applies to HYP is inherently agreeing to be judged on academic achievement, extracurricular involvement, and diverse life experience. It doesn't mean that they want to be judged based on looks, popularity, social connections, and being the life of the party. Realistically, that's what GLO selection is about when you're selecting from the HYP student body: everyone is an excellent student, ambitious, talented, a leader, etc. Students compete to get into those schools; once there, they compete with one another to lead orchestras and publications and service groups; they compete to get into Yale Law and Hopkins Med; when it comes time to socialize, they want to chill out for a change and not worry about who's who.

Re: the fact that Theta is at all 3 of HYP: I know we don't like to talk about tiers here, but it's the "hot," socially elite group at all 3, too, and has chapters at all the other Ivies except Dartmouth, where its chapter went local.

The embarrassment about sorority membership that you find at HYP, and sometimes at Brown/Columbia, is nonexistent at Dartmouth and Cornell. Penn is in the middle; sororities are pretty cool for freshman women and totally uncool for seniors.

Re: tech schools: Caltech groups students into houses where you live/eat/party together, like Harvard, Yale, and Rice do. Schools that do this typically have much lower interest in Greek life. MIT does not, which explains the thriving Greek life there vs. none at Caltech.
________
Park Royal 2 Condominium

[Miriverite]

Originally Posted by Low C Sharp

Re: tech schools: Caltech groups students into houses where you live/eat/party together, like Harvard, Yale, and Rice do. Schools that do this typically have much lower interest in Greek life. MIT does not, which explains the thriving Greek life there vs. none at Caltech.

I'm sure there are definitely areas of some of our dorms that could contest that For example, certain halls in our East Campus dorm are so close that they're practically a frat. In fact, the 2nd West hall even calls themselves "Pi Tau Zeta" (a Greekification of their nickname, Putz). It certainly is true, however, that most GLO members at MIT come from the west side of campus, where dorms are much bigger and less bonded as a group.

re: Theta, it's also seen as one of the "top tier" sororities at MIT as well, interestingly.

[aephi alum]

Originally Posted by Miriverite

I'm sure there are definitely areas of some of our dorms that could contest that For example, certain halls in our East Campus dorm are so close that they're practically a frat. In fact, the 2nd West hall even calls themselves "Pi Tau Zeta" (a Greekification of their nickname, Putz). It certainly is true, however, that most GLO members at MIT come from the west side of campus, where dorms are much bigger and less bonded as a group.

re: Theta, it's also seen as one of the "top tier" sororities at MIT as well, interestingly.

That's definitely true - every dorm has its own personality, and often floors/entries/halls within a dorm will have different personalities.

Back in my day, we had dorm rush. You got a temporary room and then you went and visited all the dorms, met upperclass residents, took dorm tours, etc., then ranked the dorms in order of preference and got matched. Once you got matched, in most cases you then went through floor/entry/hall rush. (I believe freshmen now have to rank order their dorm choices before arriving on campus, but they still go through floor rush - Miriverite, correct me if I'm wrong.)

What made this all the more fun was that, in my day, dorm rush happened at the same time as FSILG rush. If you were a man checking out fraternities and/or ILGs, or a woman interested in ILGs, you really had to budget your time to make sure you checked out the dorms just in case you didn't get a bid you wanted to accept. If you were a woman interested only in NPC sororities, you had enough time outside scheduled rush parties to check out the dorms, and of course, if you weren't interested in greek life at all, you had lots of time.

And I don't think you can really have a meaningful discussion about tiers when there are only six sororities, one of which fills a niche market.

[littleowl33]

Originally Posted by AnotherKD

Amazing how it seems like Theta has a presence at the schools that have about 3 sororities- honestly, it makes them seem stronger in my eyes, though I don't know how on point that is. But to me, it's impressive that they are at the "top 3" schools, plus many others on that list, and not many other sororities are.

Just noticed this too - good for them! Kappa is pretty well represented (we're also at HYP and unless I've miscounted on irishpipes' list, out of the 25 schools listed, 21 have greek life and we're active at 16 and inactive at 1) but Theta still has us beat (active at 18 and inactive at 3). Pi Phi is up there, too. I remember them mentioning this quite a bit at their JHU extension presentation, not in a snobby way at all, but more of a "we understand this kind of campus environment and we know how to build a successful chapter here."

Originally Posted by Low C Sharp

Re: the fact that Theta is at all 3 of HYP: I know we don't like to talk about tiers here, but it's the "hot," socially elite group at all 3, too, and has chapters at all the other Ivies except Dartmouth, where its chapter went local.

Can't really speak to this at HYP, but I can say they were a very "in demand" group when they were at JHU, too.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

Is this still the case at some of the schools we're talking about here?

No.

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

No.

Thanks Although I wonder if some of the perception of Greeks vs. senior societies today comes from that past.

[irishpipes]

Alpha Omicron Pi:

Stanford - Lambda chapter - AOII's 14th chapter founded 1910, closed in 1944 when Greek life was abolished

Penn - Psi chapter - AOII's 24th chapter, 1918-1958

Columbia - never had a chapter there, but our founding chapter, Alpha, was at Barnard College of Columbia University from 1897 until Greek life was abolished - in 1914.

Chicago - Phi Chi chapter founded 1986. First NPC at Chicago

Duke - Delta Upsilon chapter 1979-2008

Northwestern - Rho chapter - AOII's 13th chapter. 1909-1973. Northwestern's archives state that AOII was viewed as a "liberal" sorority on campus which made them unpopular at times.

Washington - Delta Kappa chapter founded 2009

Cornell - Epsilon. AOII's 12th chapter. 1908-1962/1989-2008. Plans to recolonize in 2 years.

Brown - Beta 1908-1908. AOII's 9th chapter. Beta was never actually an active chapter. It was chartered when AOII absorbed Alpha Delta Sigma, which had chapters at Brown, Maine, and Tufts (then Jackson College). Brown banned Greek life before the chapter could function as AOII rather than Alpha Delta Sigma.

Vanderbilt - Nu Omicron founded 1917, AOII's 23rd chapter

California (Berkeley) - Sigma chapter founded 1908 as AOII's 7th chapter. It was the first AOII chapter to have a sorority house, which was designed by a Cal architecture professor who married an AOII. The letters A O and II can be seen in different architectural features in the house.

UCLA - Kappa Theta chapter 1925-1973

UVA - Chi Beta chapter 1982-200?