Top Greek Schools

[Peaches-n-Cream]

According to MSN and the Princeton Review, these are the top 20 colleges for fraternity and sorority life.

1 Washington and Lee University
2 DePauw University
3 Centre College
4 Pennsylvania State University
5 University of Michigan
6 Michigan State University
7 Ohio University-Athens
8 University of Alabama-Tuscaloosa
9 Florida State University
10 University of Texas-Austin
11 Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge
12 University of Colorado-Boulder
13 University of Florida
14 University of Tennessee-Knoxville
15 University of Georgia
16 Lafayette College
17 Vanderbilt University
18 University of Mississippi
19 Colgate University
20 Southern Methodist University

[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 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.

[ladybug1116]

I don't know that it's strictly percentages...because I know at FSU we only had like 12-15% of the campus represented in the Greek system.

[33girl]

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?

I think that is what they are going by - % involved and influence of the system on campus, because DePauw doesn't have a lot of students either. Penn State doesn't have a giant %age but from what I understand the influence on campus is large.

[DeltAlum]

My Alma Mater, Ohio University is a very nice school with a good Greek System, but I don't know about being in the top twenty.

The thing to remember is that the Princeton Review is somewhat suspect in its survey methods and methodology -- and, it has nothing whatsoever to do with Princeton University -- except that I think its' founders may have graduated from there.

[Kevin]

I'm REALLY surprised how a lot of Big 12 schools with HUGE Greek Systems were completely omitted. I guess the top 20 has to omit some deserving people though...