Just curious on any experiences or impressions, particularly on sorority life. Aside from expense (which I don’t have a handle on) I’m not seeing any major drawbacks (as a parent).
It seems like a good support group, convenient residence and a fun social calendar. I researched some old threads here and found some helpful info, but not a lot.
If you’ve read the old threads then I guess I can’t really add much since I can’t speak beyond what I saw as a fraternity member on campus from 05-09.
As a reference for expenses, my fraternity’s dues were $300/semester (I know they’ve gone up since then i think 325 or 350 now) but sorority dues will be cheaper I imagine since the national insurance cost is less because they aren’t allowed to host parties and thus also don’t use dues for party supplies.
^^^Thanks. Yes, your old threads are helpful. It sounds like it was a positive experience for you.
Very much so. I’ve also written about it in the college life section (and it’s probably come up in my pre-med section posts too). Wouldn’t be who I am today without it.
I was also involved in Greek life at Brown. Was a very positive experience.
I had many friends involved in the sororities - mostly in one, but they’re all good places. They seem like they’ve been growing a lot in the past few years - the third one just started up at Brown a few years ago and I think just got about 40 members this year.
@arwarw - Did your daughter go through recruitment? Mine did and said about 200 had signed up. It looks like each of the three sororities took somewhere between 40-45 new members. I wonder if they’ll have room to house all the new members. I’m not sure whether she plans to try to live in the house or not as she’s also been interviewing to be an RPL. I’m just not sure how it will be being an RPL and not living in the house - whether she’ll feel left out or not.
@akmom Yes she did. It was totally unexpected - by me at least. She tells us she’ll get a spot in the house this fall. We’ll see. It seems like a lot of girls to house.
@arwarw - mine was unexpected too! She hadn’t gone to any sorority events but decided during winter break when she met a couple of sisters doing Winter Break Projects that she wanted to try. I still haven’t heard a lot about it but she seems happy in the pictures I’ve seen. I’m picking her up and taking her for some medical tests tomorrow so I’m hoping to hear a bit more about it. I think she’s still looking for a close group of friends like she has at home so I hope she finds it in her house.
I don’t know where the new group is housed but AXO is in Sears and especially with Phi Psi gone they will have plenty of room now. I don’t imagine Theta having space issues in Diman with interfaith house either.
Kappa Delta is in Harkness. It looks like they gave out 46 bids, Theta gave out 43 and AXO gave out 44 bids. Huge increase from the 75 total bids given out last year. Glad to hear there should be spaces in the houses next year and going forward.
are both Tech House and Art House still in Harkness? That building might be a little crowded now.
Wow, isn’t that like nearly 20% of the freshmen girls. Why the uptick, I wonder? After visiting, I was under the impression sororities were sort of under the radar at Brown.
@iwannabe_Brown: Kappa Delta took over the space previously occupied by Art House, which went extinct a few years ago. The non-Theta space in Diman is also now “Social Justice House,” not Interfaith.
@bruno14, thanks for the clarification
If you’re looking for a “traditional” (or maybe stereotypical is a better word!), Brown may not be the best fit. There are some other top universities with a much more thriving Greek scene. However, if you’re looking for a smaller, more laid back Greek scene, Brown can be a good choice. There are only 3 female sororities (there are something like 8 male fraternities). They are small, nice communities. All the houses are dorms on campus; it’s a different kind of system. They attract a lot of the more “normal” people on campus, whereas the co-ed frats, program houses, and general population tends to be more quirky.
I’ve expressed my great distaste for most of the co-ed fraternity scene prior, and I won’t to go into that again. Except to say distaste. A lot. Distaste.