Hi all. I’m leaning towards EDing to Dartmouth. I really love everything about the place from what I’ve seen except what I’ve heard about the social life. I really do not like to party/drink much, and I want to know what alternatives there are to Frat parties. From my reading on the internet, people always say there are other things to do, but they never actually say what those things are. Also, I am curious as to how accurate the infamous Rolling Stone article is. I am worried that I will not enjoy my time at Dartmouth if I choose to come. Hopefully you guys change my mind. Thanks!
Hi! I’m also a prospective Dartmouth ED. I totally get what you’re saying, and I’m not really a drinker either. When you said that people always say there are alternatives, but never say what I was laughing- it’s so true. I have a lot of the same concerns as you, but as far as I can tell from when I visited and went to a frat party, even if you don’t drink or party much it’s still an awesome place to be. All of the kids I met at the frat party didn’t push me to do anything and just wanted me to feel included. One kid asked me to play the drinking game and offered to drink for me 
It’s really not a party school vibe. It was more or less a bunch of kids hanging out in a frat basement, talking and playing drinking games. Just a really nice and friendly vibe. Hope my one weekend of debauchery helped give you a little more perspective on the social scene!
Thanks so much for the response. At least it doesn’t sound like a totally crazy frat culture. I have read that the frat basements are disgusting though. Is that true?
I mean, when I got there around 11 p.m. it was certainly not pristine. More or less, when people play they don’t always feel like drinking (which I totally get being a non-drinker) so they dump what they don’t drink either in the garbage or on the ground. I was told that when you go to a frat party you should basically wear easy to clean shoes. Besides the absurd amount of cups and thin veneer or recently tossed beer, it really wasn’t THAT bad. I am though, by far, awful at keeping things neat. I was also told, when I inquired, that there is a schedule of who cleans up the frats so it never gets too out of hand. So to sum up, kind of gross but it’s really not as bad as it sounds.
I’m a '19 here, and I don’t drink so I’m more than willing to give you some advice. So Collis has events every weekend that range of magician shows to laser tag. And the hop has movie showings all the time, sometimes even before they’re available to other places. And if you do want to go to a frat party you don’t have to drink. It’s kind of respected. But there’s also a 6 week ban that prevents freshman from getting into frat parties at all. You would have a VERY hard time getting into one even if you wanted to go. The frat could get in trouble if you were even there sober, so they usually won’t let any freshman in at all. And if going to hang out with people who are drinking isn’t your thing, that’s okay. There’s actually a ton of people who don’t drink. It’s all about who you surround yourself with. You just have to find people with similar interests. Don’t let the drinking culture be the reason you don’t come here. You’d find it anywhere.