<p>I'm trying to get a better understanding of Greek life at Stanford. I used to think I would never join a fraternity, but my interest was raised when a cousin talked fondly about his fraternity experiences. Hopefully some current students/grads can answer these questions.</p>
<p>What is the Greek life like at Stanford? I have read widely varying claims of anywhere between 7% to 23% of students belonging to a fraternity or sorority; most places say its around 14%?</p>
<p>What are the reputations of the sororities and fraternities, esp the housed ones?</p>
<p>Is there much hazing that goes on?</p>
<p>If someone could post a breakdown like what they did on the Cal</a> forums, that would be great.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I would really like to know the answer to this one too. I know that saying that one or the other fraternity is “best” is pretty subjective, but there must be someone out there who can give us newbs a general idea of which fraternities are more for athletes, which are more for partiers, which are more for “coat and tie” types. . .</p>
<p>You’ll be introduced to Greek Life in Spring Quarter during rush. Until then, there is little interaction with the organizations other than through campus parties. For most frats/sororities, there is a joint rush, where you can go around and meet people from different groups. There is a complicated matching process, where you can rank your preferences, and the groups can rank theirs. It usually works out well.</p>
<p>There are also other, cultural frats and sororities that do not associate with the main ones, like Sigma Psi Zeta or Lambda Phi Epsilon (both Asian-interest groups).</p>
<p>There is hazing that goes on, to be honest, but it’s all up to you and your willingness to finish the process.</p>
<p>Thanks, Kimchee. I am sure that freshmen will get to become more familiar with the Greek system during their first year, but it would be nice to have an idea, going in, what the various fraternities are all about. I did a rough Google search, and it looks like Kappa Sigma is sort of the “bad boy party house” of Stanford? Not sure about that though. How about Sigma Chi or SAE? I would just like to have a general idea what the landscape is, just so I don’t spend time getting to know the XYZ house only to find that it is focused on salvia, tarot cards and astrology. I am sort of looking for a 70/30 mix of academics, service and professionalism (70%) and partiers (30%). Any ideas? I am pretty much a racial mutt, so racial makeup/orientation of the house means very little to me. </p>
<p>Thanks for any input!</p>
<p>You should really follow Kimchee’s advice and just not worry about it until spring rush. There’s not really any point in trying to find out things this far beforehand or trying to dirty rush a frat. Plus, it’s best to feel out the landscape when you’re actually on campus rather than someone telling you beforehand, mainly because everyone has different opinions on each frat. (Plus if you’re actually getting to know a specific house, you’ll figure out very quickly on your own what the community is like.)</p>