<p>Thanks for all the thoughtful responses and suggestions. I realize it would have been more accurate to ask for suggestions for schools where fraternities do not dominate the social scene instead of no fraternities at all. The incidence of binge drinking and sexual assaults on college campuses is very troubling. I am hopeful that my son will find a college that offers a varied and vibrant social life.</p>
<p>Touchy subject, apparently? 
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<p>S doesnāt want Greek life either. Many of the schools on his list donāt have any.</p>
<p>Macalester, Grinnell, Oberlin, Haverford, Juniata, Goucher.</p>
<p>I always found it funny that people say a school with 25% Greek life isnāt much at all. One out of every four is a lot to meā¦and my son. I mean, if one out of four has purple hair or plays the French Tuba or is Puerto Rican, wouldnāt you consider that a lot? I am PR, btw, so no offense was intended. :)</p>
<p>What is a French Tuba?</p>
<p>I really do think that eliminating schools with Greek life is stupid. MIT is one of the schools with the highest rates of fraternity involvement in the country, yet I doubt that anyone would discount it just because of that fact. Also, would you refuse to go to Columbia or Brown just because it has a couple of fraternities with very minimum involvement in the student body as a whole?</p>
<p>Also, I find it funny how lots of people who are against Greek life jump onto hippie-ish LACs. Iām not making blanket statements about individuals here, but I think it reminds me of people who think that alcohol is terrible but weed and other drugs are 100% ok.</p>
<p>chaosakitaāI donāt think the issue is with the alcohol, itās more with the fact that in schools dominated by Greek life, there are no or few activities outside of the Greek scene and if you are not part of that on campus, you really have nothing to do over the weekends, etc. There are also certain expectations of behavior, dress, appearance with many sororities/frats and some people just donāt buy into that.</p>
<p>Fordham.
DePaul.</p>
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It is easy for a woman to have a great social life at the University of Texas without joining a sorority. There are many non-Greek organizations and if you like frat parties on weekends loaded with big Greek events, all women (not just Greek women) are generally welcome. There is so much to do in Austin - on and off campus - that I donāt think anyone would be bored without being part of the Greek system there.</p>
<p>There are a lot of great schools out there. You could eliminate all schools that start with letters in the first half of the alphabet, or all schools in a particular region, or all schools with a particular school color or according to any arbitrary (or less arbitrary) criteria. Youāll still have a credible field of contenders. That said, unless a college seeker knows for sure based on personal experience that he or she is not interested in Greek life, I donāt see a reason to reject out of hand schools with Greek life if they are otherwise of interest. </p>
<p>Regardless of your choice, Greek or not, donāt set your criteria based on one article about one school.</p>
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<p>Really? Thatās news to me. I wasnāt in a sorority. I had a very rich social life. I guess someone forgot to tell me about this.</p>
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<p>I literally was busy every single weekend with social activities: parties, athletic events, dinners with friends, activities with band friends, club activities, etc., etc. Itās true that the Greeks are visible on campus, and they do stay pretty busy themselves, but absolutely false that anyone at UT should ever say thereās nothing to do if you are not Greek.</p>
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<p>Yea - that was dumb. Iāll chalk it up to being tired. :)</p>
<p>I also think in some ways Greek life is exaggerated in these articles about themā¦I work with the Greek life community on my campus (albeit a northeastern university not really known for its Greek life) and theyāre pretty chill. Yes, they have parties, but the number and duration are limited by the university and honestly, I get far fewer alcohol intox calls from the fraternity houses than I do from regular dorm parties.</p>
<p>Besides, you are also assuming that all Greek fraternity members are the same. They are not. Even if your son did choose a 50% Greek school, his best friend might be a fraternity member. They may share interests. Two of my RAs are sorority members and they are kind, professional, hardworking, and really care about their residents. Fraternity and sorority members often have higher GPAs than the campus average. (BTW, I am not in a sorority.)</p>
<p>Itās no more foolish than eliminating schools that are rural, suburban or city.</p>
<p>Yes, it is, IMO. The surrounding area can determine what kinds of experiences and opportunities are available for students, whereas the mere presence of Greek life doesnāt say anything about the schools. Some schools have a small sorority/fraternity scene where people can join and participate if they want, but it doesnāt mean anything on the social scene. And other schools have a very large or dominant scene that pretty much rules all partying. Most schools are somewhere in between.</p>
<p>And even though binge drinking and sexual assaults on campus are probably correlated with a strong Greek life, given my experiences with my university, I would say to investigate the culture independent of the Greek life. It is certainly possible for a school to have a heavy drinking culture without the presence of Greeks.</p>
<p>āMIT is one of the schools with the highest rates of fraternity involvement in the country, yet I doubt that anyone would discount it just because of that fact.ā</p>
<p>They do, and it isnāt foolish to do so. If I were advising a student deciding between MIT and Caltech or Harvard, for example, I think the contrast in residential/Greek life ought to be a serious consideration. It comes out in MITās favor for some students, too.</p>
<p>I agree that women at the University of Texas have no issues not being greek, but for guys it is different and this was asked from the guy perspective. Non-greek guys find it very hard to attend parties. The fact remains that the greek culture, while only 15% of the population, has greater than 15% of the social control. I never said it stinks to be you if you are not greek, I am just saying that it is dominate.</p>
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<p>Of course it does. There are people who pick schools because they want to participate in Greek life and there are people who pick schools because they donāt want Greek Life to be a big part of their collegeās social scene.</p>
<p>Good grief, Iāve never seen people be so touchy about what amounts to a personal preference. Even going so far as calling it āstupid?ā Thatās just out of line.</p>
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Of course it does, but itās not all bad. A place like Washington and Lee which is more than 80% Greek, is hugely influenced by that fact.</p>
<p>I sympathize with the OP because my D started her college search (sheās a sophomore now) looking for schools without a Greek system. There are not that many. Then, to start considering other factors, like the opportunity to study a particular language, and financial considerations . . . in the end she chose a school that (probably as itās biggest flaw, from her point of view) has a fairly strong Greek system. She chose not to join a sorority, but most of her friends have. Does it impact her lifeāyes. Does it make her miserable, or mean than she has no friends or no social lifeāabsolutely not.</p>
<p>Finding the right college probably means finding the school that has the greatest number of āprosā and lowest number of ācons.ā</p>
<p>You might want to avoid the top 20, āMajor Frat and Sorority Sceneā schools, according to Princeton Review:</p>
<ol>
<li>Vanderbilt
2.Transylvania University</li>
<li>University of Mississippi</li>
<li>Sewanee - The University of The South</li>
<li>Wake Forest University</li>
<li>De Pauw University</li>
<li>Lehigh University</li>
<li>Texas Christian University</li>
<li>University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign</li>
<li>University of Georgia</li>
<li>Ohio University - Athens</li>
<li>Pennsylvania State University - College Park</li>
<li>University of Iowa</li>
<li>Arizona State University</li>
<li>Florida State University</li>
<li>Birmingham-Southern College</li>
<li>Wofford College</li>
<li>Bucknell University</li>
<li>Albion College</li>
<li>University of South Carolina - Columbia</li>
</ol>
<p>Albion was one that I crossed off my list because of Greek life.</p>
<p>Hendrix College has no Greeks.</p>
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<p>Well, my experience was years ago, so it may not be valid anymore. But while I was out having such a great social experience, so were the many non Greek men with whom I was socializing. 
In those days girls were not invited to fraternity parties unless they were dating a guy in one. Greeks were not dominant, nor did they dominate the social scene, though they were certainly visible on campus and Iām sure had lots of fun.</p>
<p>The fact that non Greek males cannot go to frat parties should not mean their social life should suffer. There are PLENTY of clubs and organizations one can join at UT. There are LOTS of opportunities to socialize with others that do not revolve around going to frat parties. One simply has to put in minimal effort to become part of something.</p>
<p>Someone suggested upthread that Union College in Schenectady NY had no fraternities, and others said that was wrong. According to this morningās Wall St. Journal, Union in fact is proud of being the āmother of fraternitiesā ā the first U.S. college to have them. That, and Chester Arthur, are apparently its main claims to fame. (My Uncle Gene and my 11th grade English teacher probably donāt qualify.)</p>