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Columbia University - Greek Life - College ProwlerCollege Prowler2.69

Greek Life

C+
Where does this grade come from?View all Greek Life rankingsReview this school to add your opinion

Comparable Schools' Greek Life Grades:

Quick Stats

Undergrad Men in Fraternities 7%
Undergrad Women in Sororities 4%
Number of Fraternities 14
Number of Sororities 10

Student Author OverviewWhat's This?

Students agree that there is not much of a Greek Life at Columbia. While there are fraternities and sororities, they do not dominate the social scene. Those involved in the Greek system, however, seem to really enjoy it. Perhaps because there is so much going on at Columbia in the way of academics and extracurricular activities and with the whole city of New York as a playground, the Greek life does not have much to add on this campus. Since you don’t have to be in a frat or go to a frat to drink beer and meet people, most Columbia students choose not to.

The Greek system does exist at Columbia, but it’s very
self contained. It’s not the kind of school where people think you’re cool if you made it into Pi Kappa Alpha, and most Columbia kids couldn’t name more than one fraternity or sorority, if they could even name one. The Greek system is also tied closely to the athletic world—athletes are Greek and the Greek are athletes. Like all groups at Columbia, the Greeks enjoy their way of life, it just happens not to be the center of attention at CU.

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Columbia Student ReviewsWhat's This?

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Greek Life at Columbia University

jenxu88

'15

English

4.2
A-

Greeks Are Here... but No One Really Notices/Cares

Unless they're hunting for a party. But then again, the parties in East Campus are usually better than the frat parties.

Nov 15, 2011

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Greek Life at Columbia University

rp85

'13

Economics

2.3
C

Summary of the Frats

Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji) -- Quite diverse, but chill in general. they know how to have a good time.

Phi Iota Alpha -- Mostly Hispanic. Nice guys.

Sigma Nu -- swimmers, and increasingly, fencers. Pretty cool guys in general.

Sigma Chi -- mostly Jewish. Join if you are Jewish. You will fit in and make cool friends. Some non-Jewish members are in the frat, though.

Lambda Phi Epsilon -- mostly a gay frat. Many crossovers from the LGBTQ community. Very tight-knit. Many Asians who are rather effeminate. They know each other well in all aspects. Join if you are gay and Asian.

Pi Kappa Alpha (Pike) -- pretty cool guys. Had some problems with daterape/roofiesing people a couple years ago. Girls, be careful at their parties.

Oct 28, 2011

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Greek Life at Columbia University

pr2000

'14

Social Sciences

3.5
B

Surprisingly Good, but Only for Some.

I came to Columbia not expecting to have anything to do with Greek life - in fact, I think many of the people in the system believed the same. Actually, Greek life is a little bigger than most people imagined. The percentages cited here are wrong, its a bit more like 10-15% now of the total (read CC, SEAS and Barnard) population (smaller for Columbia girls because Barnard girls take up a lot of the spots) due to the war on fun in other areas, such as crackdowns on dorms.

In fact, many (most? probably not) of the most outgoing people are Greek, which creates a nice little community that you always see when out. It's not only meatheads that are Greek here either - while yes, some of the athletes may have slipped by the admissions process somehow, most athletes are nice guys and there are three non-athlete associated fraternities. I'd say a large proportion of the attractive girls here are in sororities (maybe not most, but definitely heavily overrepresented).

Downsides are that its a little shallow at times, and some non-Greek people snort at it but really this is not Animal House - it's still Columbia, and it allows some people to get more of a college experience while still enjoying everything Columbia has to offer.

Housing consists entirely of smallish brownstones that are still large enough to have decent parties at times (mainly in basements etc) which sometimes sprawl several floors. You don't have to live in the house.

Jul 08, 2011

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Page 1 of 9

Student Survey Poll ResultsWhat's This?

What is Greek life’s role in the campus social scene?

What is the general attitude of non-Greeks toward Greeks?

What kind of housing is available for Greek students?

How difficult is it to get into a fraternity or sorority?

Facts

Fraternities
  • Alpha Delta Phi
  • Alpha Epsilon Pi
  • Beta Theta Pi
  • Delta Sigma Phi
  • Kappa Delta Rho
  • Phi Gamma Delta
  • Pi Kappa Alpha
  • Psi Upsilon
  • Sigma Alpha Mu
  • Sigma Chi
  • Sigma Nu
  • Sigma Phi Epsilon
  • Zeta Beta Tau
  • Zeta Psi
Sororities
  • Alpha Chi Omega
  • Alpha Kappa Alpha
  • Delta Gamma
  • Delta Sigma Theta
  • Kappa Alpha Theta
  • Kappa Phi Lambda
  • Lambda Pi Chi
  • Sigma Delta Tau
  • Sigma Iota Alpha
  • Sigma Lambda Upsilon
Multicultural Colonies Alpha Delta Phi
Other Greek Organizations
  • Greek Council
  • Greek Peer Advisors
  • Interfraternity Council
  • Intergreek Council
  • Order of Omega
  • Panhellenic Council
Did You Know?

Columbia has a chapter of St. Anthony’s Hall, a semi-secret literary society that has only a few chapters at elite schools in the U.S. While they’re known at other schools as being snobby intellectuals, their reputation at Columbia is only as snobs. Typically, they’re among the wealthiest students at Columbia. But before you turn up your nose, remember, they throw open-bar parties every Thursday night at their beautiful brownstone on 116th and Riverside Drive, so it’s best to befriend them if you can.

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Most Recent Student Author

College Prowler guides are in the hands of students throughout the entire process. Because you can't make student-written guides without the students, we have students at each campus who write, edit, and survey their peers for every guide that we publish. Thanks to our most recent student author at Columbia

Name: Alexandre Millet

Hometown: Washington D.C., Geneva

Major: Economics and Computer Science

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