<p>greek life? I'm definitely not interested in rushing, and I'm wondering how involved students are in the greek systems at Vanderbilt, as I don't really know very much about the school, other than the location and the academic recognition.
Honestly, does the greek system DOMINATE the social scene?</p>
<p>it’s something like 1/3 of the guys and 1/2 the gals are greek. dominate might not be the right word. i’d go with ‘heavily influences’</p>
<p>According to theprincetonreview.com, vanderbilt has the 6th largest “Frat and Sorority Scene” in the country.</p>
<p>So, how is it then for those who do not rush? Curious.</p>
<p>It depends what type of person you are. Anyone on this board who tells you it doesnt dominate the social scene is lying to you (and themselves). If you are a person who can easily ignore everything going around them, then fine, the greek system barely exists. But honestly its in your face on a daily basis. Greek letters are EVERYWHERE. When you go to class a lot of girls wear their sorority shirts, have sorority bags, everything else blah blah. The guys even have shirts. Greek life becomes even more in your face after all the girls rush after 1st semester. I also don’t think I go a week (let alone a day, i’m being lenient) without being asked “what sorority are you in.” However, I do go out fri and sat so it makes sense I am asked this more often. But still… its not like you don’t notice it.</p>
<p>^Wow. Thank you for providing us with such an honest response!</p>
<p>Greek life dominates the social scene on campus, however, if you are willing to produce some false identification, there is still plenty to do in Nashville (bars, clubs, etc). However, I would still recomend rushing even if you do not plan on joining, simply because it is a lot of fun, and I don’t totally know what you mean by social scene. If you mean drinking and partying, then why would you not rush anyway, you cna have a lot of fun doing that and then just dont join? plus you might make some friends and be able to get into their parties anyway simply because you are friends with brothers.</p>
<p>^ haha, I’m a girl, so it would be “friends with sisters.” 
Still, I suppose I had a false impression of what Vanderbilt might be like, and I really appreciate your providing me with this information, because I now know that it probably would not be a very good fit for me! Thank you very much for the info!</p>
<p>amory, if you think you might be interested in Vanderbilt, you should visit. There is just a chance you might meet someone with a different point of view than nicole07.</p>
<p>One half of the female undergraduates are not members of sororities. Two thirds of the male undergraduates are not members of fraternities.</p>
<p>Neither my son nor his girlfriend, both juniors, are members. Both have very active lives, in and out of class, and a lot of friends.</p>
<p>Speaking just as an outside observer, there is no question the Greek organizations are active and visible. Whether or not that would bother an individual who does not belong depends on the individual.</p>
<p>I actually have heard quite a bit about Vanderbilt from one of my cousins who had applied there. From what she told me, and from what the above posters have conveyed, I am pretty sure that it is not a very good fit for me. In fact, my cousin and I are hardly alike, so the idea that Vanderbilt is not the right fit for me is not really too far off! In fact, most of what I’m interested in/looking for at the present time does not really fit with the general descriptions of Vanderbilt (With the exception of the regional location) that I have collected from multiple sources. (School Website, family, applicants, college reference guides, etc.) Thank you very much, all of you, for your responses!</p>
<p>I didn’t mean to be so harsh…but I felt like when I asked this same exact question when I applied, people were a little bit misleading. I am from the North so I didn’t really get the whole Greek scene (until now). So I wasn’t really aware of how it would affect a campus and everything. I do think that it lessens in importance as you get older. I will be a junior next year so I have only been at Vandy the 2 years where it is the “most important.” I also lived in Branscomb my freshmen year (across from greek row), so I was a lot more exposed to it. Also, branscomb was the social dorm…so it seemed like there were more greek members. I think out of ~70 girls on my hall about 55 were greek, I am not exaggerating… it may have been more. I still am able to go out and have fun (and to frats), but its not like you don’t feel the greek presence. Freshmen year is the biggest since most of the freshies go to frats since they cant get into bars yet and most haven’t gotten fakes.</p>
<p>I guess it also depends on what you think dominating the social scene means. Since I hear about it and see letters on a daily basis, that to me is pretty dominant. Rush week is definitely the most obnoxious…every girl is literally OBSESSED and freaking out. </p>
<p>I don’t mean to shy you away from a school you might love. There are a lot of positives. But personally I have found the presence of the greek scene not to be a positive quality for me. I probably would have been better off at a school with a small/no greek scene and in the north. Really depends on what type of person you are. I think many people fabricate the whole “dominating greek scene at vandy” so I wanted to provide you with another viewpoint. </p>
<p>If you have any other questions feel free to PM me</p>
<p>also to midmo…</p>
<p>while you provide the numbers that half the girls aren’t in sororities (it’s actually less than half) what is REALLY important is if the greek scene FEELS dominant or not. I think the number is more like 55% girls, but in reality it feels like 75%, and out of the girls who actually go out on the weekends and drink etc, its probably like 95%. Also, 55% is a lot…thats about 1500+ girls on campus that are involved in sororities.</p>
<p>nicole, you mention that you lived in Branscomb quad your freshman year, and I think that may be a somewhat important point. As you know, but maybe amory doesn’t, all freshmen now live far away from Greek row. I really don’t know whether or not that has made a difference in how students who are uninterested in the Greek scene perceive the social opportunities at Vanderbilt. I am pretty sure it was the hope of administration officials that the freshman Commons residential program would provide non-Greek students with an easy way to find each other.</p>
<p>i’ll be a sophomore at vandy this year and living on the commons didn’t really seem to make a difference. Greek life was still very much in your face and every weekend most freshmen girls (myself included) went to the frats. During rush, the only thing people on my floor could talk about was sororities and bid day was just ridiculous. Every door was covered with sorority letters and what not. </p>
<p>1st semester wasn’t as bad as 2nd semester, but i could still feel the presence of greek life.</p>
<p>nicole07:
I would like to thank you for your responses. Seriously.
I’m probably going to apply to schools that are lacking a Greek system, or at which very little is influenced by the Greek system. I just wanted to see, to what degree, the Greek system impacted the students. Just because it isn’t for me, doesn’t mean that others don’t greatly enjoy, or even depend on it. (In fact, my mom was a sorority member at UCLA.) I’m not meaning to insinuate anything about the Greek way of life, I just know that it is NOT FOR ME and therefore wanted to see just how dominant the sororities and fraternities seem to be on the campus.</p>
<p>I agree with the other students who have posted here 100 percent. (I basically said the same thing in another thread about 6 months ago and got flamed by a parent.) Adults who are not current students cannot offer you the proper perspective.</p>