Can I avoid the party scene and still have a social life at Cuse?

Right now Syracuse is my top choice (pending financial aid offer) but I know it has a reputation as a big party school. I’m not against going to a few parties, I love sports so tailgates and such are right up my ally. However, I’m planning on majoring in neuroscience on the pre-med track and I know how hard I’ll need to work in order to have a shot at med school. I’m not interested in drinking or doing any drugs or spending 4 years missing class because of parties. Can any current or past students/parents speak to this issue. Thanks!

Parent here. Absolutely you can. The hardest part is in the first few weeks when you may have a roommate or floor mates who all want to party every night and you haven’t yet found your “people.” If you are independent and don’t mind going to events and club meetings by yourself (if you don’t have anyone else who wants to go), you will quickly find a group who doesn’t party all the time. Orange After Dark puts on events every weekend that are fun and free or cheap. There are a ton of clubs who also have social activities at the center of what they do. There are movies on campus all the time, and concerts etc. It sounds like you know how to have a healthy balance and I don’t think you’d be derailed.

Thank you! That is really great to hear!

Also, if you’re worried about peer pressure, my daughter got out of a lot of things she didn’t want to do by not having a fake ID. It was easy to say she would love to join her floor at DJs, but she didn’t have a fake, so she was going to stay in and study or go catch a movie.

Similar question here. Appreciate the feedback, though concerned that a student needs an excuse not to go to a bar…Hmm. I wonder if being in the honors housing can help with this - to find like minded students. I’ve read that the honors groupings tend to be more academic/less party. Thoughts?

@universitymom67, Maybe most students don’t need an excuse to not go to a bar, but my shy D with some social anxiety found it helpful at the beginning of the semester when she didn’t want to be thought of as being unfriendly. It’s her issue, not the other students’.

Agree with the above comments by amkngk. Our daughter likes to go out one night a week and that is what most of her friends do also. That one night might be a party or could be an Orange After Dark event (you can search the list online), a new release movie that the school’s showing, a basketball game, football game, etc. There’s almost always a sporting event which is great.

One weekend that I visited her friend was staying home on a Fri night to do laundry so by no means is it a total party school as its reputation would suggest. It really is a diverse group of kids, some who party quite a bit, some who don’t at all, and many in the middle. The feedback that I get from her is that everyone does what they want to do and they don’t seem to be judged by it or feel isolated if they don’t go out.

Kids seem to be so involved with clubs and other extracurriculars that there isn’t that much time to go out if you want to get studying done as well. Premed is very time-consuming (pm me if you’d like more specific info) but friends in the other colleges there are just as busy.

I’d suggest getting involved in a club as soon as possible; great way to meet friends and the clubs usually host some social events on weekends.