My D is in a sorority at a large southern state flagship with frats, tailgates, and a ‘strip’ of bars etc. It has A+ for party scene on Niche.
Her sorority has grade requirements that everyone must make to be in good standing. Those with 4.0s or on the Dean’s list are celebrated and rewarded. First years have mandatory study halls to ensure grades are maintained. Lots of majors are represented from liberal arts and engineering to education and public relations.
(Note: I wasn’t in a sorority and still have many reservations about the system, but hats off to the chapter at my D’s school for operating a well run program with 350+ girls)
My D isn’t a fan of frat basements and has got a good set of friends from various greek houses, her program and her club sports. Do they get together for a few drinks occasionally? Do they go to tailgates to hangout (pre covid)? Of course… but they are not ‘partiers’ or heavy drinkers.
She said that some of the biggest partiers in both greek life and outside of it, do well academically and in terms of internships and extracurriculars. IOW ‘work hard, play hard’ is alive and well.
There is also a TON to do in her college town, from rec sports, to outdoorsy stuff, to volunteering, a whole theater and arts scene, engineering and robotics, thriving campus religious life, activism and loads more.
I think digging deeper than a ‘rating’ on a website is needed, and then tying that back to your child’s personality and what they want in a college. Never in a million years did I think D would thrive in a large southern state school, in a sorority! But she has.