Princeton Review: Best Greek Schools

kddani · #1 08-19-2003, 06:56 PM

since Hoosier only decided to post about partying (surprise there), I thought i'd post the greek system rankings:

1) DePauw
2) Washington & Lee
3) Indiana
4) Colorado
5) Southern Methodist
6) U Mich
7) Bama
8) Illinois
9) Wake Forest
10) Dartmouth
11) Elon
12) Ole Miss
13) Bucknell
14) USC (Cali, not SC)
15) TCU
16) Miami
17) Oklahoma
18) Penn State
19) The University of the South
20) Wisconsin-Madison

Okay, I for one say WTF is up with these rankings???? WTF is their method?

The University of the South just got their first NPC organization this year- KD- I know we've had a hell of a time colonizing and are still having trouble.

No UF, no Auburn, Clemson, any of the bigger Texas school? No ASU?

sigep533 · #2 08-19-2003, 07:00 PM

wierd

Kevlar281 · #3 08-19-2003, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kddani
15) TCU

I think 40% of the student body at TCU is Greek; they really should release the variables used in these tests.

lalaelon · #4 08-19-2003, 07:30 PM

i go to elon and wasn't too surprised to see that we made the list. greek life IS huge, i think more than half of campus is greek, but i don't get why some huge schools like UVA, UNC, etc didn't make this list. elon is pretty small (4500) and i don't really see how we made the list being up against such other large schools. those rankings are kinda strange!

twinstars · #5 08-19-2003, 07:30 PM

I think the rankings really emphasize the percent of the student body that's involved in the greek system.

For instance, at W&L (the #2 school on this year's list), 75-80% of men and women undergrads are in fraternities and sororities.

At many big schools like UT-Austin, it's actually only a small fraction of the undergrad student body that's involved in Greek life.

amycat412 · #6 08-19-2003, 07:32 PM

I think, and I could very well be mistaken, that this is the first year USC has made the list. And I've always wondered why they were not on the list in the past... as the Greek System has always been huge and the primary means of social activities at USC.

DeltAlum · #7 08-19-2003, 08:39 PM

OK, here's my mantra from every year. There is no apparant methodology to these "surveys." The Princeton Review has absolutely nothing to do with Princeton University. They just use the name.

My very big suspicion is that it's simply a numbers game. If more people from School X reply, they make the list.

The whole thing strikes me as bogus.

But, we've been through this before, haven't we?

DZHBrown · #8 08-19-2003, 10:02 PM

University of the South has several IFC fraternities and have quite awhile (126 years). Even though only one of their seven sororities is NPC, I've heard they are pretty strong and good sized. The fraternities were around 100 years before sororities came on campus, though.

AEPhiSierra · #9 08-19-2003, 10:39 PM

I think a lot of it has to do with who responds. A few years ago my schools name wouldn't be found on anything - good or bad. Then a couple of years they started promoting that students should vote in the survey. after we got a shocking top 5 placement in most beautiful campus i am sure everyone voted this year.

But i agree some of its definitely not accurate - my school is a commuter campus in NYC, the reason there is no crazy party scene is we have a million things going on off campus -- not because we have a pass the milk attitude, no drinking attitude like the survery says.

IvySpice · #10 08-19-2003, 10:46 PM

These rankings are total BS. A lot of the other categories are even sillier than the greek life rankings. I mean, Davidson got ranked as more selective than Stanford, Duke, or Columbia. HUH? DePaul U. in Chicago got ranked as the happiest student body in the country. Wanna run that one by me again?? So it doesn't surprise me that the greek life ranings leave a lot to be desired.

DeltAlum · #11 08-19-2003, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by AEPhiSierra
I think a lot of it has to do with who responds. A few years ago my schools name wouldn't be found on anything - good or bad. Then a couple of years they started promoting that students should vote in the survey. after we got a shocking top 5 placement in most beautiful campus i am sure everyone voted this year.

Pretty much exactly what I've suspected, and said many times. But these things keep coming up, and people actually believe them.

(I also thought it was interesting that Harvard didn't appear on the top twenty colleges list.)

breathesgelatin · #12 08-19-2003, 11:01 PM

People take the Princeton review too seriously--it's not supposed to be a factual text, it's a text that shows how students feel about their school. Personally, to me it really brought out the personality of the schools. The lists are just for glamour. If you read through the actual descriptions of the school, you get a really good picture of campus life--unedited and as it really is.

Proud to go to the #2 Greek school in the nation!!

And as twinstars said--I think the Greek thing is totally a percentage thing. At W&L 75% of women and 85% of men are Greek. At least that's the latest figures I heard from the tour office.

LPIDelta · #13 08-19-2003, 11:26 PM

I don't think its strictly numbers. From my understanding, The Princeton Review uses student surveys primarily to create their rankings for many categories. For some categories it is obviously going to be based on who answers the questions.

At a higher education institution that I just left they took the rankings somewhat seriously-- but only because it was in things like "Best access to professors" and the "Stone Cold Sober" categories. And I know there that a percentage of the student body was selected to participate in the survey-- I think it may have been from across all classes. No greek life on campus there!

I think the greek rankings must rely highly on what the students said. And I would agree with others that some schools do a great deal to make sure they get listed.

Here is some info from a school press release:
"The Princeton Review, a New York city-based company known for its reputation and admission services surveyed 65,000 students at 331 top schools (less than 10 percent of America’s colleges and universities are selected) who rated their own schools in categories from academics to campus life. At each location, a random sample of students (200 per campus on average) answered 70 questions about their school’s academics, campus life and student body, as well as their own study hours, politics and opinions."

33girl · #14 08-19-2003, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by breathesgelatin
People take the Princeton review too seriously

That's because 99% of the population thinks it is connected with Princeton U, an Ivy League school. I would bet a majority of the students voting in it even think it's conducted by Princeton.

Munchkin03 · #15 08-20-2003, 12:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by breathesgelatin
People take the Princeton review too seriously--it's not supposed to be a factual text, it's a text that shows how students feel about their school. Personally, to me it really brought out the personality of the schools.

I think it's hilarious! Yeah, it doesn't smack of empirical research, but the college admissions game is a BUSINESS the way that wedding stuff has become. The Princeton Review stuff has gotten bigger every year--my senior year in HS, it was only the "301 Best Colleges." Most savvy seniors, their parents, and counselors know it's not a serious text--kinda like The Southern Belle Handbook, if you will :-p It may be funny, and to some extent informative, but if you try to make it your Bible, you're an idiot.

All said, I'm very proud to have graduated from the #10 Toughest School to Get Into! And #10 for the Happiest Students!