Would a student feel limited socially if he went to wake and didn’t join a frat? Does the campus social and party scene revolve around frats? Are there non frat parties on campus?
Yeah they would. I know that sounds brutal but in reality the fraternity scene is not like the crazy frat stigma at all. There are some that are pretty intense and throw a bunch of parties and live “that life”, but a lot of others are laid back and don’t care about social standing, being “prestigious” etc. In short, greek life is necessary to have fun - but it’s very easy to get into a fraternity and you will end up somewhere that suits you.
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Greek life is a big feature of Wake but it’s not as exclusionary as you’d expect for other schools and it’s for a hilarious reason. At wake the frats/sororities are reserved their own section in the dorms for living and given a freestanding clubhouse behind it and this arrangement is on account of an old state law that would have classified that many young women residing in a residential house a brothel LOL.
But this also means that Greek students still mostly live on campus and that those little clubhouses being so close and on-campus are a built-in deterrent against drunk driving. When I attended the compromise position with the university was incredibly stupid: frats serve “beverages” in plastic cups to everyone because someone already “checked ID” at the door (your student ID) but being caught outside this area holding an EMPTY can of beer could get you suspended.
TLDR: not rushing Greek is less of a social liability than “being shy” your freshman year.
Frats and sororities had “reserved” sections in a particular dorm (usually the entire floor of one side) and you have to be in the sorority or frat to live there but this is trivial for non-Greek students compared to all your friends living in a separate residence off campus
The greek lounges are in the bottoms of the Quad dorms. However, it’s been years since parties were hosted in them. All of the fraternities now have houses in the “Compound” off of University Parkway - off campus, but walkable.
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S is a '21 grad. He was not greek. he had a great time and great social life at Wake. Most of his friends came from freshmen dorm and clubs. Funny his freshman hall was divided by kids who thought they’d rush and those who didn’t. He had a big crew of kids that didn’t rush and they were his best friends so he didn’t bother going Greek. Initially they were concerned they would have limited access to parties and such but they kind of formed their own and became a popular hang out. He also had a ton of friends in the business frat (both Greek and non Greek). Very active organization that met weekly (twice if one is in leadership), threw socials, parties, formals, etc.
Someone upstream mentioned non greek is much less of an issue than being very shy freshmen yr. I agree with that. You need to throw yourself into things in order to find your people. True at any achool.
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Friends of ours sent their son to Wake partially due to hearing great things about it from our D and from us during her freshman year. Regrettably, he did not have a great experience socially; our D felt it was because he didn’t drink at all, and as a result did not end up being able to pledge a fraternity. He may have been a little shy as well. We still feel somewhat guilty about this situation. N of 1 of course…
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I’d be surprised if that was the reason he didn’t pledge. I was a member of a popular fraternity at Wake and have never had a drop to drink in my life.
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