TCU students helped to rank campus 10th in having a major Greek-life presence, according to a 2007 Princeton Review book released in August.Students surveyed for the Princeton Review book “Best 361 Colleges” describe typical TCU students as “frat-tastic: Girls wear a polo shirt, designer jeans and the latest trendy handbag. The guys are similar, minus the handbag,” according to The Princeton Review Web site.

TCU has a current enrollment of more than 8,000 students – of those students, 31 percent of men are involved in a fraternity and 35 percent of women are involved in a sorority.

Natalie Henry, a freshman ballet/modern dance major, agreed with the results of the survey.

“Everywhere there is something Greek, like signs or different activities, going on,” Henry said.

The Princeton Review, a company that annually surveys 115,000 students at 361 universities about their schools, with questions on anything from “Best Professors” to “Top Stone-Cold Sober School” to “Best College Library.” According to its Web site, the 80-question survey asks students about their schools’ academics and administrations, campus life and student bodies.

The Princeton Review was not available for comment on how the surveys are conducted, but according to the Web site, rankings are based on 300 student surveys.

Ray Brown, dean of Admissions, said many students look at books and magazines such as the Princeton Review and the U.S. News and World Report rankings because they think they are interesting; however, he said, the results of the rankings do not affect the application process.

“The students that are applying to the more highly selective schools look at rankings, but there are better tools to use to research universities,” Brown said.

Sophomore music education major David Weuste said that he read the current and past Princeton Review surveys but the results did not affect whether he came to TCU.

In regard to fraternities and sororities, Brown said students he has interviewed usually know whether they will become a part of Greek life prior to being accepted to a university.

The Princeton Review also ranked TCU 11th in the category “Little Race/Class Interaction.”

Brown said, in response to this ranking, that 312 of the 1,654 students in the freshman class are minorities. The 2005 TCU Factbook states that 1,222 of the 8,749 students in the student body are minorities.

TCU has 17 cultural organizations said Fred Williams, a student who works for the Inclusiveness and Intercultural Services office, including minority Greek organizations, as well as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Organization of Latin American Students.