<p>I have heard that OU is a very Greek campus. Is this the general opinion? Does anyone know the average cost of being in a frat? I know it varies from chapter to chapter, but appox numbers?</p>
<p>I think OU has an undeserved reputation as a Greek campus because so many freshmen pledge but eventually go alum/inactive (when I have more time I’ll elaborate). I’d contact Koby Harrison (<a href=“mailto:koby@ou.edu”>koby@ou.edu</a>) the IFC advisor for info on Greek costs. Remember, there might be incidentals like gas, chips, booze, shirts, etc that aren’t specifically listed but it’s assumed that brothers will purchase.</p>
<p>@whenhen, would you have time to revisit this and elaborate on your comment about eventually going alum/inactive? </p>
<p>I forgot about this. Most of the predominately white, non academic greek life organizations rush before school officially starts. This means that freshmen interested in joining a GLO arrive on campus a week before everyone else. Though this allows more time for rush events, it also means that the freshmen are not exposed to other aspects of college life which could cause them to rethink joining a fraternity or sorority (full disclosure, I’m in a non traditional social sorority). They rush before they understand just what having hundreds of clubs on campus means, that not all college parties are big frat ragers, how dorm life can foster an entirely different sort of community, etc. They also don’t see some of the less desirable aspects of greek life since they rushed before school even started.</p>
<p>As a result, a fair number of these students drop their greek affiliation by the time they’re upperclassmen and have become more acclimated to college life. Last summer I lived with two such people, both of whom enthusiastically joined a GLO as freshmen, but later became disenchanted with it. Both of them said that’s somewhat common, and the data behind what percent of the non-freshman student body is involved in greek life seems to support that claim. </p>
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<p>I have a junior who will be applying to OU and he is not interested in Greek life. He has taken various leadership positions in his ECs and will like to get involved in campus organizations once in college. I found above old post from 2010. Is it still true as far as the leadership roles in community organizations go?</p>
<p>I have a kid at OU (rising senior) who has had a great experience at OU without the Greek experience. Her roommate was in a sorority and dropped out, because of time commitments and possibly because she just didn’t enjoy the experience that much. I know another junior who is on the committee who schedules all the events and concerts on campus. My kid tells me that if you want to be very involved at OU without being Greek, you can do it. Also, like whenhen said, a lot of people pledge and drop out of the fraternity or sorority. </p>
<p>You can enjoy OU Greek or not.</p>
<p>While both the SGA (student government association) president and vice president are in greek organizations, it should be noted that they ran unopposed. I don’t think there’s a greek machine which dominates the top positions in student government like there is at the University of Alabama or a number of other schools. Going off of the facebook posts of two main programming boards, it doesn’t appear as though either are Greek dominated. There are also other smaller programming committees, dorm planning ones being the most obvious, which do not have many Greek members. </p>
<p>Keep in mind that many students choose Greek life to get more involved on campus, so it’s natural that they’d also consider other venues for social participation. If your son wants to get involved, he can easily do so, particularly if he’s content to start with the minor activities (dorm community socials, major specific events, etc) first and then work his way up. </p>