rvhockey

How much do the frats control social life at Dartmouth? I know about 30% of guys are in frats. Does this affect your ability to make friends at Dartmouth? And if you don't join a frat, what are the housing choices you have to help make friends?

tennisboy1005

yes frats control the social scene.....they are a place to hang out, but it doesnt affect making friends at all....most ppl make friends with ppl on their doc trip/section, floormates/dormmates, and ppl on their team or organization.....u dont pledge frats until sophomore year so by then u have an established group of friends

spunaugle

As a side note: While frats are the main source of social life, there are other options if you look for them. East wheelock stands as an example of a cluster with ample alternative things going on. And don't be immediately turned off by the idea of frats. Coming in I would never of thought I'd set foot in a frat, I've not found a few places I really enjoy and have like-minded people. There's a greek space for about everyone here.

Poisonous

I really don't think that frats "run" the social show. I mean, you'll find me in a frat basement every Friday and Saturday night, but I consider that only very small portion of what I do here and how I socialize with other students. I have met more people and made closer relationships outside of frats.

johnleemk

There are basically two times in your Dartmouth career when you will make a lot of new friends. The first is freshman fall.The second is pledge term. If you skip pledge term, you skip the opportunity to make a lot of new friends. You also miss the stream of new friends as future pledge classes join the house when you become an upperclassman. As a result, there is a great deal of implicit pressure to rush.

You will do just fine not being in a Greek house. But you won't have the full Dartmouth experience, and you will have to be a lot more proactive in making friends than you would be if you were in a Greek house.

One thing to note is that Dartmouth frats are not anywhere as exclusive as the stereotypical frat. Most frats have open parties, and even when there's no party, on weeknights usually anyone can go into the basement and play pong. There's no real douchy hard-on pressure to rush a Greek house. But I'd say there's a fair amount of implicit pressure to participate in the Greek system.

There is an alternative, I might add -- a lot of people who live in the East Wheelock Cluster often constitute an enclave of sorts from the rest of campus. They're mostly nerdy and a bit anti-social, though often good kids. I think being a consistent East Wheelock resident is kind of like being in a very weird, nerdy Greek house, without the hazing or the miscellaneous weirdness which our nerdy frats get up to.

If none of these options enthuse you, you probably won't have as much fun socializing at Dartmouth as most Dartmouth kids do. But, you'll still have fun either way (unless you somehow mess up freshman fall, which is pretty hard to do).

Consolation

I don't understand how frats can truly be said to "dominate" social life if 70% of guys choose not to join one.

Obviously the vast majority of students are managing to have a social life without being a frat member.

johnleemk

25% of guys are ineligible for rush because they're freshmen. About 60% of the eligible students are in a fraternity, sorority, or co-ed Greek house. The influence of the Greeks on the social scene is difficult to underestimate. People hang out in frats, not in dorms, especially after freshman year. The main social event of any night is almost always something in a frat. Events at the Hop and things of that sort are almost always a mere blip on students' radar. Upperclass students identify themselves by their Greek house.

rightnotleft

i feel like johnleemk is painting a picture a bit bleaker than it really is. also, it's more like 60-70% of the eligible student body is affiliated ... they take the stats in the fall, so the sophomores haven't rushed yet and obviously freshmen are not allowed to be affiliated, so ... we get figures like 30%.

anyway, there are more than enough ways to make a lot of friends at Dartmouth without belonging to a greek house. Yes, you meet a lot of ppl during pledge term, but I wouldn't necessarily say you make a lot of friends during that term except w/ kids you are pledging with ... who, for the most part, you will already know prior to rushing, you might just get to know them better. I would say you are much more likely to make new friends during your sophomore summer.

that being said, the greek scene does dominate ORGANIZED campus social life, and people's partying in general, especially for freshmen and to some extent, sophomores. And to the extent that upperclassmen identify themselves by their greek house ... that's true, kind of. It's rarely what people are most likely to describe themselves as, it's more that greek houses are how we tend to label people here. Upperclassmen tend to be identified by their greek house. They tend to identify themselves by their other activities, which usually are more important to them.

Consolation

When is pledge term?

Xanatos

Gotta agree with johnleemk, except for the "you will do just fine not being in a Greek house" part.

viking04

frats dominate the social life for sure, and there are good and bad parts to this, although the vast majority of people i've talked to have had great experiences in dartmouth frats. they certainly are nothing like frats at other colleges.

d'smom

From my uncle who is an alum the answer is most definitely yep!

Consolation

When is pledge term??

masonfactor

Pledge term is the term directly after you have joined a fratenity or sorority. During this time you are a member of the house but not quite a full member. You are often expected to do various things, typically funny/ crazy activities that will (at least in theory) bond you to your house and the fellow members of you pledge class. Of course the obvious danger is when these activities border on hazing. (However, Dartmouth does have strong sanctions regarding hazing when it is brought to its attention) As a freshman I can't comment on how hard/ easy pledge term is but I hear it varies a lot by house.

FYI
You cannot pledge until Sophomore year so typically your pledge term will be in your Sophomore fall if you decide to rush a house and are following a "typical" (not that there is a really typical) D-Plan.

Consolation

Can students pledge any term during sophomore year?