<p>Just read the Rolling Stone article about fraternities at Dartmouth - even if it is somewhat exaggerated, it is extremely disturbing. Looking for suggestions for colleges/universities with no fraternities or at least a minimal Greek presence.</p>
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<p>Look at all the top Liberal Arts Colleges - most (though not all) have no frats at all.</p>
<p>Just because a school has greek life does not mean you have to participate. 50% of students are involved in greek life at Dartmouth. That means 50% are not. You will never be able to run and hide from the social ills that effect most campuses. Binge drinking, rude behavior, etc are commonplace on the majority of US college campuses. The only thing you can control is your own behavior. You choose to participate or not. Pick a school that is a good academic and financial fit. Every school attracts a diverse set of students. Once you find your academic and financial fit, once you are accepted, you can then micro manage your choice by social fit.</p>
<p>If you are looking for minimal Greek presence you will have more choices than if you insist on no Greek organizations. I believe that at most levels of selectivity, there are many schools with minimal Greek presence. In general, it seemed to us that at more urban schools, Greek life was not that big a deal. If you are looking for a “top” research university without frats, try Rice. (Keep in mind, however, that Rice is not a “dry” campus, and does have residential colleges.) At several others, frats are not nearly as big a deal as they are at Dartmouth. Many honors colleges will provide the cameraderie without having to go Greek.</p>
<p>That said, I have actually been surprised at how many young people I know who were not initially interested in Greek life (deliberately chose schools where Greek presence was not overwhelming and by-passed schools such as Dartmouth because of the prominence of fraterities) have ended up in fraternities or sororities. This includes Frazzled D, BTW. This seems to be happening at all levels of selectivity.</p>
<p>When I have asked why the interest in these organizations, the answer usually goes along the lines that it can be difficult to meet people outside of residence halls, academic departments, or the few activities that fit into their schedule, without joining a Greek organization. </p>
<p>Surprisingly, several mentioned that students at their school tend to “self-segregate” and that it is also easier to meet a diverse group of friends by going Greek. I interpreted this to mean that while most current Greek organizations seem to select for “looks”, “sociability”, or EC interests, they nonetheless include students from several ethnic backgrounds and levels of family wealth.</p>
<p>I would agree with the other posters, that it is important to lokk for “fit” and face the Greek situation later in the process. I would also try to get a feel for whether the school has other types of cliques. It can be very lonely at an LAC without fraternities, if most people self-segregate along other lines.</p>
<p>Let me clarify: I am not looking for suggestions for a dry campus. My son does not want a college where the social options primarily revolve around Greek life. It does not make sense for him to apply to schools where 50% of students are involved in Greek life, thereby leaving a greatly diminished pool of potentially like-minded students. We have heard of many campuses where if you are not involved in Greek life or enjoy fraternity parties, then you are left with very few options. I would like to explore schools without a strong Greek presence to see if their social life is better suited to my son.</p>
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<p>Try looking at the Jesuit colleges. They do not have any Greek life.</p>
<p>It might help if you suggested a level of selectivity, size, urban/suburban, etc. There are 3,000+ colleges and universities in the US. Many have no Greek life or minimal Greek life.</p>
<p>There’s a website and guidebook series that grades schools on various criteria. One is the strength of Greek life. You’re looking for schools with a lousy rating in that category. Sorry that I can’t post the name here; I think it’s a violation of TOS to do so, but just google or walk into your local book store’s college guide section and you’ll see them.</p>
<p>Notre Dame does not have official Greek life. But the dorms are psuedo frats/sororities in that each dorm has a signature event, intramural athletic competitions are often by dorm, kids identify by where they live. So kind of the beauty of Greek life, but none of the drag of going thru pledging/hazing/no bids/costs, etc. Students are assigned a dorm freshman year, and for the most part, process if fairly random…and then one can participate to the extent they wish.</p>
<p>Middlebury, Vasser, Santa Clara (Jesuit) - I think if you google you might come up with an actual list. But while I agree with the other posters that greek like is not the question to ask because some schools, even with a greek like, don’t seem to run the social life of the entire campus. However, others, like Dartmouth IMO, seem to have a great deal of their social life revolve around what the greek houses are doing - 50% or not.</p>
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<p>Consider absolute numbers as well as percentages.</p>
<p>On a campus of 1000 students, if 50% are in Greek life, that means there are 500 who are not – which may be too few.</p>
<p>But on a campus of 20,000 students, if 50% are in Greek life, 10,000 are not – which should be more than enough, I think.</p>
<p>I’m going to get flamed for saying this, but on some campuses, there are students with anti-Greek attitudes who welcome the presence of Greek organizations on their campuses because they attract many of the rowdiest, most alcohol- and party-oriented students, who then go live in the Greek houses and get out of everyone else’s way.</p>
<p>Just to quibble: there ARE Jesuit schools with fraternities - for example, Loyola Chicago.</p>
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<p>I think on some campuses this is very true, but not on others. I know at the University of Texas Austin, 11.5% of men are in a fraternity and 13.1% of women in a sorority. But the fact remains that for the most part, the Greek Community rules the social culture at UT.</p>
<p>While I understand the concern that a student feel “left out” if a school has a large and active Greek life, I think it’s a bit heavy handed to assume that all kids in the Greek system are “like minded”. I went to a larger university where the greek houses ranged from Animal House to hugely community service minded to networking/professional…and everywhere in between. Not all greeks are alike, just as not all engineers…art students…business majors are alike.</p>
<p>We just visited Truman State in Missouri. About 20% of the students are involved in Greek life. There are no Greek houses for women, some for men. The Greek focus is more service there but I am sure there are plenty of parties as well. There were abundant activities for non-Greek students though too.</p>
<p>I agree, focus on Catholic schools will minimize the Greek life. The few Catholic schools that do have Greek life tend to have service oriented Greek cultures.</p>
<p>Our son has no interest in Greek life either, long before the Dartmouth article came out.</p>
<p>Luckypeach, this is a very interesting question. My daughter, who is a junior in high school, does not really think the greek life will be for her either. We are looking at Big 10 Universities for her, and all seem to have a pretty big greek presence. Last week over spring break, we took her to see the University of Minnesota, and although they do have a greek system, it seems to be significantly smaller than the other Big 10 Universities that we have looked at. My husband and I both graduated from Purdue, which I think has a pretty big greek presence. I read somewhere that the greek system at Purdue is something like 25% of its student body. At the University of Minnesota, it was something like only 6%.</p>
<p>I was in a sorority at college, and not all sororities and fraternities are the same. Even if going into college a student does not think the greek life will be for them, they will never know until they get there. Not all fraternities are party animal houses and not all sororities are the way they are portrayed on TV shows and movies. For example, at Purdue, there was such a big greek system that almost everyone could find a house that suited them and their personality. I was not sure about joining a sorority before I went to college, but a lot of the girls on my floor at my dorm went out for rush, so I did, too. One of the girls on my floor, who was also a very good friend, ended up pledging the same sorority that I did. I think there are benefits to joining this type of organization because it is a good way to make friends and maintain them for the duration of college. We paired up w/other fraternities for football season and had many socials w/them as well. If not for my sorority, I would not have met my husband (he was in a fraternity, too). As a side note, I believe my sorority helped me get a promotion at the company that I started working for after college. I was going for an internal promotion, and the woman who was doing the interviewing was actually in the same sorority that I was at Purdue, only about 20 or so years earlier. We talked about the requirements for the job and my qualifications for it, but at the end of the interview we had a nice rapport going about our college days and our memories and experiences at our sorority. Not that I think it entirely got me the job, but I do think it gave me an edge. Being in an greek organization could potentially be a great networking tool for the future. In an instance where everything else is very tight between all the candidates, something like this could give you a little bit of an edge. Just something to think about. Lastly I want to add that for as big as the greek system was at Purdue, I still had many friends that were not a part of it at all, and they were very happy and did not feel like they were missing out on anything. </p>
<p>Additionally, the greek system will be different from school to school and year to year as well. Please don’t let one article about one college dictate your opinion of the greek system as a whole. I keep telling my daughter to just keep an open mind about it and wait and see what happens when she goes to college. If it’s not for her, then it’s not for her. There are still plenty of other ways to be involved on campus, even at schools that do have a big greek presense.</p>
<p>Union College in NY is a hidden treasure. The campus removed all their fraternities and sororitiesin favor of all-campus and residental activities. Kids have a ton of fun without the pressure of hazing and over-drinking.</p>
<p>Macalester College has never had fraternities or sororities… great school.</p>
<p>Rice doesn’t have a Greek system. Their social life is centered around residential colleges. It’s very inclusive.</p>
<p>Gathering names of schools based on one feature is a somewhat inefficient effort. You may get a more customized list if you use a college search engine and filter by “no Greek” + all of the other factors pointing to a good fit for your son.</p>
<p>[College</a> Search - College Confidential](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/]College”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_search/)
<a href=“https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search[/url]”>https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search</a></p>
<p>Oberlin College has no fraternities and on the books…has banned them or any exclusionary organization other than ones based on academic achievement from the campus. </p>
<p>Then again…those even leaning towards a more mainstream college experience…whether frats or heavy drinking tend to avoid Oberlin like the plague. </p>
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<p>That must have been a relatively recent change. From what I’ve heard from several late '90s and early-mid 00’s Union College graduates…there’s a huge drinking culture there when they attended. Not sure about Greek life though.</p>