“The Dean” addresses whether Greek life is an essential part of attending a Southern university. https://www.collegeconfidential.com/articles/social-life-in-southern-schools-without-going-greek/
Although S attends a different southern school than those mentioned (Wake Forest - which is considered heavily greek about 35% male and 50% female), he is not Greek and has had a great experience. As the article mentions, there are sooo many clubs and organizations to capture one’s interest, including social frat / srat.
He is a junior. His freshman yr he thought he might “need” to join a frat as it seemed like most kids planned on rushing (spring semester rush at Wake). Turns out his large group of friends decided not to rush and they have a blast. Sort of formed their own social group, even named it. His circle of friends includes Greek and non Greek, male and female. More of his female friends are in sororities but they have a wide range of engagement (from all in to hardly involved). In fact most of his Greek peers have expanded their horizons. It seems way more popular the first two yrs.
He would tell you certain parties were off limits, but they made their own fun in the dorms or via friends with off campus apartments. 20-30 people hanging out instead of 100+. He is also in other organizations, as most at Wake are, that take up a lot of time and provide an additional social outlet.
I share this simply because Wake is a small school, so if a large % is Greek, it feels even bigger than that. He has had NO problem socializing and is glad he chose not to join a frat. The schools mentioned in the article are much larger. I have to imagine there are large numbers of clubs and “independents” for one to find their tribe.
The percents in the article are confusing. Is that 22 percent of all students are in sororities as it states, or do you mean 22 percent of girls?
Percentage of Students in Sororities:
– University of South Carolina: 22 percent
– University of Florida: 22 percent
http://oiraa.dw.sc.edu/cds/cds2018/cdsf2018.htm says that 22% of men join fraternities and 34% of women join sororities at University of South Carolina.
https://ir.aa.ufl.edu/media/iraaufledu/common-data-set/CDS_UFMain_1819.pdf says that 17% of men join fraternities and 22% of women join sororities at University of Florida.
My D goes to one of these schools and is not Greek. She is in the honors program, which is around 2500 students with very few also in Greek life. Most honors students find their primary friend groups within the honors program and have no need to go Greek for a great social life. I honestly rarely if ever hear anything from her about Greeks on campus. She has several groups of friends that don’t overlap - her professional co-ed fraternity, her club sport, and her scholarship cohort. Her weekends stay very busy. There are lots of non-Greek parties and plenty to do without going Greek. That is the beauty of going to a big school, though admittedly, it takes effort to find your people.
I attended UT-Austin, which is a big Greek school. My freshman roommate was a Chi Omega who tried to make me over, ha. Other than dealing with her, I had no issues. I found a great group of kids in my major and we managed to party pretty well. 
I was an independent at a heavily Greek SEC school. I’d like to point out that all of the schools mentioned in the article are large. When you’re dealing with schools whose student bodies are in the five figures, you’re going to find a large number of students doing anything, even if they’re in the “minority.” Even 1 percent of a 20,000-student university is 200 kids. Go where your heart lies and you will find your people.