<p>Anderson Cooper was awarded the Wonk of the Year award last night. My son, who graduated last spring, went with a bunch of his fraternity brothers who now live and work in DC. You can take the wonk out of AU, but I guess you can’t take AU out of the true wonk.</p>
<p>He said that Cooper made a joke about whether students really go to lectures on Saturday nights…my son’s take was, yeah, we do, when there’s a good one–and then we go out and party.</p>
<p>There is info on the AU website.</p>
<p>Are you trying to convince me more to go to AU? You can stop, I’m already sold and ready to go ;D</p>
<p>What my husband and I loved to much about AU is that our sons were definite wonks–but that did not keep them from being cool frat boys either. At a lot of campuses, it just seems that was not a popular combination.</p>
<p>I’m really psyched to attend AU (hopefully). That’s exactly what really drew me to AU over say a GW. At AU, there seems to be a real acceptance and even mutual admiration for everybody’s interests. I recall that AU’s Greek life isn’t really traditional?</p>
<p>AU has maybe 20% ? greek participation?</p>
<p>There are no official university greek houses. Many times, though, a group of fraternity members rent a house near campus (just like many groups of friends do who are not in a house). and it becomes a gathering place for all of the brothers, and passes down through generations of brothers… They will often use it to hold parties, etc. During orientation week, a lot of the houses do host parties…they pick up the freshmen on campus and take them to the parties. AU of course does what it can to discourage this.</p>
<p>My son found that being in a fraternity was good for him. He is very driven in certain areas of his life–but he can be very lazy socially, and could happily vegetate all weekend if he didn’t make other plans. Being in a frat gave him people to happily vegetate with, or not-- with maybe a party or a mixer or some such event on many weekends.
However, he never felt defined by the house he was in–which apparently is different than greek life on many campuses. He had a lot of friends who were in other houses, or in no house at all…When you walk around AU, you will see that there aren’t many students wearing their greek letter t-shirts, etc–you probably will not know who is or isn’t in a house, or what house–</p>
<p>you will find that most of your friends are interested in something, and that is what makes for interesting friends.</p>
<p>One warning though–don’t expect this to be true the first few weeks. Most freshmen won’t have figured out that it is cool to be a wonk–they are trying too hard to just be cool in general.</p>
<p>What was the pledge process like? Just out of curiosity :)</p>
<p>I think the 20% Greek participation estimate at AU is way high. Without on-campus housing, frats and sororities just don’t have that much appeal.</p>
<p>The unofficial shuttle service that takes freshmen (primarily girls)to off-campus drunken frat parties is not one of AU’s positives. My D did this once, was disgusted at the whole scene, and never went back–nor did any of her friends. She did however join the coed service fraternity which is a whole different animal. Greek life is present at AU for those who want it, but most don’t, and for non-members the frats and sororities seem to have little influence on life at AU except as an off-campus party venue. If a thriving and extensive Greek scene is an important criterion for an applicant, AU is not the right school.</p>
<p>AROTC–my son never mentioned much about the pledge process–I think moms are deliberately told less than nothing. My guess is that there is more to it than I would like or approve of, and probably less than goes on at some universities with a higher greek participation. Even for students who choose to join greek life at AU, it is not like at, for example, University of Maryland…it is not going to be a dominating factor in your campus life at AU, it is going to be just one of many things you become involved in. While there is drinking at just about ever function, and some kids get way out of control (generally the freshmen) not everyone drinks, and those who do generally know their limits. No one will ever pressure you.</p>
<p>My son found that his house was good for him professionally…he obtained one of his internships from one of his fraternity brothers who had decided to leave it and take another internship. His brother thought it would be right up my son’s alley, so asked for his resume to give his boss when he gave notice. My son went in for the interview three days later and got the internship, which was never publicly posted. It turned into an instrumental internship for him. That internship has now been passed down twice more. Easy for the employer–and each boy is careful about who he recommends because it reflects back on him.</p>
<p>My son also received career help from alumni of his chapter–many still live and work in DC, and there is an alumni function every semester. They are happy to review resumes, make phone calls or introductions, and will often call if they have a position open that someone in the house might be interested in.</p>
<p>However, don’t think you need to join a fraternity. I have three sons–one never joined, one joined a fraternity, but his experience was meh, and one joined and benefitted greatly. All three had happy, productive college lives and now have happy, productive careers.</p>
<p>@MommaJ: Greek life isn’t a major criteria or criteria at all for me. What I like about the idea of Greek life is what Boysx3 talked about (internship and networking opportunities). What draws me about AU’s Greek life is that it is still a brotherhood, but it doesn’t define you and you can do things outside of your frat/sorority.</p>
<p>I can echo Boysx3. My daughter is freshman having applied ED. The school is everything she had hoped for including being a WONK while still being social. She had the most particular and specific criteria for what she wanted in a school and AU met them all. She LOVES it there. How lucky for her that freshman year she was able to stand on the mall and listen to President Obama speak on the anniversary of MLK’s I have a dream speech. Anderson Cooper was an extra treat!</p>
<p>I realize that this thread has kind of gotten off track, but I just wanted to chime in that my D is a senior at AU and is in a sorority. It has turned out to be one of the best things about AU for her. She has made so many great friends and has had opportunities for leadership and community service. They also have plenty of social activities - mixers, dances, hayrides, etc. It is different than many schools because there is no sorority house, but in D’s opinion, that is a plus. Living in common housing has helped her make friends all across the university. Rush, for the sororities, is pretty low-key. Info meetings, informal events and a couple formal events. No dress code (like the Southern sororities) and I think everyone gets a bid from at least one sorority. They have Spring semester rush for freshmen and fall “informal” rush for sophomores and above. D pledged during the fall rush of her soph year.</p>
<p>And on that note, I’ll add this little anecdote I was reminded of when reading this thread. Although no one in our family has ever been involved in Greek life, and it wasn’t something my D ever expressed an interest in, when I read that sorority rush was underway at AU, I called and encouraged her to keep an open mind and give it a try. With a giant sigh, she said “Mom, no way. I just passed by one of the common rooms in my dorm, and a bunch of sorority girls were in there CHANTING.” I could practically hear the eyeroll. So, it’s not for everyone. As I mentioned, she did eventually join the coed service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, which offers a very low key version of Greek life.</p>
<p>Sorry that I got this so far off track, but thank you all for the input!</p>
<p>AROTC–I hope you get good news soon! Do you know when decisions will be released this year?</p>
<p>I’m guessing sometime in mid-December :)</p>