<p>Packmom is right. I think my view is a bit warped cause I know a few greeks from Wake Forest and Vandy. They DO dress up…big time (not just for FB games…lots of social events too). Not a problem at all but it does cost some cash…so add that to the tuition and fees if you think your kid might be interested in these schools and going greek.</p>
<p>The best advice anyone could give a kid going to college, no matter where they’re from or what college they’re going to, north or south, is not to believe any stereotypes going in and to be open and accepting of others if you want them to be accepting of you. Who knows, you might be pleasantly surprised.</p>
<p>My D has a wide range of friends in different organizations on her southern campus, in different majors, in the law school, in honors college, in sorority, in dance class. There are different types of kids from different parts of the country with different interests and different fashion styles, from different socio-economic backgrounds. If you’re open minded enough to meet and enjoy the differences - that’s college. How boring would this world be if we were all the same and only went places where we though we would be with people who were just like us.</p>
<p>Don’t label all sorority/fraternity members in the south as rich, white, wealthy, or wearing expensive clothes. I’ve been there, my daughter is there now and it’s just not always the case. Sure, some people are like that. But there are people like that everywhere.</p>
<p>At my daughter’s southern university, in her sorority, most people wear shorts and a tshirt to class, jeans or casual dresses to hang out (because they’re girls and they like dresses but that doesn’t mean the dresses are expensive, many of them are casual knit dresses- after all, it’s over 90 degrees here already and jeans get hot). To football games (usually in the sweltering heat) they wear a casual dress and flip flops or a denim skirt and flip flops. The boys wear shorts and flip flops. When I was in college in the south in the late 70s, we did dress up for football games as in heels and nice dresses, no matter the heat. But that’s simply not the case anymore. There are very few places in our area of the south that you can’t wear jeans and feel comfortable.</p>
<p>I hear what your saying magnoliamom - but I think it’s wise to also keep your eyes open for differences in culture and practices that you may not be comfortable with. In my son’s graduating class, there was a very high failure rate among girls (not guys) who went south. It was actually quite alarming. Many indicated that it was a poor fit. And this was across a range of schools. I’m not picking on the south here…just pointing out the fact that some southerns schools have a different “feel” which is not a good match for certain kids.<br>
And no, there are not white fraternities and sororities everywhere. They were not where I went. But yes, there are some up north too, so it’s not just a southern thing.<br>
Anyway, I would say the same to those from the south considering the north. It’s cold. The kids might not be as friendly on the surface. Take it into consideration. Some kids are very adaptable…others are not.</p>
<p>The only time any of us dressed up during college was on laundry day - because all our casual clothes were dirty!</p>
<p>“The people who dress up for football games are almost always Greeks.”</p>
<p>Definitely true in my experience! The rest of us had more sense than to dress up for a 90 degree “fall” football game.</p>
<p>My MA-born older D graduated from UGA and had a wonderful experience. In fact, she now lives and works in Atlanta. As a child, she hated winters and could not wait to go to a warmer climate. She does get a kick out of everything closing down when there is a dusting of snow, but she adjusted well. I guess she was born a Southern belle!</p>
<p>A friend’s daughter just toured several Southern schools in April. She noticed the “dressed up” factor at Elon, but at Clemson there were plenty of sweatshirts & ponytails. No matter where you go, I suspect the larger the school the more variety of kids you’ll find.</p>
<p>Toneranger - great point about southerners coming north. There are cultural differences between many areas of the country, and if you plan to go to college in a different area from your own you should be open and adaptable.</p>
<p>Regarding Elon: it is the only southern school where a kid I know has had a really bad experience. There were issues around greek organizations, exclusiveness, race, and religion. Another kid might have been able to deal with the situation differently, or not been made so unhappy by it. Other kids I know seem to have no problem there, but they are neither racial nor religious minorities.</p>
<p>IMO it has more to do with the child and their comfort level with new experiences in general rather than it being so much a northern school vs southern school thing. I do believe that stereotyping schools, organizations, or people in a region of the country is counter productive.</p>
<p>I know several kids from D’s high school class in the south who went to out of state universities in other southern states and were so unhappy they returned to in state schools after one year. Others in the same class went out of state to universities in the north and in the south and have been quite successful. One who went to Pitt also just completed a study abroad semester in Turkey, but this kid loves to travel; her family always made traveling a priority, they had a special “travel account” that they budgeted for so they could expose their kids to other areas.</p>
<p>^^^
I think there is a lot to that. </p>
<p>My younger son just returned from a week at golf camp at Baylor. Among the HS kids there (about 25), he was amazed that there were several kids who had never been outside of Texas. When my older son went on a band trip over Christmas break, there were kids who had not been on a airplane before. </p>
<p>Of course, my kids are at the other end of the extreme, having spent 7 years living overseas (2 different countries)! They don’t know what it’s like to “hunker down” in one place for more than a few years!</p>
<p>I think we all also tend to bring our own perspectives from our childhoods into the way we raise our children. My husband moved alot during his childhood, having to switch schools and make new friends in each place. Because of that he is outgoing and can talk to anyone, but he wanted “roots” for our daughter and didn’t want her to have to experience what he did. Me, on the other hand (opposites attract!)…I lived in one place all my life; as a child, my parents took one major driving vacation where we drove up the west coast one summer but I never had the opportunity to explore the northeast or travel abroad. Because of that, I’ve always encouraged our daughter to travel at any opportunity, to explore and seek adventures in the bigger world out there. Of course, I also realize that’s just part of it as I’ve known families where the personalities of the children are vastly different in adjusting to new experiences.</p>
<p>“My husband moved alot during his childhood, having to switch schools and make new friends in each place. Because of that he is outgoing and can talk to anyone”</p>
<p>LOL!!! I moved around a lot when I was young (up to age 11) - moving 8 times, living in 6 different states, and going to 6 different grammar schools (Kdg - 6). My DH (who didn’t move around) says I could “make friends with a tree” if I had to!</p>
<p>There are Texans who would argue that there is no real reason to go outside of Texas!</p>
<p>Oh Mom…don’t even take me down that road!!! :))</p>
<p>And there are some who won’t even cross the border into Texas.</p>
<p>My son carried on so much this weekend about having to go to Texas that my husband almost let him off on the side of the road.</p>
<p>You’d think he was a vampire being let out into the sunlight!</p>
<p>so i tried sweet tea 2 days ago
and to be honest, i didn’t really like it…</p>
<p>There are a lot of people in Maine who haven’t been out of the state. We asked one young engineer how far west he’d been, and he said Washington, DC! Some Mainers have never even seen much of their OWN state. I’d say more than half the people I talk to have never been to Acadia National Park, a 3-hour drive from Portland. When they hear I grew up in Texas, they have a LOT of stereotypes. Guess what, I never sat on a horse except at a petting zoo! And no, it’s not all flat - that’s why Lance Armstrong trains west of Austin a lot. Ack, don’t get me started! </p>
<p>Sweet tea, ychh. We had iced tea every night for supper, but it wasn’t pre-sweetened.</p>
<p>Yeah crazy ideas and stereotypes exist even within the same state. As a central/western New Yorker, I was asked regularly about COWS by my NYC/LI college friends. Did I have them, how do you milk them? Not even close. Whatever. They even made fun of my accent too…although I used to tell them I was the one who sounded more like Walter Cronkite. </p>
<p>So…you don’t have to go far to experience some culture shock.</p>
<p>But I must admit I feel like the folks down south are friendlier. I think I would have done fine there. And I did fine with my NYC friends. Not as outwardly friendly but great once you get to know them. I agree that it really depends on the student. </p>
<p>Hate sweet tea though…</p>
<p>I didn’t have sweet tea in Texas. I think it is more of a southern thing rather than southwest. I think New Englanders can be very insular, too.</p>
<p>MOWC, people ANYWHERE can be provincial.</p>
<p>I live in Eastern Mass. I know a lot of people who spend their summer vacations on Cape Cod. The only times they travel out of New England would be the occasional trip to NYC, to Florida, or the traditional 8th grade trip to Washington DC.</p>
<p>My in-laws live just outside NYC. I think they honestly believe that the rest of the country gets up every morning and turns on their TV to see what happened in NYC. My m-i-l is always calling to ask us if we saw this or that on the news - and it’s LOCAL news from NY or NJ! When we tell her it didn’t make the news here, she’s always surprised. When I lived in NJ, I knew people whose summer vacations were the Jersey shore, and the only other place they ever went was Florida.</p>
<p>My parents once invited my cousin from S.Carolina to come visit them in NJ. My cousin’s actual response: “Ain’t nothin’ worth seein’ that you can’t see in Carolina.” Honest to pete, I don’t think he’s ever been any further out of state than Atlanta or Savannah.</p>
<p>Yes, you can find insular people everywhere.</p>