IU Social Life

Colleges and Universities A-Z Indiana University - Bloomington
1

<p>Hey guys, quick question.</p>

<p>So I was wondering what the social scene is exactly on campus at IU. </p>

<p>How easy/difficult is it to meet new people, join fraternities, and the like? It seems a bit intimidating, but I'm sure that's just me being paranoid. </p>

<p>I consider myself moderately social, for instance, I hang out with my friends a couple of times a week and maybe a date too if I happen to be in a relationship at the time. I try to meet new people wherever I go, and I'm pretty motivated to do new things and generally become more social.</p>

<p>However, the group of friends I am currently in isn't exactly composed of the sort of people who party so I don't have much/any experience with parties. </p>

<p>I enjoy going to sports events and things like tailgating quite much as I have been a diehard fan of one team or another my entire life. </p>

<p>Taking a step back and looking at what I said above has made me realize that this seems sort of like a bio page on a dating site XD
Sorry about that, I just would love any input from those who can provide it. </p>

<p>Thanks in advance! </p>

<p>(Also, if any of you have been in a fraternity/sorority, I was wondering how much more time it demanded of you to be in one along with the work you are required to complete for each class)</p>

2

<p>Defining the social scene at IU is pretty broad, considering its size, but I’ll try to do my best.</p>

<p>We are a former #1 party school, so that should say a lot. Students here work hard and party even harder. That being said, if you’re not into the party scene, you can definitely make friends and have fun. It’s very easy to meet people, one of IU’s major plusses is its Hoosier hospitality. </p>

<p>In terms of tailgating…well, I’ll just say that IU has an ‘active’ tailgating scene, just probably not quite like the one you’re envisioning. </p>

<p>In terms of greek life, I’m a member of a sorority and date a fraternity member. If you’re a pretty normal, easy-going, social guy, you should find a home at an IU fraternity, be it on or off-campus. Just go into the rush process with an open mind and you should be fine. Yes it is intimidating, but you have to get past that.</p>

3

<p>You should try and avoid Greek Life (no offense soccergurl7988).</p>

<p>I have visited many of my friends on different campuses and the Greek Life scene varies. At Depauw, Greek Life pretty much controls the social scene, but the frats and sororites are very liberal. You will find a fraternity or sorority that fits you as a person no matter your ethnicity or financial background.</p>

<p>At IUB, the fraternities and sororities are filled with upper class rich white people. If you are a minority or poor, you are going to have a tougher time getting into a fraternity/sorority because they are mostly looking for rich white students.</p>

<p>You can’t do anything about this because each organization votes in new members.</p>

<p>My top reasons why you shouldn’t join a fraternity/sorority:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>You can make friends on your own if you are the average joe and somewhat sociable. I had about 4 different groups of friends that I would hang out with consistantly during my freshman year and to this day (2 years later), they are still my friends and we hang out all the time.</p></li>
<li><p>Dues for fraternities/sororities are expensive. You aren’t paying for your friends, but you are paying for social events such as mixers, formal, rush events etc. This can really leave a dent in your wallet unless your parents are paying for it.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>You could instead use this money towards something else. Remember, you can always go to parties with or without a fraternity/sorority and you can always make friends with or without paying for the social events that fraternities/sororities hold.</p>

<ol>
<li>There will be some people you necessarily don’t like or don’t hang out with. I think the whole concept of “brotherhood” is cheesey. I only consider one my “brother” if I have been friends with them for a while and I know for a fact that I can trust this person.</li>
</ol>

<p>When you join a fraternity/sorority, you will spend about 6-8 weeks with your pledge brothers. Once you initiate, you won’t be as close to any of your other brothers as you are with your pledge brothers. It will take time to get close to the other brothers, especially if hazing was involved during the process.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Networking is apparently a big reason to join a fraternity/sorority, but I have a friend who told me about some brothers in his frat that graduated and now are working at Target or as bank tellers. Networking should not be a reason to join a fraternity.</p></li>
<li><p>You are also paying to participate in philanthropy events, which is basically volunteering for charity and such. You can do this WITHOUT a fraternity/sorority.</p></li>
<li><p>There’s more of an obligation to drink because the fraternities/sororities are heavy on that and some are even into the harder drugs. You feel obligated to party, but no one is forcing you to do so.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I can probably list more reasons if I took the time to think about it. Basically I’m trying to say you can choose your own friends and not have to pay money for it by not joining a fraternity/sorority. It’s very easy to get into the social scene without a fraternity/sorority and no one will look down on you for not being in Greek Life.</p>

4

<p>I’m not going to argue with csh123 because everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I will say that if you’re interested in becoming a member of a greek organization, early in your undergrad is your only option. 95% of fraternity chapters at IU will NOT take upperclassmen, so do it early.</p>

<p>I will, however, refute/clarify a few things that csh123 said:</p>

<p>-Greek life is not just for ‘rich white kids.’ I’m decidedly middle class, don’t wear designer clothes, and don’t drive a fancy car. I’m not a minority, but my chapter had multiple minority members, as did other sororities. Many fraternities have multiple minority members as well, be them African American, Hispanic, Indian, or whatever.</p>

<p>-Dues themselves aren’t necessarily pricey, but you are paying to live in a chapter house. Beta is the most expensive, since they have the newest house and are all single rooms (meaning less members to live in and thus pay rent), but most chapters are in the same ballpark, if not cheaper, than living in an apartment off-campus. </p>

<p>-I disagree with how csh123 states that Greek life is post-pledging. Yeah, you are going to have members you don’t hang out with all the time, but in chapters that are 75-100 people, that really seems to be common sense. You are closer to your pledge class, but that doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to be friends with older members…essentially, you’re going to be friends with who you want to be friends with no matter what. </p>

<p>-Since you previously mentioned that you’re looking at the business school, networking actually is a big part of Greek life. Networking within your organization isn’t necessarily the biggest thing, but you meet members of other organizations and can use their connections. </p>

<p>My freshman year, I thought members of fraternities and sororities were stupid, did nothing but drink all the time, and I wanted nothing to do with it. Fast forward to sophomore year, after I’d met members of chapters and realized the stereotypes aren’t true…I can’t really imagine what my remaining 2.5 years of college would’ve been like.</p>

5

<p>Pm me and we can talk about some specifics. IU and Depauw have completely different greek life. About 60% of Depauw students are involved in greek life so there’s a lot more pressure to join (and I’m fairly certain that does not count freshman or some weird quirk like that). Only about 21% of IUB students are active members of greek life. Obviously there is a stark difference. You won’t be ostracized at IU if you don’t go greek. However, to be clear, greek life still controls the majority of the social scene at IU. Yeah there are apartment and little dorm parties here and there, even the occasional block party but few hold a candle to a fraternity/sorority rager. My advice is rush a few frats, go to some parties, see if that’s the kind of social scene you like. If you like it, you will have no trouble finding a few fraternities that will be interested in you. If not, at least you don’t have to wonder for 3.5 years if you should have tried out greek life. Good luck.</p>

6

<p>Ehhhh, I’ll be honest… it was a bit difficult for me to make friends at first, but I’d chalk a lot of that up to not meshing well with my freshman year floormates. They weren’t horrible people… I just didn’t fall into their clique. This forced me to branch out and make friends on my own… I met one of my best friends at IU during the first week of classes and I joined student organizations. The rest kind of just fell into place. </p>

<p>Seriously though, for the most part people here are sooooo nice. IU has an amazingly friendly student body. There are some bad apples, but no matter who you are or what you are into, you should have no trouble finding people you mesh well with. It might take some time due to the fact that there are so many students here, but it’s very doable.</p>

<p>I’m not going to refute or argue any of the points made about Greek life above because everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. However, from personal experience, joining a sorority was quite possibly the best decision I made at IU. I have met many amazing people through Greek life and have had some incredible opportunities and experiences within my sorority. Joining a fraternity/sorority also basically ensures that you will have a very active social life, which is another plus. </p>

<p>I will add, however, that you don’t necessarily have to be from a high-income family to join a Greek organization. In fact, the total cost of room/board and dues per year for my sorority actually comes out to being a little bit cheaper than an IU dorm/meal plan.</p>