My D wants to study Bioengineering or Mechanical Engineering. With scholarships/fin aid, all 4 come in at about the same price, $20 - 23,000 per year. She prefers a small school; her favorite is Union, she loved the campus and the professors she met. Fairfield and New Paltz have very small engineering programs. I read scary things about Greek life at Union. I guess I need assurance that a studious, non-party-er will be all right. Is there an obvious better choice?
What exactly are you concerned about regarding “Greek Life”.
On the Bubble, I was reading the school newspaper (and notwithstanding drunken parties which happen at all schools), I am afraid of a mysogynistic culture and being excluded from social opportunities if she chooses not to go Greek. Mind you, she is not at all concerned so maybe I am over-worrying. That said, any opinions on which school would be better?
I would relax. She made a good choice.
Even schools without organized Greek houses have the same thing through sports houses and various other social groups.
Frats are a lot of things, but misogynistic is a bit of a stretch.
If you had a son, he probably would be excluded from some social events but not the girls.
Union is a good choice. She doesn’t need to look back considering 1) the school’s academic reputation and 2) her interest in an undergraduate-focused environment. If she herself were particularly concerned about Union’s Greek presence, that could be a basis for further discussion, however.
Union is a fantastic engineering school and would be my choice among the three. I looked at Union with my D and was very impressed by the school.
But if you are overly-concerned about Greek Life at Union perhaps revisit and try to get more information.
If you want to know how each school handles Greek life and whether or not there are significant problems, simply google the name of the school with" fraternity" and read any news article you find. You should expect a problem or two to arise at any school -so an occasional article about a problem at one frat is not alarming-but you are interested in a pattern that suggests a bigger problem-which finding a lot of articles about problems might suggest.
Union is an excellent choice. When we visited, there was quite a bit of emphasis on the Minerva system, which provided ample social opportunities for students base on where they lived. And it appeared the Minerva houses were open, so you could hang out at one that suited you. I’m a little hazy on the exact details, but it sounded like a wedge against the Greeks.
Union is an excellent choice academically, but if your daughter is worried about Greek Life it may not be the place for her. Its social life relies heavily on the Greeks (UNion is proud to have invented Fraternities as we know them). As a girl, even if she’s not in a sorority, she’ll always be welcome at parties, but if her goal doesn’t involve this type of partying, her social life may be restricted.
It’s really a tough choice, because academically it’s definitely better than the others, but with this being a small school in an isolated setting, Greek life really is dominant and thus the fit is poor.
A possible solution is Webster House - it solves a problem but doesn’t address the issue of social life.
Contact the people in Webster to ask whether not being Greek and not drinking is socially isolating;
if overall everything sounds okay, see if your daughter can secure a place there for her first year at least - you can contact Residence life and make it a condition of her enrollment if you worry there aren’t enough spaces, since 51 people isn’t a lot. (Because it’s open to upperclass students, she could choose to live there all 4 years, and at least she’d have quite a few friends who share her focus on studying and not drinking.) Bonus, Webster House is much less impersonal than dorms.
https://www.union.edu/campus/life/housing/halls/webster/