Hi! I was just accepted into the Emory main campus through early decision. I am super excited, as I fell in love with the school because of its size, location near the city, reputable academics and business school, sizeable Greek community, and especially the emphasis on club/intramural sports as opposed to varsity DI sports. However, a college experience consisting of parties and alcohol is also very important to me, and I had just assumed that every college would have this. Reading through other College Confidential Posts, I have heard completely conflicting views of the social life ranging from “there’s alcohol everywhere” to “the party scene is what you make of it” to “the party scene is totally dead”. Because of this, I would love to get a few things regarding the social life clear (mind you, I absolutely plan on joining a fraternity):
How strictly does Emory enforce its alcohol policy? Are kids/frats able to get around this? How intrusive are the faculty's "walk-ins" at frat parties?
How many times a week would a Freshman/Sophomore find a party?
How often will Freshmen/Sophomores go into the city for fun? Juniors/Seniors? How easy are the bars in town on ID's?
How often will kids go to Georgia Tech and UGA for parties and games?
@Emory2022 : Emory has it, trust me. Do not drown yourself in the details of how it works. Some are simply upset because the scene does not look like a public school or some places like Vanderbilt and stuff. Is that really what you need? It isn’t that serious get here and make it work.
Furthermore, no one can estimate generally how much people party per week. It varies so much from person to person (how many individuals are there again, like 6k in ECAS alone, subtracting out GBS, nursing, and Oxford) and often depends on their academic load. Like freshman and sophomores (and even upper classmen) who will apply to the business school probably party more (the requirements to get into the business school typically only involve a couple of truly rigorous courses and once they are there, there are no Friday classes. If those kids want to party, that is what they will do). Those in higher grading subjects probably party more frequently. Those in medium grading and harsher grading tracks and majors are probably more conservative or restrict to weekends. This is not HS, the high achievers (basically everyone) do not essentially take the same classes, nor is there unison in their social choices. Just chill. I am going to with the middle. The party scene is what you make of it, as it basically should be at any school where students claim they have to work hard (anyone claiming it is dead really did not what to go to a place where many of the students, including themselves, had to work hard. They wanted an easy place where they and a huge chunk of the school partied all of the time. Their expectations were just idiotic). And keep an open mind about Greek life. It should not be the thing you pre-commit yourself to before even matriculating/stepping foot on campus. Explore other clubs and socialization methods. It is not a gold standard necessarily and each one has dramatically different reputations.
And pretty much screw what you hear. The people that tend to report on things like that tend to report at the extrema. And people who end up at the extreme usually had ridiculous expectations or caused it to themselves. Much like people who go to these elites and then get on here and post that they weren’t that academically challenged, chose that for themselves. If you go to a medium/bigger place like Emory, any experience, positive or negative, can be easily manufactured.
@Emory2022
There isn’t an alcohol policy
Parties start on Thursday night especially for business students, The clubs have some days of the week for 18+, otherwise you will need a fake especially for Maggies ( local bar).
I’ve only been to Gtech twice. I go to Georgia State University more often. PM me if you like.
If we didn’t apply for aid, will there still be anything for us to see on the financial section of OPUS? Emory says it’s releasing financial aid awards today afternoon.
@VANDEMORY1342 : We know why you go to GSU over Tech though lol. Either will do. And if URM, one should also feel comfortable going over to the AUC. Either way, there are plenty of things to do. I am clueless about these idiots claiming it is dead. I never had a problem when I went there and that was back when they had a supposed(and I do mean supposed) “black out” weeks (or w/e) for freshmen on Greek row. If I wanted to party or have alcohol, it was easy (as far as in town, I don’t know if it still exists but it was pretty popular when I went, I went to the Velvet room via the Greekorgs in the early 2-3 weeks of my freshman year. There were a lot of freshmen including myself. Often Greeks or others will sponsor these discounted parties or nights at particular clubs). Sometimes people just love identifying things to complain about when they don’t make it work for themselves. But if I, a person who did not put such a high premium on partying and alcohol, gained easy access as a freshman and beyond, anybody who isn’t is either living under a rock or is just douchey and has ridiculously high standards for a party scene. They are expecting like tons of Animal House type scenes or something (I would argue that there could be a little of that when I went).
@bernie12 Thanks for the response! I have heard that recently they are cracking down much more on alcohol and fraternities, and some find it difficult to find any fun parties on campus, but I suspect this may just be the people who are just searching for something wrong with their school.
@VANDEMORY1342 I PMed you, but thanks for your response!!
I would still love some more insight, particularly from anyone currently enrolling in the school if that’s possible!!
@Emory2022 I’m currently a student at Emory so I think I can answer your question. Like you, I love to party. I go out pretty much every weekend to frat parties - though I haven’t gone out in the past few weeks because of finals. Emory is strict when it comes to alcohol though people get medical amnesties and pretty much everyone has an alcohol stash. Faculty can be intrusive at times but on big party nights, they aren’t intrusive at all unless it becomes Project X level. The frats pretty much keep their drinks in the rooms on the days when faculty does sweeps. Since I am an Economics and Math major, I don’t have as much free time as some other majors but I do go out around 2 times a week - 3 if I am having a light week. For going into the city for fun, it depends on who you hang out with. Some people I know go into the city 4 times a week. Others maybe 1. I see juniors and seniors going into the city more since they seem to be tired of the frat party scene by then. It seems that people go to Tech and UGA either a lot or almost never. These universities have very selective frats that are very difficult to get into if you’re a guy unless you have a really good ratio (think 1:5 m:f). The only ways to get into them are through having that good ratio or go to frat parties at Emory and meet people who have connections at Tech then go with them to the Tech parties later (which is what I do). The bars are pretty easy on IDs since college students are a pretty big source of income.
I would agree with the point of view that if you want a greek scene and influence, Emory will give you that. If you don’t, it does not dominate the social scene like other schools (Duke, Vandy) so you get both worlds.
Feel free to PM me with any more questions!
@TheTennisNinja : RAs and those folks in reslife do not count as “faculty” (the professors could care less what you do), merely important staff.
And yeah, they have been cracking down, and it may be related to the fact that Emory chooses to be transparent with its sexual assault data (and not fudge its presentation or suppress/cover it up like most), which means they actually have to seriously intervene to get the numbers better without cheating. They have their reasons, but I can’t say that I am that supportive. For example, dorm parties (including C-mont where they are extremely obvious) are nowhere near as hounded as Greekorgs. This seems unfair to me. Within reason, both should be left alone.
The thing about Tech and UGA is that there is more than just Greek parties. Since they are so big, the house and dorm party seen is much larger so they offer more for basically everyone who wants to go party there. If you go to UGA and can’t do a Greekorg, you could hit the bars/Top Dawg, and if you have connections (because you are from GA), there are tons of parties in dorms. One should never really worry about getting into a Greek Party if you go up to Athens as there is so much to do outside of it. You are taking a bigger risk at Tech or Emory if you want to switch it up and get away from Greeklife (but wanna stay on campus) because from what I remember, the house and dorm party scene is not as reliable (I do suppose tons of things happen over at Highland Lake for example and that is, for all intensive purposes, C-mont).
@Emory2022 : Even with the cracking down, you still have to try pretty hard to not find something fun to do. When I hear that, I just blame the student, because it is so easy to either find or make up something to do. Some fools definitely do not have the creativity or will to do their own thing or search for something. They also probably want to stick to routines, so when that is disrupted by something like a social freeze after an incident or some form of enforcement, instead of searching other venues they usually don’t engage they just through their hands up and say: “Well, there is nothing to do”. To me, that attitude doesn’t make much sense if one is seriously out to drink or have fun. I will give other anecdotes. I remember just randomly hanging around at C-mont with friends and then being just randomly invited into someone’s (I definitely didn’t know these folks) apartment to take shots (of course I obliged). Stuff is almost always happening, sometimes you must be willing to stumble into things as opposed to having it pre-set (honestly, that is how the most fun moments or experiences happen. Randomness). Those who can only tolerate “ordered” fun, not willing to be the creator, or not willing to search when their normal venue is unavailable may experience dry spells at Emory, Mind you, I consider myself more of a nerd, maybe a sociable nerd, but a nerd (I don’t view it as much of a negative) nonetheless. True social “I just wanna party” butterflies should definitely not have problems at Emory. The only thing that should naturally and rightfully impede is time spent on academics.
Whether sober or not, me and my groups of friends managed to find so much to do. Boredom can be one’s friend in terms of learning how to create fun moments (hint: Emory has a giant forest on Campus called Lullwater. I once rode a golfcart through it at not…do not ask more questions as to why and how nor my mental state at the time). When in doubt, get some alcohol or whatever, and use the campus (it could be as simple as being an idiot on top of the Carlos museum, going under the library tunnel). Non-sober fun should not be limited to a dancefloor, bar, or frat house. Emory has all of that but also has a campus with enough interesting features and places to make a bucketlist of sorts. I really feel as if those who don’t have fun try too hard to stick to either routines or venues that align with perceived social norms for the school and often their perceptions are very wrong and end up limiting their experiences. It’s college, enjoy the academics, but also do what you need to make it fun. This does not involve confining yourself.
@Emory2022 : I wouldn’t know, nor do I care. Again, those policies always seemed enforced in certain areas. I am an alum.
Plus the goal is to always get around the policies. They usually almost always existed as unwritten rules, but seem to be enforced at different levels in response to different occurrences. I would chill and stop worrying. People who want to party will easily find a way. You are way too concerned about this.
If you are not willing to try that hard, go find the boring folks that would rather sit around and complain that there is nothing to do instead of finding something to do lol. Seriously, that is all it comes down to.
@Emory2022 Hmm I feel like if anything, Emory (and its peer schools) would be more likely to have more strict policies. The recent deaths at schools like LSU from pledging frats have caused a lot of concern as to how strict colleges are pertaining to alcohol and greek life in general so to avoid anything like this, I feel like universities in general will become more strict.