<p>Would you feel out of place at Gettysburg? I'm gonna apply this year.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m totally in the same boat. The Princeton review seemed to shake it off, providing plenty of other options, but i’d love to know first hand.</p>
<p>We have friends who work there who say there is definitely a place for kids who are not into Greek Life. My son is also not interested in Greek life, but is very interested in G’Burg.</p>
<p>Hi,
I can give you my perspective as a parent. My daughter is abroad and traveling this weekend, but I’ll email her and ask her what she thinks, also.</p>
<p>It hasn’t seemed to be a problem. She is not Greek, and has plenty to keep her occupied. However, she does have many friends who are Greek, and she does sometimes attend Greek social events, parties, etc. One of her three roommates is Greek and the comments I have heard about her sorority are that it is very time consuming and VERY expensive, at least for the first year, and that she ( dd) is glad that she is not involved.</p>
<p>However, I think that maybe for guys, Greek life might be a little more common. I’m not positive on this, and it may be that it just seems that way to me because there are more fraternities on campus than sororities. </p>
<p>I just checked Gettysburg’s website, and it says that 47 percent of upper class students are involved in Greek life. Yes, that’s a lot, but it also means that 53 percent are not Greek. I’m pretty sure you can find a place to fit in either way. You may even change your mind about the whole thing at some point. My daughter THOUGHT she might be interested in a sorority, and now is perfectly happy that she is independent. On the other hand, she knows kids who thought that Greek life was kind of elitist and dumb, and now they are perfectly happy to be involved in fraternities and sororities.</p>
<p>Bottom line, in my opinion, is that your happiness either way depends on YOU. There are plenty of niches; you just need to find the right one for yourself. Good luck in your college searches.</p>
<p>Ok, here is a slightly edited version of what my daughter emailed me about Greek life at Gettysburg.</p>
<p>"Greek life is a huge presence on campus but it doesn’t dominate campus activity. It is much harder for men to be independent on campus than women…maybe because of the houses. But I know plenty of people who do it and are fine. I have no issues…completely comfortable on campus. It’s just how you involve yourself, I think.</p>
<p>Tell them there is absolutely a place for everyone. Greek life is a prominent part of the campus culture, yes, but it’s not an absolute kind of thing."</p>
<p>My take again: I think the whole thing about it being a little harder for men is because the fraternities are so much more visible. She mentioned the houses. It is pretty much required that if a guy joins a frat, he must live in a frat house. If not, I think he has to pay the fraternity an extra fee. There are a lot of frat houses on campus. Women in sororities, however, live in regular campus housing. There are no sorority houses, so the women are dispersed among all the students on campus.</p>
<p>Hope this helps those of you who may be on the fence about applying because of apprehension about Greek life on campus.</p>
<p>Also as a Gettysburg parent I can say my son did not join Greek life. Hes a senior now and has loved his experience at Gettysburg.</p>
<p>Greek life is very big at Gettysburg. It dominates the social scene. Gettysburg is a great college, but honestly Greek life is big there. Freshman can’t pledge so 25% of the student body is removed from the calculation regarding percentage of students participating in Greek life. Of the remaining three classes, sophmores, juniors and seniors almost 50% participate in Greek life. Can you find other things to do? Yes. Are there activities that the school provides for everyone? Yes. Are there things that are only available if you are in Greek life? Yes. There are many activities that require participation if you are involved in a fraternity or sorority and therefore you are unavailable to hang out and do things with non-Greek friends at these times. For many, many, students Greek life is wonderful. However if you are excluded by a Greek organization and passed over it can be a very upsetting experience. Go ask the nice folks at the counseling office what they think about Greek life on campus. Go into it with your eyes wide open. Best of luck with your decision.</p>
<p>The Greek scene is out of control at Gettysburg. The administration claims to have control over the Greek scene but they do not. Hazing is wide spread. It is not if but when Gettysburg will be the next school to make the headlines for hazing gone wrong. The administration, including campus police, is either clearly aware of what goes on behind closed doors and decides to turn a blind eye or they are dense & deft morons. Beware if you are looking at the school because they will put on a show that makes you think that the Greek scene is no big deal. They do this by not allowing fraternity parties to be held during accepted student weekend. They also cajole parents into thinking that much of the down side to the Greek scene is eliminated by having a sophomore rush and by having a short pledge period. Well… sophomore rush just pushes of the inevitable. A five week pledge period? Pshaw - the majority of the fraternities and a few sororities thumb their nose at that rule and do what they want and have a full semester of a reign of depravity and terror over their new brothers and sisters.</p>
<p>Gettysburg College really needs to get the Greek scene and the element it attracts under control if they ever want to really rise up in the ranks and become an elite liberal arts institution.</p>
<p>If you are not into Greek life than BEWARE! Gettysburg is probably a place that you want to avoid or go to with your eyes wide open.</p>
<p>WickedMarlin, do you have a son or daughter who attends Gettysburg? And is he or she unhappy there?</p>
<p>Gettysburg was never in contention for my D because of the Greek life reputation. But there were many small LACs that were eliminated for that reason. Having said that, I think Gettysburg is a great school, and a great fit for many kids.</p>
<p>sschickens, I don’t think that anyone said that Gettysburg wasn’t a great school or a great fit for certain kids. What I see is a group of people who would like to report that Gettysburg College has a very active Greek scene. It should be a serious consideration for all of those that might be looking to apply there. For those kids who might want Greek life, Gettysburg College should be a serious consideration. For those kids that Greek life doesn’t appeal to them they should know that it plays a major role in the social scene at Gettysburg College and they might want to look at similar LAC’s without a Greek scene.</p>
<p>@horsfeathers - Yes I have a child at the school. The experience has been mediocre. There is a good chance that my child will be transferring out of the school. Do you have a child at the school?</p>
<p>I would like to add that I believe that Gettysburg College has a lot to offer and has a tremendous amount of potential. The campus is beautiful. By and large the full time faculty is engaged. The class sizes are small. The school works hard to attract top tier students by offering very attractive merit awards and financial aid packages. There are many interesting opportunities available to students. It is important to know that with all of the many good things about the school the Greek scene does dominate and it is in a very unpleasant way. </p>
<p>The school falls short on the Greek life aspect. In my recent experience as a parent I feel that the school has misled people about the way they handle the Greek scene. I feel deceived and misled. I do not feel that they do enough to monitor the fraternities and sororities. Based upon the things I heard from my child over the winter break - the scene/situation is way out of hand. There is no way to report incidents of hazing without suffering severe ramifications (ie. retaliation & alienation) - the school claims to have a link to an anonymous reporting system however no such link exists. The school offers no way for a student or parent to come forth with a report and feel comfortable that their identity will be protected.</p>
<p>From the Gettysburg College Web site - Under Greek Life - Parents FAQ:
"An anonymous report can also be filed by clicking on the “Anonymous Hazing Report Form” to the left of this page. "</p>
<p>Again, no such link exists! </p>
<p>When I was in college I participated in Greek Life so I am not against fraternities or sororities. I am against vile, disgusting, depraved, demoralizing and degrading behavior. The Greek scene at Gettysburg College is a poor reflection on the school as well as a poor reflection on all fraternities and sororities. It really is a shame. The school should take a stronger stand where Greek life is concerned because it has an impact on the schools reputation.</p>
<p>WickedMarlin, I no longer have a child there since she graduated two years ago.</p>
<p>While I certainly sympathize with any student who is unhappy at college, I think depravity and terror are very strong words. That certainly was not what my daughter experienced when in a sorority, but then she chose her sorority carefully, based in part on whether they conduct hazing activities (and the kind of hazing she was talking about was being made to clean a frat, for example, and not anything depraved). But even that would have put Greek life out of contention for her. She would not put up with any hazing whatsoever.</p>
<p>Greek life is entirely voluntary, and as I described above, the choice of the particular organization to join is also within the students control. My daughter is a pretty conservative person, and there were some sororities that she would not join and some fraternities that she would not frequent. But the groups that she did hang out with were great.</p>
<p>Maybe things have changed dramatically in the last two years, but my daughter loved her Gettysburg experience (and the Greek part was a small part of it) and she still misses it. And vile, disgusting, demoralizing, degrading behavior is not limited to Gettysburg or even to Greek life. My son chose a college specifically because it has no Greek system and the partying there would put Gettysburg to shame.</p>
<p>Horsefeathers - I am glad that your daughter had a good experience. I do take exception to the general tone of your response to me in that it comes across as somehow my child is to blame - I am taking it as a blame the victim attitude. Hazing is a very serious situation. Yes, my choice of words (depraved & vile etc…) are strong however they are not strong enough based upon the incidents that were described to me. I would love to be able to give you a blow by blow detail of some what I now know but this post would probably be pulled down for being offensive -SERIOUSLY! We have an appointment with our family attorney scheduled for next week and it is not to talk about having to clean a fraternity house or having to chug beers (both of which by the way are considered hazing). </p>
<p>As for things changing in two years - I do not know but I think things could quickly change depending upon the people involved. The internet is full of all sorts of pledging rituals and ideas - some mundane and others serious and gross. In the wrong hands these ideas can quickly go out of control.</p>
<p>You are absolutely correct that this type of behavior is not isolated to Gettysburg College but this happens to be a Gettysburg forum not a general forum about hazing or Greek life. It does happen at other schools. There have been two incidents in the last few months at other schools where serious bodily harm came to one fraternity member and death came to another — all over hazing.</p>
<p>My D is a current HS senior who has currently placed Gettysburg as her top choice. Everything I’ve read about Greek life does concern me, however, as D is a homebody teetotaler in general. Her intended major is theatre with a music minor. Does anyone have an opinion on whether that would negate the whole Greek life issue as theatre and music kids tend to be a “frat” of their own?</p>
<p>AMothersLove, I would suggest she visit, sit in on a theatre or music class and spend some time with the students she meets and ask LOTS of questions. Greek life dominates the social scene on campus so it will be important to find out if students in the theater and music departments find that the theatre niche is outside of that sphere. Best of luck! </p>
<p>@beenthereanddone - Thank you for the advice. We have visited twice so far: once during summer so couldn’t get a true feel for campus, and once for conservatory auditions where I’m sure the Greek stuff was squelched. We will definitely have to set up an overnight and I will make sure D asks a lot about the Greek influence. Thank you!</p>
<p>Gettysburg is dominated by Greek life especially for male students. My personal experience was many years ago with criminal behavior never brought to the attention of the authorities, just handled by the school administration which just resulted in the victim being tormented to the point of leaving school. I spoke to a current Gettysburg parent recently and her daughter was complaining about some of the same things I saw, but they thought she was just exaggerating so I think some of the behavior still continues. Their daughter was doing well academically but looking to transfer out to find an environment that fit her better.</p>
<p>Gettysburg has a lot to offer academically but I think students need to go in understanding that Greek life does dominate the social scene and if you are not into that your 4 years there could be very boring due to the small town environment. Almost every friend I had who did not go Greek transferred out by the end of sophomore year.</p>