In reading up about it, I get the sense that they were shut down and then ran with what they have. I dunno, I feel like many didn’t say everything they wanted to say and many decided not to participate out of fear. Just my thoughts.
4 Likes
Not something I’d normally watch but I gave it a try. Wow.
The director’s backstory for me was a distraction. That seemed a little strange.
I don’t know how to describe it, but each of the girls seemed way too focused on being socially accepted and validated by a sorority. Maybe that was by design, but all the drama, fear of failure, and neediness was kind of sad.
The glimpses of the overall culture on the Alabama campus was an eye opener. I’m sure there are many very studious kids there, but the documentary had me shaking my head.
I guess there is a certain amount of crazy on all college campuses, but some perhaps more than others. You buys your ticket you takes your chances.
7 Likes
I agree that the director’s backstory was a distraction. Also that the young women seemed really insecure and needing external validation. We also found it sad.
5 Likes
I wasn’t particularly interested in this show in the first place. Now I have zero interest after hearing your reviews.
1 Like
Honestly, I wouldn’t waste your time on this one.
5 Likes
Sad and just gross. This sort of BS at American schools is why I want my kid to go to uni in another country. The girls I knew in uni who rushed/joined sororities did so because they were insecure, and even admitted so. So why do they turn around and act like it’s “cool?” Being cool comes from being confident in one’s own identity without having to identify with a group.
Group dynamics
Most students(64%) at Alabama do not participate in Greek life.
2 Likes
Actually that doesn’t account for those that rushed but didn’t get bids. The 36% are current members of the Greek community. So a meaningfully greater percentage participate at some point in the Bama Greek community but don’t have an opportunity to continue.
To suggest that UA isn’t Greek oriented is to deny their own literature…
“Since Fall 2011, The University of Alabama has held the coveted honor of being the largest fraternity and sorority community in the nation with regard to overall fraternity and sorority membership.”
5 Likes
If you stick with process, almost everyone gets a sorority bid apparently. I will find the demographic link from 2021
Of course, we do not know about the historical black greek groups or fraternity percentages.
So slightly north of 40% of students were or are active participants in the Greek community. .
So are you suggesting UA isn’t culturally one of the most Greek schools out there in spite of the schools proud claims to Greek prominence?
They claim to have 12,000 active participants not including the 8% (roughly another 1,000 kids) you site that didn’t get bids.
1 Like
UA is one of the largest and most prominent Greek schools out there, no question. Fraternity participation is considerably lower than sorority, which is typical nowadays.
“don’t have an opportunity to continue”
This is not so common, at least with the white sororities. Women who are open to joining any chapter typically get a bid. You end up in that 8% by saying you’re only interested in one of the houses that asked you back at the end of the process.
White fraternities and the NPHC groups have intake processes so different that you can’t compare the statistics.
3 Likes
Next you are going to tell me that Big Bang Theory isn’t a true to life story about Caltech students… 
I’m not sure where you are getting your numbers from. The article says 2500 started Rush and 2300 received bids. This is for sororities, so about half the 8000 freshman class (and most going through rush are freshmen). Of the 200 that didn’t get bids, many if not most of those ended the rush process by their own choice.
“and 2,307 women — 92% of the students who participated in open house events — accepted bids to join one of 17 Panhellenic sororities on campus”
Not all those 2300 will complete the process and become members. There is also the NPHC recruitment is going on, and it’s mostly sophomores who are being recruited. Then there are the co-ed and specialty fraternities (business, music, engineering) if you want to include those in the ‘Greek’ numbers (some I would as they are really social, and others I wouldn’t as they are career oriented and someone might belong to a social organization and a professional one, but you can’t belong to two social ones).
Obviously plenty to keep one busy at Bama.
This seemed like a solid source…
“With around 12,000 students, the UA Greek community comprises 36 percent of the undergraduate student body and is home to 69 social Greek-letter organizations. Since Fall 2011, The University of Alabama has held the coveted honor of being the largest fraternity and sorority community in the nation with regard to overall fraternity and sorority membership.”
Are you disputing UA’s own website?
1 Like
Plenty of activities at Alabama for both Greek and non-Greek it appears. Thousands of students in both groups.
I think everyone understands it has an active Greek social life, @Catcherinthetoast. It also has an active non-Greek social life.
3 Likes
If Greek organizations directly or indirectly control student politics, funding sources, social events, football block tickets, etc, then even those not interested are impacted.
8 Likes
No, I thought you were saying there were 1000 dropped from rush and didn’t get bids. There were about 200 who start NPC rush and don’t get bids, but most of them choose to drop out. Some of them could choose to rush with another group (like NPHC) too
Recall the article referenced by @roycroftmom was only about sororities. It was a conservative estimate on my part when incorporating fraternities.
Yes there are at any one time 4 years worth of approx 250+ students per year at UA who rushed Greek and didn’t get bids, dropped, etc. That’s a total of approximately 1,000.
The prompt that I was responding to was the level of Greek participation at UA. Clearly the 12,000 current members reported and the 1,000+ I mentioned have participated during their time on campus. The specifics behind why the 1,000+ didn’t get bids, dropped, etc is irrelevant in mitigating the reality that they did at some point participate.
Once again are you trying to suggest UA isn’t one of their more prominent Greek colleges in the US? It seems UA embraces it so not sure why that is controversial.
3 Likes