<p>I'm a freshman and I made the decision to not "go Greek." The trouble is, everyone who I befriended in the first week of college are now pledges who are spending all their time on the row with their new "frat bros," especially when it comes to night life. basically I feel totally displaced.</p>
<p>Any words of reassurance from someone whose shared my experience? I still think I made the right choice, but for the time being I could use some words of confidence</p>
<p>There are plenty of freshman guys who didn’t “go Greek”, my son included. It is still so early in the year. Be open to seeking out these guys. What dorm are you living in?</p>
<p>I don’t share your position (I’m a girl, for starters), but I can say that I’ve met a ton of people who aren’t in frats! What about people in your classes or student orgs on campus?</p>
<p>I think you made a mistake.</p>
<p>I went to Cornell, albeit 40 years ago.</p>
<p>I didn’t join a frat, because I thought it was stupid and juvenile.</p>
<p>While I still kind of feel that way, the fact is that if you join a frat, you have 40 ready made friends, and you have invites to parties. For example, the sister sorority might invite you to their parties, because you are a member of their “brother” frat.</p>
<p>And frat guys at Cornell would often find out about parties that girls at Syracuse were putting on.</p>
<p>I know this is not want you want to hear, but I have told my son to join a frat.</p>
<p>@floridadad55-I’ve never said anything like this online before, but I think your post is ridiculous. First things first, if OP wants to know about parties, all he has to do is go on facebook once a day. It’s all there. </p>
<p>Only 17% of USC students are in the “traditional” Greek system. This means at 83% of students have no Greek affiliation whatsoever, so I don’t see why the OP won’t make friends with some time. Yeah, he probably won’t have friends tomorrow or later today, but building friendships takes work. </p>
<p>I, for example, live off-campus (I’ve said this before). I can’t tell you how many people have told me that I’d have no social life by living away from the school. I would argue that, two weeks in, my social life is stronger because I’ve made friends in every dorm and hang out with people all over campus, not just in one building or on one floor. The same could be said for a guy who isn’t in a frat. He’ll be able to find guys all over. </p>
<p>Seriously, OP: join clubs. Strike up conversation in your classes. Introduce yourself to people in line at the Tutor Center or the dining halls. It’s totally doable. </p>
<p>I don’t know why you’d make a post which would obviously make the OP feel worse about his decision…</p>
<p>I disagree with Floridadad. Yes you might find 40 ready made friends in a frat, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find friends elsewhere. Perhaps partying isn’t the OPs thing. One thing I remember well from my first year at UVA, 25 years ago, is that just because you make friends with someone the first week, does not make them life-long friends. The people who will be your life-long friends are the ones that you have things in common with. It sometimes takes time to discover these people. </p>
<p>Be sure to join some clubs/organizations that share your passion. That is where you will meet people like you.</p>
<p>i wish i rushed but i transferred and didnt want to ruin 1 of my 4 remaining semesters
if you want to party, go greek</p>
<p>Visited S(frat pledge) last weekend. There are lots of people in your position. Once the “pledge” portion is over…many of those guys who you made friends will have more time to do things outside the frat…or so I am told by S and some of his older friends who are now full “brothers”. Right now…they have to be there ALOT as pledge requirements. 
Good luck. Fight on!</p>
<p>Did you swing by the involvement fair a few weeks ago? Many student groups and organizations are probably still accepting freshman; these are great ways to get involved (without spending several thousand dollars a semester) and you’ll meet people with similar interests.</p>
<p>What about people in your major program? Your dorm hall? Your classes?</p>
<p>I will echo victoriaheidi’s statement that if you want to party, just go on Facebook (or walk up and down Menlo) on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday. There are LOTS of non-Greek parties during the school year, and they’re usually more fun! (And since you’re a guy, you won’t be harassed trying to go to a non-Greek party.)</p>
<p>Be open and friendly and you will find people who aren’t in frats to be your friend. I also want to dispel the common freshman male belief that all non-Greek guys are “nerds.” Some, like you, just don’t care for the system or have other things they’d rather be involved in.</p>
<p>Do you play a sport? Why not join an intramural team?</p>
<p>Also — girls make great platonic friends, too! And I bet they can introduce you to their guy friends as well.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The BEST advice for any Freshman. Out of all the people I met or hung out with freshman year, I really only remained friends with 4 or 5 of them all throughout college. My friends were the ones who were interested and involved in what I liked.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Hmm … I went to Cornell 30 years ago and … I let’s just say I had a VERY different experience than Florida Dad. </p>
<p>Eventually I figured out that after “everyone” went out to frat parties and/or drinking that there were actually a lot people still in the dorm … I would wander the hall and find the other students still around and see if I arrange a card game / trip to a movie / trip to game on campus / etc … and eventually developed my core group of non frat/party friends.</p>
<p>Some of the coolest people I know are in no way affiliated with Greek life. Anti-Greek, perhaps.</p>
<p>I recommend that you join some clubs, find your niche. You can become just as involved with extracurriculars as these Greek guys are with Greek life if you want. Club sports are also a really great place to meet people: Triathlon Team or Ski & Snowboard if you’re really intense, or Frisbee if you want more of a team sport.</p>
<p>As a first year student myself, I call BS on that 17 to 20% figure USC thrown around. It aint even close to accurate from personal experience and I dont even live in New North…That is not to say that there aren’t people outside the system though. They just seem a lot less vocal than do Greeks. Asking people to find a niche when they dislike a system is a bit of a cop out in my opinion though because there’s gonna be people of every kind at every single school. The problem is that they definitely do seem difficult to find at USC. I might be getting into controversial territory here and a bit off topic so bear with me. First, there already seems to be a sort of racial togetherness thing going on everywhere on campus. One look around EVK and the much touted USC diversity is in shambles. Asians generally hang out with Asians and whites with their generally greek white counterparts. African Americans seem to be the exception but they are very underrepresented imo. Still, there are opportunities beyond Greek life but they aren’t as easily available as you might think they might be at a large uni like USC. But yeah, that 17% figure is at least half too underestimated probably more</p>
<p>Beercules, let’s do some math, shall we?</p>
<p>Roughly rounding the number, let’s assume USC has 37,000 UG students. That’s freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors and those students who are a bit in between. IFC (who governs the “Traditional” Greek houses that are associated with “The Row”) says that have 2,650 members. (Go look on their website!)</p>
<p>That being said, this works out to be somewhere between 7%-8% of the UG student body in “Traditional” frats and sororities. I’m assuming the other 10% come from students in ethnicity or major-based Greek organizations. (ie: Film fraternity, Latina sorority, etc.)</p>
<p>You probably think the number is higher because you’re projecting; you see a bunch of frat tees and sorority tank wearing people on campus and assume there are more of “them” than their actually is. The Greeks are a present group, but that doesn’t mean that USC is swarming with them. By these numbers, around 35,000 students are non-Greek! That’s a hell of a lot of friends to choose from.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Non-Greek activities and opportunities aren’t available at USC? Because it’s a big school? Really? I, along with all the other posters in this thread who are current USC students and parents of USC students beg to differ. I’m a USC grad student and I did my UG at USC as well; I (and everyone else) speak from experience. </p>
<p>There are PLENTY of opportunities at USC but you have to go find them; they aren’t going to magically drop in your lap. And guess what? That mentality would hold true at ANY college, large or small. Stop getting yourself so caught up in the “Greek” “us v them” crap and go find something to do. “As [we] might think”…My god. So you’re telling us all the student orgs, intramurals, and other EC activities we here did at USC aren’t really “opportunities” as great as you think Greek life is? My god.</p>
<p>And as far as your “racial togetherness” theory goes — I feel sorry for you, bro. Maybe you’re projecting again, or maybe you’re the one excluding yourself from those not in your ethnic group. I’m half Hispanic, but identify as “white” and I wasn’t in a sorority and not all of my friends were white, either. I had African American and Asian roommates, if we want to get specific and resort to that stupid “categorization.” My close friends at USC came in all different shapes, sizes and colors…and I know this to be true of nearly every other student at USC as well. So, your argument is not only immature and moronic, it’s untrue.</p>
<p>^ Of the approximately 37,000 students at USC, only 17,000 or so are actually undergrad so your figures are a little off. I agree it definately feels alot more than 20% when you’re walking around.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s a misleading statistic. Yes, it’s not a lie that there are 37,000 undergrads, but if you look on collegeboard and USC’s own website the total FULL TIME undergrads are actually much closer to something like 17,000. You know, the ones that will actually live on campus and be on campus most at least half of the week and contribute to USC’s undergraduate social atmosphere. </p>
<p>[College</a> Search - University of Southern California - USC - At a Glance](<a href=“College Search - BigFuture | College Board”>College Search - BigFuture | College Board)</p>
<p>EDIT: sheepz beat me to the punch. I completely agree with him. Walking around USC it feels way more than 17% because it actually is more than that since part time students don’t always contribute to the campus social life consistently. It really is way more than 20% when you actually “do the math” with the FULL TIME undergraduate stat and not the misleading 37,000 “official enrollment report.” The math comes to ~16% interfraternity council affiliations, not even counting the special ethnic greek affiliations which make that percentage skyrocket even more. USC is definitely one of the most Greeked up campuses (not in a bad way obviously), I am sure most people agree with me here.</p>
<p>Zelda,
I was just stating what I saw around campus. Like I also said, there are plenty of other opportunities but a lot of the other organizations are not nearly as vocal as the Greek ones and so, it might be a little more difficult even if you are actively looking for them. </p>
<p>I never said that opportunities outside the Greek system aren’t great. Also never implied that non-Greek opportunities aren’t available because its a big school because that, well, just doesn’t make any sense. </p>
<p>I understand and somewhat agree with you about the racial togetherness thing but these are still exceptions. Walk into any of the dining halls and see for yourself. People are very open to being friends with those of other races no doubt, but it just seems like most are rather comfortable within their circle. </p>
<p>About the Greek thing, sheepz and gold3n have it right on. </p>
<p>Finally, I am shocked by your animosity. I don’t believe I made any comments that would be considered offensive, and I apologize if I did unknowingly do so. So please, it would be great if you were a little more respectful in your posts. I understand that you have pride in the school, and so do I. I wouldn’t have gone here otherwise but it is also foolish to disregard what is some serious tinkering on the university’s part.</p>
<p>this whole thread is ridiculous: JUST RUSH FOR SPRING IN JANUARY 2012 ITS GONNA BE OKAY NOT BEING IN A FRATERNITY FOR 3 MORE MONTHS</p>
<p>I agree. Just rush next semester if you are complaining about not rushing. It’s not that big of a deal. Hopefully you’ll get a bid from a house you really fit well with.</p>
<p>Honestly? Yeah, it LOOKS like a ton of people when you see Greek shirts and bags everywhere you go. Is it a ton of people? I don’t know…yeah, if it’s 2890 people (that’s assuming 17% of 17,000), that’s a large number, but the Greek system doesn’t feel as large from the inside as it probably looks from the outside. Maybe it’s just because I live off-campus, but I really know very few Greeks.</p>
<p>I don’t know, I think saying USC students knowingly segregate themselves by race and that there aren’t opportunities to make friends and socialize outside the Greek system is pretty offensive, don’t you think? Maybe you thought you were being polite in bringing this up, but I think if a lot of students, Greek or not, heard you say this, they might have a bone to pick with you. Golden is a UCLA student, so having him on your side isn’t beneficial in this case since he regularly likes to slander the school as much as he can.</p>
<p>Also, I think saying part-time or commuting students shouldn’t be considered part of the USC student body is pretty offensive as well. They still attend classes, they’re still part of the school and I know many commuters and part-time students (myself included) who socialize with their classmates on a regular basis. </p>
<p>I’ll say it again: Not everyone is Greek, and not all white students are Greek. You need to do some digging to find where you’ll fit in, but I bet if you stop dwelling on the fact you’re not in a frat you’ll actually meet a lot of great people who you share interests with it. If, by Christmas, you’re still torn up and sad inside about not being in a frat – rush. and then stop with the racial comments; those are bound to make you some enemies if you say that in real life to people at USC.</p>
<p>I don’t think less than 3,000 is a very “large” number either.</p>