Hi, CC.
Can anyone tell me what greek life is? Fraternity? sorority? I know the meaning but what do they do?
Yes, it means fraternities and sororities. I suggest you just look up a Wikipedia entry or Google it for a full explanation. Basically, it’s a way for like-minded people to form a very close network of friends who do a lot of stuff together. It can have negative or positive results, depending on who you talk to and what news stories you read. Some colleges have very active Greek life where the majority of students participate, other colleges have none at all. At some colleges they all live together in their own frat or sorority houses, at other colleges it’s more like a club that hosts parties and events.
Some colleges with a lot of Greek life have bad reputations for being full of hard-partying students who do disgraceful things, other colleges have greek groups that do many good things for both the college and the community. There is a LOT of variation. My kid wanted as little Greek life on campus as possible and only looked at colleges that had 30% or below participation in Greek life. It is often associated with a lot of drinking and partying.
I suggest you start off by doing some preliminary research on your own. For example, if you google Greek Life you will find a lot of basic information such as below.
http://www.collegeview.com/articles/article/college-greek-life-101
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraternities_and_sororities
If you are a guy you join a fraternity. If you are a girl you join a sorority. They are either a huge or small part of your school. Greek life is biggest in SEC, PAC-12, and Big 10 schools. Most people in Greek Life have a very positive experience and it can really add to college life. There are different kinds of fraternities and sororities. IFC frats are the “stereotypical” social frats. I personally think those are the best because they have the same networking if not stronger networking opportunities as professional frats, have houses, and are well established nationally. Professional frats are most like intense clubs. Multicultural frats are exactly that- culture based. Similar story for sororities. Rush usually happens in the fall and spring. It’s a no commitment process so it doesn’t hurt to check it out. Make sure if you decide to pledge (accept a bid) that you really want to do it because it’s a big commitment and can be expensive.
Unfortunately you hear more bad press than good in regards to Greek life. I was very apprehensive in having my younger son rush Fraternities at his school, but since it was important to him, I let my concerns go. It has been a very good experience for him academically (great upperclassman mentors and alumni networking), socially (a lot of friends) and personally (volunteering events -emphasis on ALS due to a former Frat alumni Lou Gehring).
It is up to each student to figure out how much of a Greek presence will affect their overall college experience.
As someone who lives (lived) with three frat guys this past fall, you get a very mixed bag. Lots of weed, lots of unfamiliar people coming to our apartment to buy Adderall and Vyvanse, and lots of drunken rages.
I genuinely don’t want to go back this spring.
Again, your results may vary and get some really nice frat friends, but it’s pretty common here…
@cameraphone Sorry you had a bad experience with your roommate. Most aren’t like that but like anything you get some bad apples.
^^^ I agree that many frats do are not filled with people described in post #5 above. However it is important to choose a frat/sorority wisely and seek out one with people you admire and want to spend time with…
@cameraphone – it is hard to be the odd man out if all of your roommates are in a frat and you are not. I would consider asking ResLife about a room change for next semester if you are miserable with your current situation.
They would consider it an insult to call them social clubs, but to some extent that is what they are. If they are functioning properly they will try to appeal to certain subsets of students so that they can form a cohesive group. They spend a lot of time together, learn the ropes of how to manage an organization, have opportunities to have social functions with members of the opposite sex, some of whom presumably are potentially marriageable mates. They are lot of fun and have a lot of parties. They are also a commitment.
@EarlVanDorn Social clubs actually isn’t offensive. What is offensive is the whole “buying friends” thing. That’s blatantly false.
Fraternities and sororities can be big in an absolute sense at big schools like most of those in those athletic conferences. However, even though they are big in an absolute sense, they may only make up a small percentage of the students at some of these campuses, so there is plenty of social life outside of them – i.e. a student who may choose to join or not join, and, either way, will not be excluded from campus social life.
This can be different from a small school like Washington and Lee, where 80%/75% of women/men join sororities/fraternities, so the social life is likely centered around sororities and fraternities, with less for those who choose not to join. Since the OP’s account name includes “ivy”, perhaps s/he may be more interested in knowing the fraternity and sorority scene at the various schools in that athletic conference; of those schools, Dartmouth is reputed to have the most fraternity and sorority dominant social scene, with about two thirds of eligible undergraduates joining (eligible = non-frosh).
Fraternities are associated with greater rates of high risk drinking.
Another consideration is that, at some campuses, the fraternities and (especially) sororities tend to be highly racially segregated. Chapter photo albums tend to reveal whether this is the case.
Note that fraternities/sororities can be either residential or non-residential and may manifest qualitative differences based on this distinction.