<p>I had a horrible high school experience due to family medical issues. I missed out on a lot of teenage life/milestones. I'm a social girl, and I'm "popular" (for lack of a better word), and I want to have some real fun that I haven't been able to have these past four years.</p>
<p>My dream school is NYU. I dont think I'll get in as a freshmen, so I plan on doing a year in my hometown first and working really hard to get in from there. </p>
<p>But, besides NYU, I would love to apply to some colleges that have a strong greek life on campus? Any recommendations?</p>
<p>Please don't argue with me about choosing a school based on drinking/social life. I understand university is meant for learning, and I fully intend on doing that. I just would like to have some fun in the process :)</p>
<p>You can have fun without drinking. Just saying. If you’re looking at NYU then you might want to look at Northwestern (Although I’m a little biased, I applied ED, I LOVE it). It’s extremely close to Chicago, fairly big greek life (not quite as “fratty” as the south though), great academics, etc.</p>
<p>I think it’s almost as important to consider the social life of the school as the academic side of it. After all, you do have to live there for four years, and you want to be comfortable. Lots of people on CC have made threads saying they love their school academically but hate it socially, and often it makes them unhappy and not do as well as they otherwise could. </p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I picked my school largely based on social life, because I had had a difficult time in high school and wanted to have some fun for once. Now I don’t party as much as I used to, but I still really love it. My school is great academically as well though, particularly in my major, so just find a school that is good academically but still has a good party scene - I promise you most any big school (and a good amount of the smaller schools) will fit this criteria.</p>
<p>Plug for my school - Wisconsin doesn’t have a large Greek scene (10% of the student body, but it’s 40k people), but those who are in it LOVE it and there’s so many ways to be involved. It’s a good scene. I was in a sorority, but dropped out due to personal reasons. It’s cool because if you aren’t in it, it doesn’t hurt you, but if you are in it, you can be as involved as you want. It’s something for everyone. We have a truly legendary party scene and we’re one of the best public schools as well!</p>
<p>There are TONS of school that fit your bill. Can you afford to pay full price at NYU? They are reputed to be pretty stingy with financial aid… you could get a great education and have a lot of fun for a much lower price at a lot of large universities. Even OOS tuition is cheaper than NYU. You can always move to NY after graduation, and not be saddled with a lot of debt.</p>
<p>If you want a traditional party school experience–it’s unlikely you will get it at NYU.</p>
<p>What is it that makes NYU your dream school? And can you describe what kind of party atmosphere you are seeking?
If we had more details we could help you more.</p>
<p>There are a lot of schools that are excellent academically that also have a good reputation for social life.</p>
<p>NYU is not gonna have your traditional Greek life and party school experience primarily because of its non traditional campus being in the city which offers more social events, clubs, and bars. </p>
<p>Also look into the total cost of attendance for NYU, the schools is very expensive and notoriously known for giving poor financial assistance and as a transfer you will unfortunately be put in the position for having to fork over the full sticker price. If you want big Greek life and parties look at schools in the Big Ten and SEC. PSU, Michigan, OSU, Bama to name a few.</p>
<p>“Basically anywhere in the South” is false; I went to a college in the South and it didn’t have strong Greek life on campus, and I know a few colleges in the South that have close to nonexistent Greek life and at least one that doesn’t even allow Greeks on campus.</p>
<p>But colleges with strong Greek life systems DO tend to be concentrated in the South. Try University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), University of Alabama, Auburn, Birmingham-Southern University of Georgia, UNC-Chapel Hill, Vanderbilt, Duke, Wake Forest, possibly UVa. I’ve also heard that Southern Methodist and Louisiana State have big Greek scenes. I think generally large public universities in the South do tend to have strong Greek life scenes, although I wouldn’t make that assumption and would investigate before I committed to going anywhere.</p>
<p>Non-Southern colleges are Lehigh, DePauw (where 75 percent of the student body is Greek!), Bucknell, Penn State, Ohio State, Oklahoma State and USC.</p>
<p>I also agree that you won’t find the traditional party scene at NYU.</p>
<p>go find a list of schools in the SEC conference. Put your finger on any of the schools, except for maybe Vanderbilt, and you got yourself a winner.</p>
<p>Honestly though, drinking is way overrated. Also, half the guys in frats are d-bags to the bone. You sure you want to mess with that?</p>
<p>If you are thinking about NYU chances are you wouldn’t mind schools in the tri-state. Come out to Rutgers- New Brunswick. I’m a freshmen here now and I love it. Awesome social life (and I mean awesome) but the school is also very good (I think something like 65 in the top schools in the U.S-- which isn’t bad at all). I love it here, and it sounds like you would too.</p>