That was exactly how my daughter felt before she went to school. She’s the type of kid who proudly described herself and her friends as “the nerdiest group of people at a school known for being nerdy.” When she announced that she was going to go through rush, I was surprised.
Interestingly, I found a statistic that suggests that she is not the only one who changed her mind about the greek system once she went to school. While almost a quarter of students are involved in “greek life” at her school, less than 5% of incoming freshmen expressed interest in pledging a sorority or fraternity.
And greek life need not be all about exclusion. That varies a great deal from campus to campus. At many schools there are more places open than potential new members to fill them. At other schools (Tufts, is one) there are “guaranteed bid systems” which means that if you register for recruitment, you are guaranteed a bid (but not necessarily to your top-ranked chapter).