10 Colleges With Most Students in Sororities

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College women in the 1800s were outnumbered by their male classmates, and many felt isolated because, at the time, they were often considered unqualified for higher education. According to experts, the roots of sororities took hold later in the century, as a way for those women to build social and intellectual bonds with each other. In 1851, the members of the first secret society for women—Adelphean Society (now Alpha Delta Pi)—gathered to pray, sing, and recite poetry.

The activities of today's sororities are a little different, though the idea of sisterhood remains the same. At campuses across the country, sorority women participate in events such as a recruitment process known as "rush," as well as formal dances, intramural sports, numerous philanthropic projects, and many other activities, depending on the chapter. Sororities can also be based specifically on culture, religion, community service, and academics.

[Learn what to consider when thinking about Greek life.]

Sorority life is more prominent at some schools than at others. U.S. News surveys more than 1,800 schools annually, and 928 of the schools ranked in the U.S. News Best Colleges rankings reported sorority data. Among those institutions that reported student participation in sororities, the average percentage of undergraduates involved in sororities was 13 percent for the 2010-2011 academic year.

At Clearwater Christian College in Florida, 100 percent of female students participate in sorority life. The school of roughly 570 students also tops the list of colleges with the most students in fraternities. Eight of the 10 schools in the following list are located in the South, with York College in Nebraska and Depauw University in Indiana as the two exceptions. Every school on the list has fewer than 2,400 undergraduate students, and each one is private. Eight schools in this top 10 list also appear on the list of schools with the most students in fraternities, and seven are part of the U.S. News rankings of National Liberal Arts Colleges.

[These liberal arts colleges have the lowest student-faculty ratios.]

Schools that reported no undergraduate females in sororities were not considered for this report, nor were schools that were designated by U.S. News as Unranked. U.S. News did not calculate a numerical ranking for Unranked programs, because the programs did not meet certain criteria that U.S. News requires to be numerically ranked.

Here are the schools with the highest percentage of undergraduate women who are members of sororities for the 2010-2011 academic year:

*RNP denotes an institution that is ranked in the bottom one fourth of the its ranking category. U.S. News calculates a rank for the school but has decided not to publish it.

Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News College Compass to find complete Greek life information, including which honors fraternities are offered at each school.

U.S. News surveyed more than 1,800 colleges and universities for our 2011 survey of undergraduate programs. Schools self-reported a myriad of data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News's data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While the data comes from the schools themselves, these lists have no influence over U.S. News's rankings of Best Colleges or Best Graduate Schools.