<p>Don't want to be at a school where the Greek system is so big. Considering U. of Ill., Iowa, Indiana, and Northwestern? Which one is less into the Greek scene?</p>
<p>Does it have to be one of these schools? There are so many schools as good or even better that have no frat system at all.</p>
<p>I want a large school in the midwest–any suggestions for liberal arts colleges strong in English writing?</p>
<p>To be completely honest, all of those schools have strong Greek scenes. </p>
<p>Try these: UChicago, DePaul, Saint Louis U.
LACs: Knox, Grinnell, Denison, Oberlin ?</p>
<p>Avoid Northwestern. It is totally greek, unless you are minority in which case your life can be separate. Major social life is greek (even for nongreeks).</p>
<p>kbee - does it have to be in the midwest? Middlebury is a great school (it’s in the frozen tundra of Vermont though)</p>
<p>researchermom,</p>
<p>i don’t know what you meant by “minority”. The majority of students at northwestern do <em>not</em> go greek. </p>
<p>check out <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=395372[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=395372</a>. there’s social life outside of greek life. </p>
<p>op,
fyi, northwestern’s greek isn’t a stereotypical one.</p>
<p>Have you considered Washington Univeristy in St. Louis?</p>
<p>U of IL is big time greek. During my informal visits saw somewhat of a division between greek and non-greek.</p>
<p>You picked two of the biggest Greek Schools in the country in Illinois and Indiana. Iowa is also a big Greek school, but not as big as those two. Stay away from most state schools in the midwest - Greek life is pretty prominent at most Big 10 and Big 12 conference schools.</p>
<p>They are all into the Greek system. I agree with some of the other posters: perhaps you should look at some schools with no Greek system at all. Notre Dame, for example.</p>
<p>Wisconsin is MUCH less Greek and way cooler than Iowa, Illinois, or Indiana. If you can get into Illinois you will get into Wisconsin most likely.</p>
<p>Researchmom, please do some research first before you said the majority on NU students are in greek. Though there’s nothing wrong with greek life, only a minority of the students here are in greek, not the majority. I, like most of the NU students here, have been focusing a lot in the academic and thus really have no time for the greek life.</p>
<p>I went to the statistics for Northwestern (which haven’t changed much since I went there). It is one of the highest percentages of fraternity/sorority percentages at any college. Those statistics also include only current members; so when you add the people that pledged and dropped out, you have a lot of people involved in Greek life. I found that much social life did involve greek life which is unlike other campuses. I stand by what I said.</p>
<p>I never said that people who weren’t greek weren’t happy or even that greek students weren’t very hard working students. I think both of those statements would be silly. Northwestern is a work hard, party hard school and there are greek students who go to top med schools, law schools, etc. I think that a large number of students at NU have been or are part of the greek system (whether themselves or as boyfriend/girlfriend of someone greek).</p>
<p>We were told by our tour guide at Northwestern just last week that about a third of Northwestern undergrads are active members of Greek life. While one-third may technically be a statistical “minority” it is a very significant percentage. Our guide also acknowledged in a very matter-of-fact way exactly what researchermom said – that NU has one of the highest percentages of Greek life among U.S. colleges and universities.</p>
<p>“Don’t want to be at a school where the Greek system is so big.”</p>
<p>question? would it ruin your college experience? Are there schools where you are REQUIRED to go greek? Do they place a weapon to your temple and demand you join? </p>
<p>Part of going to college is learning about other people and seeing if after meeting them, your opinion changes… </p>
<p>I would think if you didn’t want to be greek you wouldn’t have to. So why worry about it? I honestly don’t understand the concern? To me, it’s letting somebody else decide my experiences. What if the best place for you has a greek system? You would decide not to go, because somebody else who really doesn’t care a whip about you or even knows you is an alpha beta beta? Who loses out in that situation? </p>
<p>10 years later can you see yourself saying “I wish I had gone to UI because they had everything I wanted, but they had too many greeks..” </p>
<p>Of all the issues you’ll face in your decision making process, deciding enrollment based on what some other people choose to do is pretty lame. I would advise you to look at the things you want and not worry about the things you don’t, especially those that require nothing of you.</p>
<p>Again, that one third is at any given moment, there are many students who are former members (leaving for financial or personal reasons) who maintain fairly close ties.For better or worse the greek system was not integrated, so it is a very significant percentage of the white undergrad population. Again, no value judgment, just the reality. The question was, how to avoid huge greek influence.</p>
<p>If u want to have greek life, then join it otherwise do something else that would suit you best. What’s the meaning of Greek influence or non greek influence. I came to NU as an rational grown up and I know what’s going to influence me most. I join NU due to the quality of education not if I would be influenced by the greek life. This shouldnt be the subject for discussion in the first place. Pls stop it.</p>
<p>“The question was, how to avoid huge greek influence.”</p>
<p>Boycott FETA. </p>
<p>Definately skip olives too. </p>
<p>Again, why would that matter? Why would anything another person does for themselves be an enrollment issue?</p>
<p>kbee, concentrate your search on the availability of the academic programs that interest you. The public schools that you listed, and other large publics in the midwest, are so large and diverse that the presence of a Greek social scene is just plain unimportant.</p>
<p>I live in a college town. I have friends who own houses near Greek Row. They are bothered by the parties when they become loud and raucous. However, non-Greek students are not affected in the least. There are plenty of things to do, people to do them with, and other places to go. Just don’t rent an apartment on the same block, and you will not know they are there.</p>
<p>FWIW, my son attends a private university with similar Greek numbers to NU, similar overall size of university. He is as non-fraternity as you can get, but he likes the school a lot, despite the fact that a lot of students belong to a fraternity. It just isn’t as big a deal as you seem to think it will be.</p>