I’m looking at WashU, but I’m not too keen on joining greek life. I’m fine with a greek presence, but i don’t want to have to rely on frats/sororities for all social events. Are there social events on campus without joining a sorority at WashU, or will I be completely "outcast"and bored if I’m not part of the greek scene?
According to WUSTL, the Greek involvement rate is 38%. This means that 62% of undergrads are not in a fraternity or sorority. I’ll go out on a limb and say that there’s no way 62% of students at WashU don’t have any fun – parties, going to games, participating in clubs, checking out St. Louis venues, etc.
Greek life brings organization and certainty to your social schedule, but you do not have to go Greek to have fun.
You can still have a social life even if you don’t go greek. A lot of my friends aren’t in greek life and theyre perfectly happy.
More girls are in sororities than guys are in frats- I think its something like 50-60% of girls are in sororities compared to only 30% of guys in frats (its easier to get a bid to sororities than it is for frats) so you might feel a bit left out after rush 2nd semester if your a girl. I’d say that it does get a bit exclusive after rush tho bc ppl start hanging out a lot with their new “sisters” to get to know them. Also I think it also depends on the type of ppl you hang with- If you hang with girls who plan on rushing then you might feel more left out and If you make friends with girls who don’t rush then youll see that the whole greek life scene doesn’t affect you.
Also, before mid-freshman year, I vowed never to rush a sorority- I just thought that it wasnt my scene and I didn’t like the vibe/rep of the whole srat life. But I changed my mind last minute and rushed and I am so glad that I did. Im not the most out-there person so being in a sorority really helped me be more social and I met a bunch of really great people. Also its rlly nice to have a group of girls to feel like you belong with. I definitely don’t “rely on my sorority for social events” and I don’t just hang out with my “sisters” either. Sororities at WashU are nothing like those are public unis, and you might just change your mind about rush after you realize this.
Overall tho, you def wont be outcast or bored. As a girl, you can go to most frat party non-mixers if that’s your scene and theres also mixers and cool activities for other non-Greek clubs on campus sometimes. As a freshman tho, you might thing that greek life is all the social events that there is, but youll see more options as the years progress.
Are there some houses (sororities specifically) that are known for partying hard? Are there sororities known for high gpas? Service?
@Winky1 There are no sorority “houses” at washu technically. There are always groups of girls in each sorority who party harder compared to others. Going thru rush, I swear almost all the sororities claimed to “have the highest GPAs”. One thing forsure tho is that sorority girls at Washu arent known to have low GPAs- you can get put on probation in your sorority if your GPA falls too low. All sororities have philanthropy as service. If you want to join greek life for service, I think theres a coed fraternity focused on community service
Our student is in the Greek system and loves it – but has many, many friends and roommates who are not in Greek life. From what student has said, there is not a lot of pressure to “stick” with others in Greek system. Sure there are required events that one has to participate in, but there is also some flexibility. Wash U students are busy and engaged in many activities outside of Greek life and, for the most part, the sororities and fraternities seem to respect that.