Go Greek
Roughly 30% of all Cornell undergraduate students are part of the Greek System. With 14,158 enrolled undergrads, 4,248 students are currently in a fraternity or sorority. There are many enticing reasons that would persuade a perspective rush to decide to accept a bid. These reasons include gaining a resume booster, to gain leadership experience, to establish a group of friends, to meet members of the opposite sex, to party, etc. A factor that eludes most people is that a good amount of students who do go Greek, do so because they are “following the crowd”. Those students who intend to climb the social ladder in Cornell and in any university surround themselves with people with the same intention and emulate their actions, and these particular people turn to the Greek System since it is very prominent in many universities. This whole idea of students “following the crowd” into the Greek System can be explained with both the direct benefit effect and the information based effect.
The direct benefit of being in the Greek crowd is evident. Being in the Greek System gives one direct access to open parties, mixers, philanthropy events, and a guaranteed social living environment. Life-long bonds are formed and one’s social network expands significantly. Job opportunities, which would have not been there otherwise, arise for those in the Greek System. This is confirmed by a study conducted on Dartmouth seniors that showed that up to 20% of students of a certain major rely on their fraternity/sorority to get their first job. These direct benefits, which are evident to the student body, are important persuading factors. The information based effect that is present in students “following the crowd” relates to the desire of students to socially excel and the ignorance of incoming students, as freshmen make up the majority of new incoming Greek members. Students who wish to establish themselves socially within their university assume that those with the same intention possibly could know more about their university and exactly how to do this. They see their peers interested in joining the greek system and they, assuming that their peers know more about socially excelling than they do, adopt the same interest.
The network effect is evident in the Greek System, as more people join the more valuable the system becomes. This whole idea of following the crowd in a sense helps the Greek System thrive. Students who “follow the crowd” strengthen the value of the Greek System and allow it to excel.
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http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0014292101002215