<p>I'm looking into colleges to apply to next year, and I've heard many people say that students at highly-ranked universities don't have much of a social/party scene. I (think) I have the stats to get into some top schools, but I want to make sure I don't miss out on a little of the fun/craziness/partying that comes with most colleges.</p>
<p>What are your thoughts on students' social lives at places like:
Harvard, Princeton, U Penn, Duke, U Chicago, Stanford, Brown, etc.?</p>
<p>Also, would it be different if I were to join a sorority?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>You go to college to learn.</p>
<p>Nah, but for real though, parties do exist on all college levels, you may just have to search harder for them. Many of these top schools have low Greek life, so the parties may not be as crazy or as frequent, but there will be an abundance of drinking and dancing opportunities in college. I think some others may be able to elaborate further, though.</p>
<p>This is a sweeping generalization (and I’m sure you know about U Chicago’s “where fun goes to die” motto, though I don’t know whether or not it’s accurate) but I think at these schools, there’s a sort of “work hard, play hard” mentality. Academics are (and should be) first and foremost, but there are opportunities to unwind.</p>
<p>is there and inverse relationship between greek life and academics?</p>
<p>^I don’t think so. Most Greeks have a higher GPA than non-Greeks (although I suspect some Greeks party a little too hard and drop out, which would put them out of that measure).</p>
<p>There are plenty of good schools with good Greek scenes. Maybe not your extremely top colleges, but most flagship state schools have large Greek scenes, and they are very, very good schools regardless of what anyone on CC might say.</p>
<p>Greek life can coexist with top university environments. Two examples are Duke and Cornell.</p>
<p>thanks! also, is the in-class competition at these schools really fierce? I’ve heard that at some universities, students get so competetive that the overall experience is unpleasant…</p>
<p>There are good parties everywhere. They are had by both Greeks as well as GDI’s. I personally would go where you want to eventually live. I personally love the SEC schools and could not imagine having gone anywhere else, that being said if I wanted to eventually move somewhere else I would have gone to school there.</p>
<p>I have been offered so many jobs by friends, alumns, as well as relatives of friends on graduation. I realize though that most of them (not all) are very near my school, and all of them are in this same Southern region.</p>
<p>I go to the University of Chicago. Course work is difficult, of course that’s a given, but that’s what you go to top schools for. They are prestigious for a reason.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have fun. At Chicago I once heard someone say that if you get a 4.0, it means you will have wasted your time in college. As in, you only studied for your classes and didn’t give yourself a chance to grow as a person.</p>
<p>^ I know a lot of employers who are weary of 4.0s because they stereotypically tend to come from anti-social people (not always, but often). </p>
<p>I have plenty of friends at Ivies and top Us and many of them do as much partying and “normal” things as I do in my notoriously party-hearty U.</p>
<p>Awesome… so doing well is a bad thing…</p>
<p>My friend goes to BC and some of the best/ craziest parties he has been to have taken place at Harvard or have at least started there.</p>
<p>@MLD- People have different definitions of what “doing well” is. To many employers, “doing well” is growing both academically AND socially so that you’re better prepared for the real world, real customers, real colleagues, etc</p>
<p>You can have a “normal college experience” at any university. Studying for long hours every day doesn’t make you any less of a person. Some people don’t give a damn about being normal.</p>