We are just starting to make a list of schools to visit and I am curious about the degree that social life revolves around fraternities and sororities at Ivy League and other academically rigorous schools. I know about Dartmouth where I have heard @ 50% of the students belong to fraternities but what about the other schools? I just heard of someone pledging a sorority at Yale and I had no idea that they had sororities. If there is a thread addressing this already, point me in the direction. Thanks.
There is no “universal truth” regarding Greek organizations – and other selective, small living groups – and the “social scene” at the Ivies and other most-selective institutions. You’d probably be better served by selecting specific academically rigorous LACs and National Research Universities and then investigating each individually.
According to some article I read recently, UPenn was ranked the #1 party school in the USA
Some elite universities with active greek life:
Cornell University
Dartmouth College
Duke University
Northwestern University
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of Pennsylvania
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
University of Southern California
University of Virginia
Vanderbilt University
Of course, it varies. For example:
Dartmouth: about 2/3 of eligible undergrads (about 1/2 of the total since frosh are not eligible) join fraternities and sororities.
Princeton: off-campus fraternities and sororities are officially discouraged, though prohibited only for frosh; school-sanctioned coed eating clubs have some (not all) of the same functions.
Amherst: fraternities and sororities were derecognized and pushed off-campus in 1984. Participation fell from about 50% to 10% of men (there are no longer any sororities). A recent decision will prohibit student participation.
Note that a bigger school may have a fraternity and sorority scene that is small in percentage terms, but large in absolute numbers, resulting in a relatively active fraternity and sorority scene without completely dominating the social scene.
I remember touring Brown and being surprised to find fraternities in the middle of campus but apparently they are not a huge part of the social life there.
I believe a truly IMPORTANT point is being overlooked in this thread. Selective, small living groups at so-called elite LACs and National Research Universities are NOT limited to “Greek Letter” organizations. Back when “dinosaurs ruled the earth,” I was a member of a major, national social fraternity. On the same campus, there were many non-Greek, small, selective living groups for both men and women. Fundamentally, there was NO difference in these two categories of selective, small living groups. Yes, I suppose we had secret handshakes, ceremonies, pins, and other falderal. However, in the things that were – and are – truly important (e.g., the group dynamics, the leadership, the fellowship, the service, the self-discipline and self-sacrifice, the true brotherhood, and the entire social scene) the small, selective living units were entirely indistinguishable, whether Greek or not.
Therefore, to suggest that the advantages and the disadvantages of “Greek Life” are limited to Greek Letter organizations is, in my opinion, a serious error.