Frat Parties Dominate Social Scene?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

<p>I'm looking into applying to UPenn but I'm getting the vibe that frat parties dominate the social scene. Do most students choose to spend their weekends at these parties?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Keep in mind that less than 30% of Penn undergrads join frats and sororities, leaving more than 7,000 undergrads who are not part of the Greek system. Frat parties can play a relatively large part in the social scene during freshman year, before anyone has pledged or otherwise formed social bonds and groups through other channels. But there is enough happening right on campus, as well in surrounding University City and nearby Center City, that a Penn undergrad can easily avoid frat parties and share a rich and vibrant social scene with lots of other Penn undergrads, and as I indicated above, more than 7,000 of them do just that.</p>

3

<p>However, isn’t Penn the source of the movie “Animal House”? :-)</p>

<p>Not denying there are sane individuals however at Penn :-). My son hopes to attend and he has no partying interests whatsoever.</p>

4

<p>^ “Animal House” was inspired by Dartmouth:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>[National</a> Lampoon’s Animal House - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lampoon’s_Animal_House]National"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Lampoon’s_Animal_House)</p>

<p>Penn, on the other hand, is “The Social Ivy.” :)</p>

5

<p>LOL, my bad :-)</p>

6

<p>^ We’ll let it slide . . . this time.</p>

<p>But if it happens again . . . . . . FOOD FIGHT!</p>

<p>:p</p>

7

<p>You have to keep in mind that the archetype of the “typical frat” only comprises part of Greek life. Fraternities fall into numerous categories. There are, of course, the more bro/fratty frats (Beta, SAE, Kappa Sig, Pi Kapp) that would meet most people’s expectations about what a frat is like. </p>

<p>However, many fraternities have much more distinctive personalities. Frats like Castle, Zete, as well as Theos and Owls, attract more of a downtown crowd, usually international/NYC/LA, wealthy, typically into cocaine etc., which wouldn’t typically be associated with “frat life.” There are numerous Jewish fraternities which usually diverge from the typical frat archetype as well (Sammy, AEPi, TEP, ZBT). There are waspy frats (Phi Delt, St. A’s), up and coming frats like Fiji, and dozens more which fall into random sub-categories. Honestly, much of the social scene is, in fact, built around fraternities, but don’t be so quick to write it off as the typical “frat scene” portrayed in the movies.</p>

8

<p>Wait, newyorkie, do you mean under 21? Just because technically, 18+ are legal adult (minor is 17 or under).</p>