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Originally posted by: Incoming Frosh
"How is USM for students are not in the Greek system?"

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Originally posted by: Seeker
"The IFC did a study on University giving, across the board, and the number of donars to the Univeristy as a whole was a vast majority Greek."

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Originally posted by: Incoming Frosh
"How is USM for students who are not in the Greek system?"

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One of the 'quirks' that I have never understood is that USM deliberately arranges class schedules to accommodate the "suitcase college" mentality.  Regularly-scheduled MWF classes never meet after 2 PM Fridays, as "late afternoon" MW classes have "expanded" time on Mondays and Wednesdays to enable "free" Friday afternoons."

Then again, in a town where Thursday night is the biggest "party night" of the week, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

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Originally posted by: Animal House
".....the Greek system.....maybe they are useful in some way for students who are unable or unwilling to assimilate into the main stream of campus life."

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Animal House,

I believe your post gets to the root of the matter. Some students have a difficult time making close friendships within the college community at large. A small circle of friends, such as is afforded by the Greek system, can be useful for them.

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Originally posted by: Seeker
"you are just using a classic leftist guise of class-warfare. "

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I think some people on both sides of this are guilty of some stereotyping.  I can see two sides of this issue.  I'm the student that is talked about often on this board.  I'm a graduate of a Mississippi public high school with above a 30 on the ACT.  I was also a member of a sorority at one of the "other two" universities in the state.  However, I'm also a member of the club of academia as I have a Ph.D. 

I agree with a lot that has been said.  Some one said that Greek organizations do have their place for some students and I couldn't agree more.  My Greek organization provided me with many leadership opportunities.  I was able to develop my leadership skills, as well as public speaking skills.  I learned how to effectively run meetings.  I can honestly say that attending parties was my least favorite part of my experience and I skipped many.  That's not to say that there weren't many in my group that were only in it for the parties.  The whole point is that you can't stereotype Greek or non-Greeks because they are both diverse groups.  Some will give back to the university.  Some won't.  Some worked at community service, made a difference for the university, and supported university functions.  Some of both groups didn't.  My Greek experience expanded my education rather than hindered it.  It even helped me continue my graduate studies as I received a scholarship from my Greek organization while working on my doctorate. 

To get back to the original point of this thread, (which was why USM has more in-state students than the other two) I can't answer that.  During my high school years I felt like USM took for granted that local students would attend and didn't bother recruiting them.  I did not receive a tenth of the mail from Southern that I received from Ole Miss or State.  I knew a person who made a perfect score on the ACT and the first piece of mail this person received from USM arrived the day after a huge story about him/her appeared in the Hattiesburg American.  All the outstanding students at Mississippi high schools don't leave the state.  (Of the 4 30+ I remember from my high school class, one went to Southern, two to State, and one to Ole Miss.)  I stayed in state because all of my expenses were paid for by scholarships.  I got scholarship offers from liberal arts colleges, but 30 or 40 thousand dollars doesn't go very far when you add it up. 

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Originally posted by: LVN
"Seeker brings up an interesting point. From the first time I taught freshmen as a TA (about 20 years ago) I have strongly believed that first-semester freshmen should not be allowed to rush or pledge. I've seen too many of them advsersely affected. They need those first few months to totally focus on school work, getting used to the big differences in high school and college, being away from home, and all of that.

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Wow!

Thanks for all the very helpful, constructive feedback.   I really appreciate the discussion.  My fear was that a resident student would be out of place if the on-campus community was primarily Greek.  It sounds instead like there is a nice mix.  Whoever suggested spring rush for freshman, I think that's a great idea.   Meanwhile, dorm life.

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Originally posted by: Incoming Frosh
"How is USM for students are not in the Greek system?"

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Incoming Frosh,

When I went to college people went to study a particular filed that they love.  If they couldn't do that they didn't attend college, but rather pursued other avenues.  Now people seem to attend college for all sorts of reasons, some of which have nothing to do with an education. 

That said, I agree with some of the things Seeker has mentioned.  However, my friends and I were in the area of science and engineering.  We used to joked that, "we could flunk out without the help of a fraternity".  The "serious students" tended to join the student organizations and clubs related to their discipline, for example, engineers joined engineering, physics and math societies.  We even got into the philosophy club.  There were a lot of social activities in addition to professional programs.   These organizations helped us grow professionally and prepared us for grad school, but unlike fraternities and sororities, had both men and women.  We learned leadership skills as chairpersons of committees, as well as, holding an office of the organization.  Of course much of this was learned in high school, but our skills grew in organizing meeting and speaking before large groups.  Some engaged in undergraduate research and presented papers at student professional meetings.  

I had friends in high school that majored in business.  They found fraternities very beneficial for making contacts and networking.  (The old, “who you know is more important than what you know” they would say.)  So its works for some.

Now for the stereotyping.  My group had the feeling the frats were more interested in the “symbols” of education rather than the education.  Frats had copies of old test for almost any professor and worked very hard to get a high grade.  On occasion they would obtain a copy of a test to be given and pass it around to the members of their frat.  Even some of the good, serious frat students gave into this pressure and would use these test to get an edge.  A frat friend told me the competition against the other frat houses drove this obsession for the high grade.  Of course, they were not getting an education, but they were “beating the profs test” as they put it.

Finally, some profs would complain about the amount of time they had to waste from research just to make up new test every time.  This caused some to give fewer test and quizzes just to save time.  Others would not even return the test. That diminished the feedback we got on our progress in that course.  

So getting into the Greek system has its ups and downs for the whole university.

Hope some of these ideas help.