Does Going Greek Impair Undergraduate Academic Performance? A Case Study By FARLEY GRUBB* ABSTRACT. Controlling for SAT scores, college major, gender, and state of residence, university students were more likely to have joined a fraternity or sorority if they had come from in state and had higher verbal SAT scores, but lower math SAT scores, the opposite of what simple uncontrolled averages indicate. Controlling for the same vari- ables, fraternity and sorority members suffered from 1 to 10 percent lower cumulative GPAs than non-Greek students. This negative effect was most pronounced for small fraternities and weakest for sororities. At colleges and universities the social pressures, responsibilities, per- ceptions, and attitudes experienced by members of Greek-lettered organizations are different from those experienced by nonmembers. Some of these differences are positive, such as doing more charity work, exercising more leadership, and helping other members succeed socially and academically. Other differences are negative, such as suffering poorer academic performance, participating exces- sively in parties, drinking, and hazing, and conforming to the group’s attitude toward academic work and other social groups. 1 These differences, and especially the publicity generated by the American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 65, No. 5 (November, 2006). © 2006 American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Inc. *Farley Grubb is Professor of Economics at the University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716; e-mail: grubbf@lerner.udel.edu; website: http://myprofile.cos.com/grubbf16. His recent publications have focused on the market evaluation of criminality and on macro-monetary development of the U.S. economy from 1720 to 1820. He thanks Michael Arnold, Donald Conlon, Evangelos Falaris, Ken Koford, and John Kushman for helpful comments, and Timothy Brooks, Jeffry Palmer, and the University of Delaware Faculty Senate Greek Life Task Force for access to University of Delaware administration data. Research assistance was provided by James Lackford and research and editorial assistance by Anne Pfaelzer de Ortiz.