<p>How fratty/Southern is UVa, nothing like W&L i would hope...</p>
<p>There's a fratty/southern presence on grounds, but it's not overwhelming. The student body is vibrant and diverse- you'll find all kinds of people. Also, FWIW, you'll have a hard time finding <em>any</em> top school on the east coast without a healthy population of preppy, well-dressed students (not that there's anything wrong with that).</p>
<p>I'm completely okay with the whole Southern prep attire, because thats how I dress and am. I'm from Maryland and I was wondering if UVa students are not friendly to more Northern people. In essence, is there a sizable portion of chotch bag Southern guys that ostracize people that live North of the Mason Dixon?</p>
<p>No, not at all.</p>
<p>There are some of us NYC and New England types who wouldn't consider Maryland to be up north. :) </p>
<p>There are people from all over here.</p>
<p>I've only been called a Yankee in jest. No one really cares. People from nothern Virginia don't identify themselves as Southern anyways.</p>
<p>I agree. Most people dont identify themselves as southern and the preppy people are a minority. They just stand out more cus they look so ridiculous :) Anyway, there are many ppl from New York, Jersey, Maryland, NoVa (the majority). So ye....if anything there is an anti-popped collar/preppy attitude cus its laughed at. Thats my take on it.</p>
<p>If you get a chance, visit UVa during springtime. Sit on one of the benches in front of the chapel, with the Rotunda to your left and Alderman Library to your right. You will be amazed at the different types of people who will walk by. The number of foreign languages spoken by the people passing by will astound you. The University of Virginia has developed into an impressive international institution.</p>
<p>And this phenomenon is only VERY recent by the way. It held the fratty/southern stereotype only 5-10 years ago.</p>
<p>I'm interested in joining one of the Southern frats to be able to experience it, are those particular frats (Pika, DKE, KA) typically elitist and rejecting of Northerners?</p>
<p>um HELL YES, to the Nth degree...and definitely outright rejecting minorities</p>
<p>Well I guess its good that I was only Hispanic for the college admissions process. ha</p>
<p>No MDT, they don't outright reject northerners, or anyone else for that matter. If you fit in with them, you'll be fine - minority or not. It just happens that people who do the things that they do tend to be white.</p>
<p>There certainly are very southern fraternities that dont allow minorities or yankees in their house: SAE, KA, Kappa Sig, DKE to name the most obvious ...however, there are also houses that are very very different and from what my brother tells me (i asked him this very question when i saw it on the message board) everyone pretty much ends up where they belong during rush</p>
<p>There are people in all of those houses from well north of the Mason-Dixon line.</p>
<p>I know a pledge at DKE (which is probably considered the 2nd "southern, prep, frat-boy"-frat, second to Kappa Sigma) and there's two black guys and a hispanic in his pledge class, and he's from Maryland and has a close buddy from NY in there. There's 32 frats...you'll be able to find something, i'm sure. There's a bunch of frats that are great, and the guys are your typical normal college guys that are well-rounded and diverse, but still want to have a strong brotherhood and be a typical frat. There are also non-typical frats. It just depends. That's what rush is for. And I know a bunch of guys that I would never have thought of them as frat boys in HS (one is just a pompous jerk, pledged Delta Sigma Phi and loves it...another is a middle-eastern guy who is a genius, but under-achiever, pledged Pi Kappa Phi) but love it now. Then again, there were plenty of guys that I know that rushed and hated it. They say the only thing they got out of it was "great food and beer for a week".
So, just see how it goes once you get there</p>
<p>The farthest north of the mason dixon line it gets in sae are two kids from maryland...im told it is essentially the same for kappa sig...my brother said KA just took a kid from boston but that he is somewhat of an anomaly for that house (however, i guess he fits in just fine if he chose that house after rush) </p>
<p>My point in saying this is that southern culture/fraternity life remain quite prominent at uva and in many fraternities. It just isnt everywhere.</p>
<p>Of course the presence of southern culture especially in fraternities is prominent in UVA. I don't think UVA is that diverse, considering 33% of the population is involved in the greek system, therefore causing further racial segregation.</p>
<p>mmmm. there are about 8 houses that are very southern, each of those houses probably has 40-50 brothers. There are two southern sororities with 120 members in each. So that's 50<em>8+2</em>120=400+240=640 students who are very southern.</p>
<p>640 out of 12000 undergrads.</p>
<p>And you're excluding southern students who are not in these fraternities and sororities.....</p>