A new study by U.S. News & World Report identifies the colleges and universities where the largest percentages of women in the student bodies join sororities. Nationwide, for colleges and universities that have some sorority activity, an average of 12.4 percent of women students are members of sororities.
But at some colleges and universities, particularly those in the South, sorority participation is much higher. At Washington and Lee University, the highly rated liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, 81 percent of all women students are members of sororities. This is the highest percentage in the nation, according to the report.
Ranking second and third in sorority participation are two historically Black universities: Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina. The only other college where more than 70 percent of all women students are members of sororities is Welch College in Nashville, Tennessee.
The six other colleges and universities with the highest percentage of women students who are members of sororities are Ohio Valley University in Vienna, West Virginia, Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi, Translyvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, and Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. At these educational institutions, at least 58 percent of all women join sororities.