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There’s nothing more indelible to the college experience than football and Greek life. The two have coexisted in a symbiotic relationship of ritual bonding and school pride — with a side of braggadocio — since they were both introduced to campuses generations upon generations ago.
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Sure, Greek life includes undesirable elements. But we’re not going to let a few bad eggs spoil our fun. We delved into the Princeton Review database and drudged up some numbers about fraternal and sorority life inside the Southeastern Conference.
Here’s a look at where the SEC stacks up against one another when it comes to Greek life, bro:
PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN GREEK LIFE
If the Vanderbilt football team had the same success as the school’s Greek system, then the Commodores would be unbeatable in the SEC. Close to half of the school’s roughly 12,500 students take part in fraternal and sorority life on campus. By comparison, at Alabama, more than 9,500 students alone take part in social fraternities and sororities.
With such a disparity in numbers, we’ll stick to percentages:
1. VANDERBILT
Students Participating In Greek Life: 43 percent
Fraternity: 32 percent
Sorority: 54 percent
2. OLE MISS
Students Participating In Greek Life: 37 percent
Fraternity: 33 percent
Sorority: 41 percent
3. AUBURN
Students Participating In Greek Life: 31 percent
Fraternity: 24 percent
Sorority: 38 percent
4. ARKANSAS
Students Participating In Greek Life: 28.5 percent
Fraternity: 21 percent
Sorority: 36 percent
5. MISSOURI
Students Participating In Greek Life: 27. 5 percent
Fraternity: 24 percent
Sorority: 31 percent
6. GEORGIA
Students Participating In Greek Life: 25.5 percent
Fraternity: 22 percent
Sorority: 29 percent
7. LSU
Students Participating In Greek Life: 22.5 percent
Fraternity: 17 percent
Sorority: 28 percent
T8. MISSISSIPPI STATE
Students Participating In Greek Life: 20.5 percent
Fraternity: 16 percent
Sorority: 25 percent
T8. SOUTH CAROLINA
Students Participating In Greek Life: 20.5 percent
Fraternity: 13 percent
Sorority: 28 percent
T8. TENNESSEE
Students Participating In Greek Life: 20.5 percent
Fraternity: 16 percent
Sorority: 25 percent
There is not enough information available in the Princeton Review data to completely assess the percentage of students participating in Greek life at Alabama, Florida, Kentucky and Texas A&M. In these cases, it was a lack of sorority involvement figures.
Alabama’s website claims it has 33 percent participation in Greek life. That would place the Tuscaloosa school behind No. 2 Ole Miss and ahead of Auburn. If we’re going by the trends — where sorority life participation is higher than its fraternal counterpart — Florida (20 percent fraternity) and Kentucky (18 percent fraternity) likely end up in the same neighborhood as LSU in the low 20s, and find themselves slightly ahead of Mississippi State, South Carolina and Tennessee. Texas A&M, with about 10 percent of its students taking part in Greek life, rounds out the bottom of the list.
Vanderbilt and Texas A&M — two of the conference’s more renowned schools for their academics — bookend this list. And kind of pokes holes in any agreement between academic and Greek life involvement.
SEC BY NUMBER OF FRATERNITIES
Your typical SEC football powers also correlate to Greek life with schools such as Alabama, Georgia and Auburn ranking high in both wins on the field and fraternity and sorority chapters on campus. Coincidence? Yeah, probably.
1. Missouri, 34
2. Alabama, 30
3. Auburn, 28
4. South Carolina, 27
5. Georgia, 26
6. Florida, 25
T7. Kentucky and LSU, 21
8. Texas A&M, 19
T9. Tennessee and Vanderbilt, 17
T10. Ole Miss and Mississippi State, 15
11. Arkansas, 14
SEC BY NUMBER OF SORORITIES
The percentage of girls’ involvement in sororities is higher than guys in fraternities at every SEC school. That includes places such as South Carolina where the amount of sorority members is about double that of those in fraternities.
T1. Alabama and South Carolina, 18
T2. Auburn and Georgia, 17
T3. Florida and Missouri, 16
4. Kentucky, 15
T5. LSU and Tennessee, 13
6. Vanderbilt, 12
T7. Arkansas and Ole Miss, 10
8. Mississippi State, 9
9. Texas A&M, 4
SEC BY TOTAL GREEK CHAPTERS*
The numbers can be deceptive. Texas A&M at 10 percent of its 47,093 students taking part in Greek life boasts an average of 150 members per its 30 chapters — while Vanderbilt with its 6,851-student campus, 35 chapters and its 43 percent participation rate only averages about 84 per fraternity or sorority.
1. Georgia, 62 chapters
2. Missouri, 57
3. Alabama, 56
4. Auburn, 54
T5. Kentucky and South Carolina, 45
6. Florida, 41
7. LSU, 39
8. Tennessee, 37
9. Vanderbilt, 35
10. Ole Miss, 34
11. Arkansas, 31
12. Mississippi State and Texas A&M, 30
*Includes National Pan-Hellenic Council
Chris Wuensch is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers South Carolina and Tennessee.