sorority - College Admission Counseling

Are Fraternities and Sororities Essential Elements of Campus Life? Or Dangerous Anachronisms?

Jared Hobson — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 14:41:18 +0000

I went to Dartmouth, where fraternities still dominate the campus social life. For decades, the administration of Dartmouth has grappled with how to deal with the negative–even anti-social–elements of Greek life, while still trying to foster the more positive elements. This has been difficult, as the decades have led to a symbiotic relationship between the College and the Greek system: they both need each other.

Be Sure to Educate Yourself First

A recent article in The Atlantic, entitled, “The Dark Power of Fraternities,” however, made the hair stand up on my arms with horror. Mind you, I was not at all surprised by the juvenile, asinine behavior that takes place within the context of Greek life. I’ve read about this before. Heck, I’ve seen it before.

Rather, what really made me sit up and take notice is how the members of fraternities and sororities are denied insurance protection by the national organizations: insurance that is ostensibly in place to cover risks associated with adolescent lunacy.

I won’t review the entire article here, but I recommend it to any student or parent who is considering allowing their son or daughter to participate in a fraternity or sorority. In fact, I would say it is required reading for such families, so that both parent and child can be clear with one another about behavioral expectations, and what sorts of defensive measures a family must take if (heaven forfend!) some sort of tragedy befalls.
This is serious stuff.

Mark Montgomery
Dartmouth Grad and Educational Consultant

The post Are Fraternities and Sororities Essential Elements of Campus Life? Or Dangerous Anachronisms? first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

What’s A Party School? Greek Life, Drinking, Making Good Choices

Jared Hobson — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:13:15 +0000

While on a tour of colleges in Ohio, I made a stop at Ohio Wesleyan University to have a look around. OWU is a nice mix of both the liberal arts and professional education on a relatively small, intimate campus in Delaware, Ohio.
OWU is known to be something of a party school, and its Greek life (fraternity and sorority life) is very strong. However, it’s unfair to single out Ohio Wesleyan as somehow more of a party school than any other campus in America. Opportunities to get drunk, do drugs, and otherwise misbehave exist at all colleges and universities.
The issue is more about the choices one makes while in college. Some kids–even at the so-called party schools–are making excellent choices and are focused on their education. And just because an individual student drinks now and then does not mean that he or she is not serious about academics. The college years are a time of figuring out priorities, of trying to understand what it means to be an adult. For better or worse, alcohol plays a central role in that exploration.
I stopped to record this short video on the subject. Have a look.

Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant

If you prefer, you may read the transcript below.
***********
I’m here right now on the campus of Ohio Wesleyan University. This is a Methodist – traditionally Methodist university in Delaware, Ohio, which is just north of Columbus. Ohio Wesleyan University is a nice mix of the Liberal Arts, and Business, and Pre-Professional Education; about 2,000 students, so it’s a very nice, intimate, little campus.
Ohio Wesleyan has a reputation of being a party school, and it’s true that it has a very important fraternity and sorority program of Greek life here, and the administration is often trying to rein the Greek system in and make sure that the alcohol use is under control. But I think it would be unfair to say that Ohio Wesleyan is a party school. I think pretty much every campus in America is a party school in one way or another. There are some where alcohol plays a relatively minor role, but really any campus is going to have alcohol available.
So, for the student who makes good choices – I think that’s what we have to think about when we’re thinking about party schools, is, are students prepared and able to make good choices once they arrive on a college campus? Now, if a student is unable to make those choices and is turned loose, shall we say, on a campus, whether it’s Ohio Wesleyan or any other university campus in America, yes, they’re going to make some bad choices, and end up getting fined and maybe put on probation, as Ohio Wesleyan sometimes does. But really, if you make good choices, if you remember that college is about your education and not just about the partying, then you’re going to get a great education at a place like Ohio Wesleyan.
Now, opportunities are terrific. There are small class-sizes, really good relationships with professors. The opportunities are here. But the opportunities also are here for getting into trouble, so that’s really the case at any college campus.
As you’re making choices about which school, yes, you can decide whether you want the Greek system or whether you don’t want the Greek system, but what you really need to decide is, how are you going to stay on track academically and achieve your goals educationally, so that that will propel you into your future?

The post What’s A Party School? Greek Life, Drinking, Making Good Choices first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

Choosing the Best College For You–Considering Greek Life

Jared Hobson — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 13:51:10 +0000

One of the factors many consider to be central to the college experience in the United States is the social scene created and maintained by fraternities and sororities. Greek Life is an important aspect to the social life of many college students.
On one of my recent visits to a college campus, I met up with a former student of mine who will soon be a junior. He is a Division 1 wrestler, and as an athlete he has been discouraged from joining a fraternity. However, he attends a college that is very heavily Greek.
He explained what that contradiction means in this short video.

If you prefer, you can read the transcript below.
Mark Montgomery
Educational Consultant
********************

Interviewer:       So, hi.
Alex:       Yep.
Interviewer:       Alex, tell me, you’re a division 1 athlete, wrestler.
Alex:       Yep.
Interviewer:       What’s it like being an athlete? When you’re a division 1 athlete, what does that mean for you in college life?
Alex:       It means my college life is mainly academics and athletics. I told Mark earlier, there’s three points to a triangle in college, you got social, athletics and academics, you only need to succeed at two. So, one of them’s going to suffer, whether you choose athletics, social, or academics, is your choice, but it’s impossible to get all three, you just don’t have enough time to do it and they have rollover effects, so.
Interviewer:       And you’re an engineering major.
Alex:       Yeah.
Interviewer:       So you’re a little insane?
Alex:       Kind of, yeah. I enjoy it, it’s fun.
Interviewer:       So tell me, behind you, we have some fraternity houses here and there’s quite a few fraternities on this campus and so, oh, we know where we are now. So tell me, what percentage, what’s the story that you hear about that the percentage of students who are Greek and then what’s the reality?
Alex:       I think the school says like 30%, but I think they take that before the new pledge class and after the seniors have graduated, so it’s about half, so I think accurately, I think it’s around 60%, I’m making that up, but that’s just from my experience and how many fraternities/sororities I know and how many kids are in them and how many kids go to this school. So I would say around 60% are in some sort of Greek, whether it’s ones that are here, a few of them have off-campus houses, but are still university sponsored.
Mark:       And are you Greek?
Alex:       No.
Mark:       What does that mean for you, if you’ve got 50, 60% of the students here are in a house, what does that mean for you?
Alex:       I mean, I feel like Greek life fraternities, they provide a group of people to hang out with and do things together, and so if you don’t have that somewhere else, it’s kind of tough, but luckily for me, in the wrestling team, is my fraternity. A lot of times are spent practicing, but we also hang out together, those living off campus, so that’s, I mean, if you’re not in a fraternity or sorority, you have to have another group of people to be with.
Mark:       So what would you say to someone who really doesn’t know, you know, is a high school student and hasn’t thought very long and hard about this whole fraternity issue. What would you tell them to think about as they’re trying to make a decision whether they want to go to a campus that’s heavily Greek or to avoid that? What would you say?
Alex:       I don’t know, I feel like, I’ve never been to a different university that isn’t predominantly Greek, but I feel like even if you go to those schools and at least the ones I talk to, my friends, some of them go to bigger state universities, that aren’t Greek, it still comes down to the same thing, you need a group of people that are, to hang out with, and like the thing a fraternity provides is the people that tend to be very similar interest and exactly like you. Some people don’t like that, some people like to have a diverse group of friends. It kind of depends on what you want. But fraternities/sororities just happen to be people that a lot of times are carbon copies or want to be, so, yeah.

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