<p>sooo I am deciding where to apply....I spent a summer at Yale and it seems like ivies are definitely not lacking in things to do socially...so I was just wondering what's a Harvard weekend like? How much do students go out? thannnks...</p>
<p>LOL i know this is a random question when everyone is thinking of admissions and "chance me"....but it's a really important aspect for me so if someone could just give a brief overview, will appreciate it!</p>
<p>Um...depends. Freshman week has been sweet, the thing to do is call friends and meet somewhere in Harvard Yard and talk for...hours, or go to eir room to play ps3/360. And if you're a girl you'll probably be invited to a lot of upperclassmen parties, but playing glow-in-the-dark disk at midnight beats that imo (unless you're at currier, that house feels new and...huge)</p>
<p><---as you can see I'm neither a girl nor a member of a finals club so I don't have any true inside info.</p>
<p>thanks appreciate your answer! </p>
<p>anyone else have any insight?</p>
<p>once school starts, most students only go out friday and saturday nights. what you do on those nights really depends on who you are and who you know. if you're an athlete, there's almost always an older teammate or friend hosting a party in the quad or in one of the river houses. for girls, won't have trouble getting into clubs. if you wanna go into cambridge, you'll never run out of interesting restaurants to try or shows to see. i know a lot of people at BU and BC, so i'm sure i'll be checking those parties out at sometime this year. if you're like most freshman, though, you'll probably just have a bunch of friends over in your room (no alcohol of course), order noch's, and watch tv.</p>
<p>As of freshman week, most of the social opportunities belong to freshman girls and athletes. That being said, if you're interested in going to parties, it isn't tooo hard to find them at upper class houses. Mainly the River houses. Basically if you're a little street smart and confident it isn't hard to go wherever you want. Alot of us spend most nights hanging out in someone's dorm room (no alcohol of course :) ) and talking until 3 in the morning. People are actually much more into partying and drinking here then I thought they'd be.</p>
<p>sound great! I wanted a balance for college where people would be cool with going out and also staying in and just hanging out on the weekends. How does the dorm system work? Do the freshmen live in separate dorms and is it randomly assigned or can we pick where we want to live? hehe sorry lots of questions..</p>
<p>alsooooo</p>
<p>do you think it's possible to have fun without alcohol involved?</p>
<p>17 Freshman dorms, random assignment as per a survey. 12 Upperclass houses and one co-op, houses by random assignment by blocking group (group of up to eight submitting as one), co-op by application/interview.</p>
<p>Fun w/o alcohol, entirely possible, big house parties almost every weekend, personal favorites: 80s and 90s parties, mather lather (as a freshman), sweet and nasty, among others. Also, nobody really imposes alcohol upon you and all suite parties must offer both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.</p>
<p>Haha. Um... read this blog?
sexandtheivy.com by a Harvard student. be forewarned.</p>
<p>hahah i read some of hers before....i dunno i feel like that's kind of a skewed view of harvard...correct me if i am wrong...lol half the time i get lost in her posts</p>
<p>i have heard of final clubs...they don't dominate the social scenes do they?
what about sororites and frats, are they big on campus?</p>
<p>Oh, wow. Sexandtheivy is great (as is Lena, the author), but please don't take her or her experience as typical of Harvard. Some of her posts do a great job of describing the atmosphere + "scene" here, but in terms or her social life... she's one of a kind.</p>
<p>There are three sororities, each having approximately 60-100 members total:
Kappa Alpha Theta (the oldest), Delta Gamma, and Kappa Kappa Gamma. They do not have their own buildings, bur serve as a way for girls to have their own formals, parties, etc., outside the realm of Final Clubs although many of the same people socialize at all of them. </p>
<p>There is one frat, Sigma Chi, which has an old house on Mass. Ave. Look on Wikipedia, they describe the individual final clubs well. For the athletes, and very sociable types, final clubs do have a significant influence on the social scene. </p>
<p>Sororities recruit in the freshmen year, beginning with a meeting in December, and "rush" for two weeks during February. Final clubs "punch" members (males) (except for the Bee and Isis which are female, but mostly New Yorkers and preppies) in their sophomore year in the fall, the process takes months.</p>
<p>None of these groups are officially acknowledged by the university since they are not coed.</p>
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alsooooo</p>
<p>do you think it's possible to have fun without alcohol involved?
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<p>If you know (or at least think you know) me or are me then you'd know that the answer is a big "YES LMAO"</p>
<p>It's hard though, one of my friends is so disappointed that a lot of people (including her roommates) feel the need to drink that she's started taking her anger out on me and a select few others...</p>
<p>I for one have been pretty surprised about how social people seemed to be during freshman week.</p>
<p>My roommates were going to parties pretty much every night and there seem to be quite a few people wandering around the yard drunk at 2 in the morning.</p>
<p>I for one wouldn't consider myself a party person, more like a let's go get ice cream or go to a movie kind of person, so it's been a bit awkward. And yeah... I have been feeling a lot of pressure to go to these parties and drink too. The fact that I don't makes me feel extremely antisocial or something ><</p>
<p>You can go the parties and not drink..some students get their red solo cup, fill it with soda and sip and enjoy the comraderie. No one is the wiser about the lack of alcohol, in fact you'll find others refreshingly sober to converse with, as the drinkers fade.</p>
<p>My D is a freshman there and I can tell having quite a good time. She did not enjoy hs very much in terms of social life. We're happy for her.</p>
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There is one frat, Sigma Chi, which has an old house on Mass. Ave.
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<p>I believe there are actually three frats... at least there were a year or two ago. SAE (sigma alpha epsilon?) and AEPi (alpha epsilon pi?). SAE threw some decent parties in the quad my freshman year (3 years ago), and AEPi has sort of a jewish affiliation, and used to have some decent parties when a guy in the frat had the Quincy balcony suite. Not sure if they're still active or not.</p>
<p>I'm a bit disappointed that there are a few frats around, but ah well.</p>
<p>The final clubs basically serve the same purpose as frats, seducing freshman girls into getting super drunk.</p>