Thank you so much. I have a different question to ask as a (possible prospective) athlete - is it true that parties are exclusive around sports teams? I know it seems like a dumb question, but a friend who did an overnight told me that it was the case.
Also - what exactly is the undergroups frat scene? I've never heard of anything like that.
i went on the football recruting visit and the party was not exclusive to teams, yet 80% of amherst students do play varsity or club, so you might feel a little excluded if you are not on a team. The party i attended was very large and was a special party for chrismtas, it is possible smaller partiers are more exclusive. my hosts roomate was not on any team, and my host told me he had invited him to parties but he didnt want to go. it doesnt seem like a very exclusive atmosphere
Sports teams frequently have exclusive parties, but those are usually earlier in the night, and even if they aren't exclusive it's pretty awkward to be the one non-teammate in the room. In general, though, parties are very non-exclusive--again, the only barrier to entry is the awkwardness factor of being an interloper. The party abstract17 went to is a very unique one. Typically you hang out with your friends (or team) earlier in the night and then go seek out bigger and better things when it's late and you're drunk.
Frats don't affect the social scene much. They're frowned upon by the administration and aren't supposed to operate on campus, but most of them are closely tied to certain sports team so that's really hard to enforce. It's not (or it's not supposed to be) common knowledge who is or who isn't in a frat, so the whole thing is kind of shrouded in secrecy and doesn't have a lot of impact on your everyday life.
Also, the 80% number includes intramurals--and even then I'm rather suspicious of it. I have to wonder if they double-counted in some way, because way more than 1/5 of the people I know have never played on any kind of sports team.
Haha thanks, I was only wondering because a friend of mine did an overnight there last year and said a few things that made me wonder. However she really didn't see it as a good fit for her (too small), so I figured I'd take it with a grain of salt.
80% does seem a bit higher than the coach told me - maybe IM students and varsity athletes were counted twice? Idk
80% does seem really high. I would say that about half the people I know at Amherst play sports. I don't play a sport and I've never felt excluded from parties. Sports teams have "pre-games" with just the team, and then everyone goes to larger parties later in the night. It's really not an issue--Amherst is really welcoming and the larger parties are always open to everyone.
Replies to: Current students...
Also - what exactly is the undergroups frat scene? I've never heard of anything like that.
Frats don't affect the social scene much. They're frowned upon by the administration and aren't supposed to operate on campus, but most of them are closely tied to certain sports team so that's really hard to enforce. It's not (or it's not supposed to be) common knowledge who is or who isn't in a frat, so the whole thing is kind of shrouded in secrecy and doesn't have a lot of impact on your everyday life.
Also, the 80% number includes intramurals--and even then I'm rather suspicious of it. I have to wonder if they double-counted in some way, because way more than 1/5 of the people I know have never played on any kind of sports team.
80% does seem a bit higher than the coach told me - maybe IM students and varsity athletes were counted twice? Idk
Thanks again!
and the private pregame to large party procedure was exactly what i experienced