<p>I agree with Lakemom…from my experience, those that joined frats needed the security of being in a group.</p>
<p>Oh no, here goes another Greek argument… and I was really enjoying this thread.</p>
<p>jym626: complained that naked running omited Rice:
So… I fixed it for you Jym ;)</p>
<p>This is not a Greek life discussion, so probably not the best place to discuss this. It is not just a frat/sorority selecting you, you get to select which one you want to join too, it is not a one way street. </p>
<p>When it comes to clubs/sports people can still reject you if they don’t like you. D1 was in an intense dance club. They only took in only a handful of new members each year, and it mattered if someone wasn’t a good fit (meaning existing member didn’t like you). </p>
<p>We all know just because someone is qualified for a job doesn’t mean that person will get the job or get to keep the job.</p>
<p>But your coworkers can’t kick you out from your job nor do your coworkers hire you.</p>
<p>You don’t think your co-workers could kick you out or hire you? At my company, we have peer evaluation (interview) before someone is hired. If someone has a hard time getting along with co-workers, it is also a red flag. We do 360 evaluation on most people.</p>
<p>I will agree that 18-22 year olds are probably more superficial when it comes to selecting people, but I have also been surprised how immature some 40+ year olds are at work too.</p>
<p>I worked at Stanford for many years, there was peer input in hiring and peer evaluations in yearly reviews but they did not alone decide your fate. </p>
<p>But really in work situations, it is all about money whether you should stay or go. That is not the case with greek life.</p>
<p>Let’s please not hijack the thread with a debate about the merits or drawbacks of the Greek system. </p>
<p>Some parents would cross a school off their list if it had a strong Greek influence. Let’s let it go at that.</p>
<p>I’m fine with that :)</p>
<p>This is meant as a response to Momofa12’s comments about High Point U – I think you make a good point, but I also believe that this concern is far more pervasive, virtually ubiquitous. I have come to see higher ed as a business, and a rather dirty business at that, because it hypocritically cloaks itself as a charitable endeavor, which most other businesses do not. If Wall Street runs on fear and greed, higher ed runs on fear and narcissism.</p>
<p>msmom&dad-
There were lots of other schoools to add to the naked list, but appreciate the effort 
Also agree that this thread shouldnt digress into a battle of the greek/non greek, or attacks on any specific college or university.</p>
<p>When we were involved in the process I would not have liked if my sons applied to any school that was not academically and socially suited for them. I could not see paying alot of money for a school unless it is really worth it which means it must have the reputation to match its pricetag. We have no regrets regarding their choices and would do it all over again. Our daughters original school was not worth the money we paid…she lasted one year and we found another school in state. </p>
<p>We are of the thinking that great students should attend the best schools they could gain admission to and the parents could afford. I would not pay for a middle of the road school that cost almost as much as an Ivy when in state schools are just fine. **To clarify I am not saying that UVA or similar state schools are middle of the road.</p>
<p>I actually did not want my kids to go to a university where there were no sororities or fraternities! I wanted them to have the option of developing that group of great friends, as their parents did.</p>
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<p>Yeah but there is a difference between “there’s a party somewhere if you’re looking for one” and an atmosphere where it seems like the majority of the student population is rip-roaring drunk every night from Wednesday through Saturday, and an evening walk from one’s off-campus apartment to the corner Uni-Mart is an exercise in dodging puddles of vomit and packs of drunk guys shouting rude things.</p>
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<p>It most certainly is mutual, and I never had to prove that I was “deserving” by performing “tasks.” I’ve remained great friends with many of my sorority sisters, and we are all banding together now because one of them has incurable cancer and they are coming out of the woodwork to support her. There’s nothing artificial in the least about it.</p>
<p>Connections/relationships/etc that are established in sororities/fraternities can similarly be made in smaller schools without greek life. That is one of the many benefits of the smaller schools. But some think that the smaller schools are " glorified high schools". Thats ridiculous.</p>
<p>The idea of a Greek system rubs some of us the wrong way, based on our personal experiences. We know some of you love it. To each their own.</p>
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<p>Some have. As someone who has worked in what many would consider a “bad” neighborhood for 20 years, I always get defensive on behalf of the “rough parts” of various cities. Safety ought to be a concern, of course; my daughter is considering a school in a city that has the dubious distinction of being near the top of every list of high-crime cities I’ve seen. Though it’s a terrific school, that’s for sure a mark in the negative column. But many of these rough parts of town are vibrant, colorful communities that may or may not be as “rough” as places that look nicer. Earlier, someone referred to Columbia University as being in a “sketchy” area. I was just in Manhattan over Christmas and spent an afternoon walking around in Morningside Heights. Mind you, it was mid-afternoon, but “sketchy”? That word would not have crossed my mind. </p>
<p>P.S. New York City hasn’t been in the top 10 on any list of high-crime cities that I came across in my very unscientific tour through the land of Google. Rockford, Ill., has shown up on more than one list.</p>
<p>Yes, 35 or 40 years ago, Morningside Heights was considered “sketchy.” Not now, and not for a long time.</p>
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<p>I still find it amusing how many out-of-town suburbanites and international students try to warn me about the “Dangers” of wandering Morningside Heights or any part of NYC and show disbelief when I told them I used to wander around Morningside Heights during the '90s as late as 3 am without anything untoward happening to me even this year. </p>
<p>Interesting considering I’m old enough to remember a time when large parts of NYC…including Morningside Heights was not as gentrified/Disneyfied as it is now. </p>
<p>NYC from the late '60s till the late '80s was a much more gritty dangerous place than it is now.</p>
<p>As for Fordham’s uptown campus…unless things have drastically changed from 20 years back…is actually in a fairly reasonably nice area. Only things I remembered was that it was a heavily Irish-American area.</p>