<p>There seems to be little consensus on how dominant the Greek scene is at Dartmouth, so I thought I take it to the alumni. Is the social scene really "dominated by Greek life"? I never was too tempted to join a frat, especially after I heard some of the hazing stories, and want to make sure this won't negatively impact my time at Dartmouth if I go. Also, I saw an article that said the hard-partying frat presidents or whatever get preference from recruiting financial companies and whatnot over their more studious peers. What say you?</p>
<p>My elder daughter is a recent Harvard graduate and my younger daughter is junior at Dartmouth, so I can compare and contrast their campus experiences.</p>
<p>My Dartmouth daughter has not joined a sorority and is of the opinion that Dartmouth is a wonderful school but would be an even better place if the frats weren’t so socially dominant on campus. Harvard is an example of a campus where the social life is decidedly not ruled by Greeks</p>
<p>I know, I know, the Harvard Final clubs are just as bad as the frats. And with respect to hazing, underage drinking, and social exclusiveness, they probably ARE just as bad. Maybe even worse. But Final clubs and the few Greek frats at Harvard make up a MUCH smaller part of the overall campus scene at Harvard than the frats do at Dartmouth. You can completely ignore the Final clubs and frats, have no contact with them whatsoever, for your entire four years at Harvard and still have a vibrant and varied social life - usually centered around your residence House. That’s much harder to achieve at Dartmouth. </p>
<p>That’s not to say that you won’t have any friends at Dartmouth if you don’t go Greek. That’s not the case at all. My Dartmouth daughter has lots for friends drawn from her involvement with other organizations, primarily the Outing club, DSO, and her classes. But if you don’t go Greek you will be perpetually on the sidelines of the main campus social and party scene. For better or worse, that scene is, in fact, heavily dominated by the Greek organizations. Whether you view that as good thing or a bad thing depends on your own preferences.</p>
<p>thanks, this is just what I was looking for!</p>
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<p>Not sure who you’ve been talking with, but it is not only consensus, but overwhelming fact is that the Greek scene dominates social life in Hanover. Approx. 50% of the eligibles are active greek. Another large % of the students attend greek functions consistently.</p>
<p>But to be fair, such drinking/partying is prevalent in many small college towns, including Colgate, Williams and Middlebury.</p>
<p>btw: I also think it is easier for girls – no alcohol allowed in the Sororities so being a Greek girl is much different than a Greek guy.</p>
<p>I was a hard partying fraternity President! It was a great four years. </p>
<p>It is much easier to be unaffiliated at Dartmouth as a girl than a guy. I would just go into Dartmouth with an open mind and if you athletically inclined, join one of the sports teams that sees a lot of walk ons. The big sports have recruits, but the smaller ones like crew or sailing have mostly walk ons. Even better are the club sports like rugby or ultimate. Those are all walk on and a lot of freshman guys play those for a year or two (you don’t need to know how, they teach you). That would give you a large and eclectic group of friends outside your trip group and hallmates as a freshman. The upperclassmen who play those sports will invite all the freshman to their fraternities to hang out on non-party nights, so you can get a peak at what they are like with your teammates with you, less intimidating that way. The majority of guys will end up joining some fraternity and you will end up with some friends at a variety of houses. That is the way to be an independent guy at Dartmouth. It lets you comfortably dip your toe in when you want to.</p>
<p>This is crazy. If fifty percent of the students are greek affiliated, then fifty percent are not greek affiliated. My daughter attended Dartmouth for four year and had almost nothing to do with the frats. She went to frats a few times and didn’t see the appeal. She made friends with other people who had the same reaction to the frats and she had a great four years at Dartmouth.</p>
<p>My D was not in a sorority but enjoyed the benefits of the social scene sponsored by the Greek houses. All parties are open and inclusive. She has wonderful friends - some are in frats or sororities and some are not, some are in co ed frats or affinity houses. Friendships develop from organizations, classes, clubs, semesters abroad, etc. She also is very very close to a handful of professors and has dinner, etc. with them. Social life can take many forms. </p>
<p>I have another daughter who was very opposed to greek life when she was looking at colleges. She wanted to apply to a small liberal arts school in New England that did not have frats. She went for an overnight while trying to decide whether to apply to that school ED. No frats but rampant out of control partying in the dorm where she was staying - her host passed out, kids got sick, etc. She did not apply and instead went to school elsewhere and joined a sorority and spent a lot of time at her boyfriend’s frat. She completely changed her opinion and found the greek system had many benefits for those who wanted that option. The poster that said keep an open mind makes a very good point.</p>
<p>“spent a lot of time at her boyfriend’s frat”</p>
<p>Lol…maybe she changed</p>
<p>Can someone clarify what the drinking policy/practice is at Dartmouth. It sounds like frats are free to serve all comers regardless of age and affiliation. It sounds like sororities are not allowed to serve? And dorms can?</p>
<p>Official policy: [Alcohol</a> Policy](<a href=“Home | Dartmouth Student Affairs”>Home | Dartmouth Student Affairs)</p>
<p>No one is allowed or “free” to serve underage persons. Does it happen? yes. Is it a violation of state law as well the college policy? Yes. Local houses can serve drinkers of legal age; national houses cannot. I think that’s the basic rule. It’s not necessarily a fraternity/sorority thing.</p>
<p>Is this policy a joke? From what I’ve read on CC and elsewhere, there’s rampant underage drinking, binge drinking, etc. going on at Dartmouth especially at the frats. President Kim was even quoted as saying he cannot control the Frats. Is there a reason sororities don’t serve alcohol while frats do? Is it a money thing? If this is really the policy than a few breathalyzers ought to deployed and they’d fine most of the student population near or above the limit including those under 21.</p>
<p>LakeClouds, every college in the country has underage drinking. heck, every high school in the country has underage drinking. obviously, all colleges have an official alcohol policy that upholds the law of the land. Worth noting that a LOT of college presidents have banded together in an attempt to get the drinking age reduced because they recognize that it would be better to work with college kids than to force them to work around the law. You can find that initiative here - [Amethyst</a> Initiative » Welcome to the Amethyst Initiative](<a href=“http://www.amethystinitiative.org%5DAmethyst”>http://www.amethystinitiative.org)</p>
<p>At Dartmouth, all fraternities and sororities have alcohol, many of the sororities don’t have official “open” parties, but they still have alcohol. and yes, there is a lot of alcohol in dorms and off campus as well.</p>
<p>My D is in a sorority, an officer. There is no drinking allowed in the national sororities and to the extent any is going on it is minor and very much under the radar. The frats are of course a completely different story. Greek membership is limited to sophomores and above and I believe the percentage affiliated of that group is somewhat higher than 50%, somewhere in the 60% range. There is a vast difference between sororities and frats as has been noted.</p>
<p>I went to Dartmouth in the late 1980s, so perhaps this is an outdated view, but based on the above posts, I think times have not changed much. I was a woman who did not go greek, and it was no problem for me. I had plenty of friends both in and out of the greek system. The fraternity parties are rarely exclusive, meaning anybody can attend. The more difficult question is what to do in Hanover if you don’t enjoy attending the fraternity parties. I am not sure if they have managed to greatly expand the social opportunities outside the fraternities. My own observation at school was that the fraternity craze tends to die down junior year, and by senior year, most people are not looking for the big parties and would rather just hang out in small groups. </p>
<p>What about dorm parties, house parties, Dartmouth’s comedy shows, the local college bar? </p>