<p>What % of students are involved in Greek Life?</p>
<p>30-40 but at times it feels like 70 or 80...</p>
<p>Visirale, are you involved in Greek life if you are a student there? Are you pleased with the school, and are you happy there? Can you tell me what you like most about Rollins, and what you dislike most about it?</p>
<p>I rushed my freshman year and pledged a frat, but didn't finish the pledge process. It took too much time away from my friends who weren't greek. I like the idea behind the Greek system, but it really wasn't for me. However, they are some of the most involved people on campus and do a lot more good than the administration will give them credit for.</p>
<p>I'm torn about school here. I chose Rollins over UF initially for the music program. I dropped the music major after my first semester and have been more involved in the academic areas. I came from a very strong HS (I did IB) and the classes here are pretty easy. I don't know if that's just universal for all college classes, or if we're an exception. I just know I worked a lot more in HS.</p>
<p>The most disheartening thing here is that a BIG percentage of the students here come from big money families (we have CEO's children from Polaroid and Bank of America to name two I know of) and their parents are paying full tuition/room/board (I'm mostly on scholarships) and they don't value the education at all. They don't care what goes on in class, they never do any work... they just scrape by and get the C or D+ required to pass (which pretty much only requires having a heartbeat). </p>
<p>A notable exception to this would be science/math majors. They all work very hard... then again not too many slackers would choose one of these majors to begin with. </p>
<p>My happiness with the school shouldn't influence you. I'm going through a lot of personal issues with my friends and not having the greatest semester because of it. </p>
<p>With all that said, Rollins is what you make it. If a student comes here and tries, the opportunities are endless. Professors are so surprised and thrilled to see students who actually care, they can provide opportunities you would never see at a big state U or in a school where you are just in a constant competition for grades.</p>
<p>I pledged the same fraternity as Visirale, but I finished the process. We had the same sphere of friends for the most part (I also had friends from my sports team) and Greek life added an entirely new sphere of people that was almost disorienting at first. It took me the entire semester of pledging to learn about my fraternity, the people that were in it, but I came out of it with very strong ties with my pledge class.</p>
<p>What Visirale means in post #2 is that most of the social events are dominated by Greek life. The biggest events of the year are all well attended by those in fraternities and sororities, and other than sports teams, they also throw most of the parties on and off-campus. The social sphere of Greek life extends well beyond the 30-40% of students that are a part of it, but in our case it's a good thing. Our Greek life differs from larger schools in that the various organizations are not mutually exclusive, such as that we coalesce not only within our immediate Greek community, but also with the rest of Rollins. Many student leaders, including several of SGA exec and senate, various athletes, and other leaders of other both community service and academic organizations are Greek.</p>
<p>To answer the what I like/dislike is hard to pinpoint on one thing for each. Currently, I'm not a fan of the drop in academic intelligence of my peers from switching from a science to an economics major. But that's only because the first couple of science courses weed those types of students out. I didn't switch because of that, however, but rather because of a change of heart.</p>
<p>I like how easy it is to get involved on campus and how easy it is to get in contact with different faculty. When I was pre-med, I easily found opportunities in my freshmen year to shadow various physicians and surgeons along with volunteering at the local hospital. This was on top of blogging about student life for the school website, writing for the school newspaper, joining student government, pledging a fraternity, playing a varsity sport, and participating in various community service events such as Relay for Life. Even if different organizations conflict, they often will let you work things out to go to both.</p>
<p>I also like knowing a greater percentage of people on campus. Having a smaller school I feel facilitates branching out and meeting more people rather than retreating to individual cliques. You may meet friends in residence halls, community service organizations, classes, intramurals, other clubs, or just meeting other people through your current friends.</p>
<p>visirale, and erhswimming thank you both for taking the time to post! Socially, do you think you can be happy without joining a frat, or is it really such a major part of Rollins, and you would feel like you are missing a great deal by not joining? I have real questions about this, since as visirale said, it sometimes feels like 70-80% belong (even if the real number is as high as 40%).</p>
<p>It's no problem at all not being in one. They're not very inclusive like big state schools' greek life can be. Everyone just hangs out with everyone, it's not that bad. Most of my friends are non-greek, but that doesn't really say anything about the school as a whole.</p>
<p>Choosing to go Greek or to not go won't really have any huge negative consequences either way. You're going to meet a lot of new people by going greek, so that's a plus. I was really happy with the friends I had already made so I stuck with them.</p>
<p>Visirale, thanks you for your reply!</p>