<p>I heard from a friend of mine that Harvard has a small greek system thats not officially recognized by the school. Is this true? If so are these 'academic' frats or actual frats? Which ones are on campus?</p>
<p>The school's finals clubs are notoriously exclusive, particularly towards freshman males, and function much like frats.</p>
<p>Harvard has a few Greek frats but none are on campus nor are they officially recognized. And the few students who join frats at Harvard do not live at the frat houses but continue to live in their residence Houses on campus. The Final Cubs have some features in common with Greeks (parties and varying degrees of exclusivity) but are not true frats. Neither are very much of a Big Deal on campus except to those students who choose to belong to them.</p>
<p>"Neither are very much of a Big Deal on campus except to those students who choose to belong to them."</p>
<p>I'm not so sure about that - seems like a big deal to freshmen when all the late-night action on campus is at the Finals Clubs and only the women are allowed in. The campus itself doesn't have the 24/7 vibrancy and parties of many more compact colleges and universities, so it seems that the Clubs are often the only thing going after a certain hour.</p>
<p>They are a big deal only to those who want to attend their parties--which does not mean all students. Coureur and I have kids who are students at Harvard. And it appears, neither has shown the least interest in the finals clubs.</p>
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Do you go to Harvard, posterX? Because if you did, you'd know that only a small percentage of students go to finals clubs. And, the clubs are the only thing happening at like 3 AM, but that's how it is at all the Boston schools I've ever partied at (and it's been quite a few).</p>
<p>hotpiece101, as a rising junior here at Harvard, I completely agree with you on your assessment. I've learned to just take posterX's comments with a grain of salt -- based on your posts, it seems like you've been around CC for a while, and posterX is a Yale troll.</p>
<p>i thought he was a yale troll...it's so stupid that he would pretend to know the harvard social life when he doesn't even go to harvard...</p>
<p>How do you know I don't go to Harvard? My only point is to look into things in detail, have an open mind about what a "frat" is and consider who and who isn't excluded from their parties, as well as the timing and prominence of those parties in relation to campus social life as a whole. I don't have anything to do with Yale - sure, Yale, MIT, Princeton, Cornell and other top schools have clubs/frats/societies too but they factor into the campus social life in VERY different ways than the finals clubs at Harvard do. If you're comparing schools, just visit each and do your research, even perhaps read a few articles written by Harvard students on the subject of finals clubs -- and you'll be fine. Don't make a decision based on what you hear on a board - wait until you are really certain of your choices. </p>
<p>The only thing I will say is that from the looks of how things are going, you're only going to hear the sanitized version of the finals clubs on this board -- realize that there are very different perspectives held by large numbers of students.</p>
<p>^ so you DO go to Harvard?</p>
<p>You don't have anything to do with Yale? Umm...yeah. Everyone, just read his past posts. I doubt anyone would defend Yale so vehemently if they had 'nothing to do with it.' </p>
<p>Wow...I've rarely encountered such a shameless troll on message boards.</p>
<p>There are a number of Crimson articles about the final clubs if you are interested. Should they be abolished? (Hard to do since they are independent of the U.) Should they be co-ed? (So far clubs have voted no?) Should there be women's final clubs. (A few were founded, but don't have the endowments, connections or buildings the men's clubs have.) They always seemed icky but harmless to me.(This is back in the 70s.) I never went to any of their parties, and only knew one guy who was a member of a club. I guess I don't really see why it's so important to have somewhere to party at 3am.</p>
<p>posterx gets the details wrong that's how to know that he/she doesn't go to Harvard.</p>
<p>It's sad for Yale that posterx reps them. </p>
<p>For questions about Harvard Windcloud has good perspective and reliable information.</p>
<p>OP: Harvard has Sigma Chi, SAE, and AEPi. Sigma Chi (I believe) has a house, but only a few people live in it. SAE + AEPi just throw parties in dorm rooms/common areas.</p>
<p>There are also three sororities... Delta Gamma, Kappa, & Theta. Same deal, not recognized by the university + don't have houses.</p>