<p>Yeah, me thinks cb1278 has found herself in quite a vibrant, insulated social circle driven by the Greek scene.</p>
<p>I wouldn't classify most peoples' experience like that - especially since most students aren't in the Greek scene. But, i've been out a few years, so what do i know?</p>
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But, i've been out a few years, so what do i know?
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<p>The Greek system has gotten weaker as Cornell has become increasingly diverse. Rush counts have been down over the last decade.</p>
<p>Note that I'm not necessarily for a weak Greek system, just a more low key one.</p>
<p>i live in risley, so the greek scene is not exactly that prevalent amongst my group of friends. but i know that for kids who live in the all freshmen dorms, they don't really know about many collegetown parties at the beginning of the school year, so the frat scene is a LOT bigger for them.</p>
<p>^ Is the third floor still where they put all the creepsters? ;)</p>
<p>Of course there are tons of other things going on that people do, but Greek parties do tend to dominate the party scene, especially for freshmen. If someone wants to know about the party scene at Cornell, my response is very accurate. Sure more than half of the Cornell population doesn't go to frat parties, but many of these people don't go to parties at all. There are very few parties the size of frat parties, as most non-greek parties are in apartments or houses and thrown for a small group. There are niches and groups for all kinds of people and interests, but they tend to do much smaller, less mainstream things. My social life is definitely not representative of everyone's here, but it is of a significant portion of the Cornell population. The majority of the campus isn't Greek, but many people (freshman especially) go to Greek events and get involved through friends. It also represents the largest social network on campus, because the non-greeks are in many smaller group as opposed to one big one. If someone is asking a general question about "social life" at Cornell, my response was an accurate response to a prevalent lifestyle. Many many people do other things, but these activities cannot be generalized. </p>
<p>Cayuga, I respect your preference for a more low-key lifestyle, but I don't see a problem with giving people who want a large active social network to have it. No one is making anyone join a house - if you don't enjoy big frat parties you don't have to attend. If its size and popularity makes greek life more visible then so be it - why is this a problem?</p>
<p>This is starting to sound highschool-y.</p>
<p>@ collegehopefull: no, man. all of the creepy kids have been on 2nd main for a while now.</p>
<p>CB1278 --</p>
<p>Your response is accurate for the Greek-centric party scene, but rest assured there exists a diverse array of house parties and scenes away from that what you described. The parties that I attended and hosted were not thrown for a small group, but had absolutely nothing in common with the Greek system-centric experience you describe. And I would actually contend that a fair amount of these experiences are generalizable -- the architecture and art party scene, the co-op party scene, the club/varsity sport party scene, musical performing scene, the party scene for the multi-cultural Greek organizations, etc. Just because you aren't a part of them doesn't make them a less viable alternative to the 'traditional' Greek system you are part of.</p>
<p>So perhaps most sorority girls do go to the bars by their sophomore year. But not most students.</p>
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If its size and popularity makes greek life more visible then so be it - why is this a problem?
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<p>It's a problem as long the drinking age is 21 and the Greek houses need to serve as the de facto places for underage students to party. And its prominence artificially constricts the different types of social options available to the average freshman who may not know about everything going on in campus and in Collegetown.</p>
<p>too bad skorton ****ed away the initiative to lower the drinking age to 18! D:</p>
<p>So to CayugaRed2005, cc102, applejack, anyone else who knows..
(and I would imagine that recollections of a somewhat recent grad would still likely be largely applicable, so long as drinking age was 21 when they attended)
..</p>
<p>how would each of you amend post #18 to reflect typical weekend scenarios from the perspective of a meaningful contingent of people who are outside of the frat scene?
For example, a non-frat junior or sophomore living in Collegetown , or West Campus, who has few or no close friends living in fraternities and does not go to fraternity parties, ever? Or an upperclassman living in Risley or the coops?</p>
<p>Hopefully these next 3+ posts, taken together with #18, will provide a decently realistic & more encompassing inkling of what might expect to find going on there, socially.</p>
<p>@ CR2005:</p>
<p>So you're contending that a significant portion of Cornell's population does NOT fall into one of these categories: frat boy/sorostitute/New England prep school graduate/paradoxically arrogant average looking drunk party girl, art house hippie vegan architect PETA activist, or nerdy science/engineering major with a fixation for LAN parties?</p>
<p>There are a sizable number of people NOT described by the above on Cornell's campus?</p>
<p>^ Yeah, the "Normal People" group.</p>
<p>Given the broad range of colleges and programs of study being pursued at Cornell, the sizable differential in tuition costs for those attending (which undoubtedly at least loosely correlates with some affluence measures), and the sheer size of the university, the stereotype buckets people may want to pack everyone neatly into have got to be leakier here than at many other places.</p>
<p>When I attended there was certainly a huge range of characters represented among the over 13,000 individuals. I frankly don't see how that could possibly be much different now.</p>
<p>But if someone feels they are in fact a member of a particular "category" ,and cares to describe how they might pass a typical weekend evening there, that might be helpful to prospectives who have an affinity for a particular bucket.</p>
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There are a sizable number of people NOT described by the above on Cornell's campus?
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<p>Of course! For somebody who attended Cornell for a couple of years, you remain remarkably ignorant of the different social scenes on campus. In fact, I would contend that your three groups don't even constitute thirty percent of the campus, despite the fact that thirty percent of campus is Greek. Why? There's a healthy amount of the Greek system that doesn't even conform to its own stereotype. Hell, I had several friends in the Greek system who didn't even drink.</p>
<p>Try these on for size --</p>
<p>-- the international student from Europe or Latin America who hangs out with a lot of graduate students
-- the Upstate New York farm boy who aspires to be a dairy farmer
-- all of the kids who live in the ethnically-themed program houses
-- all of the kids who live in the programatically themed houses (no, not everybody in JAM, EcoHouse, and Risley is an architect who doesn't eat meat)
-- the international student from Eastern or Southern Asia who does whatever they do outside of the library (cricket? taekwondo?)
-- the kids in the Cornell Outing Club who spend every weekend on a different trek to the Dacks or the Gunks
-- the students heavily involved in the music scene -- Glee Club, Chorus, Wind Ensemble, a capella groups, chamber orchestra etc.
-- the kids who never leave the Cornell Daily Sun
-- all of the kids who eat, sleep, and live their various varsity sports or club sport teams
-- the conservative religious groups -- Christian, Jewish, and Muslim -- that don't party and all of which have their various hubs on campus. And for the Christians, you have the Catholics and the Protestants. </p>
<p>And that's just a sampling. Not to mention the "normal" ones who really don't have any major distinguishing features about their time at Cornell. Maybe they are in a couple of service organizations.</p>
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But if someone feels they are in fact a member of a particular "category" ,and cares to describe how they might pass a typical weekend evening there, that might be helpful to prospectives who have an affinity for a particular bucket.
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<p>Much like norcalguy or dewdrop, I'm not certain if I could be placed in a particular bucket, but I will give you some tidbits from both my sophomore and senior years:</p>
<p>Sophomore Saturday, Winter, living in an off-campus apartment just by West Campus:</p>
<p>Study in the library for a couple of hours in the afternoon, then meet up with a friend to watch a matinee at Cornell Cinema. After the movie, head down to West for an early dinner with roommates, before heading back to Central for the hockey game with the gang. Watch Cornell pound Princeton to a bloody pulp (this was when Princeton was awful) and then proceed to hang around Central for a bit, probably checking out whatever events were going on at the Straight. (There usually is some sort of trivia night/game night/free food.) At 11 or so we would head back down the hill and meet up with a dozen or so of our friends from all over campus, who we would invite back to our apartment for drinks and to play mafia. Mafia (a murder-mystery game) and beer drinking ensues for the next two hours, but notably maybe only half of the group drinks. After the little get-together ends, I end up getting into a heated debate with two of my conservative roommates about whether or not Bush should invade Iraq and I don't end up sleeping until 4 AM.</p>
<p>Senior Fall:</p>
<p>Spend the day volunteering for Habitat for Humanity in Owego. As I drove a couple of other volunteers, we stop at a farm on our way home to pick pumpkins and apples and to check out a corn maze. I finally get home around six-ish to find my roommates with wine open and cooking dinner (a delicious six pound pasta bake with tons of sausage and cheese). We invite a house of four girls who live up the road from us down for dinner. They arrive around eight and we make a pretty leisurely time of it until nine or so. We play some of our party games (blitz Connect Four, Celebrity, or speed scrabble) and listen to music/sing/shoot the **** for an hour or so before heading out to the Chapter House. After the Chapter House announces last call, we hear about a get together up in a Blair Street basement where one of the kids is spinning his own mixes. We end up there, with some of us getting fairly drunk and spending a couple of hours there, while other deciding they are too tired and heading home shortly thereafter.</p>
<p>^Mafia is great.</p>
<p>Have you ever played with multiple groups of people? The Mafia/Police/Citizens/angel can "move" from "town" to "town"....There is only one group of citizens, but THREE different mafia families. Stuff gets intense.</p>
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The Mafia/Police/Citizens/angel can "move" from "town" to "town"....There is only one group of citizens, but THREE different mafia families. Stuff gets intense.
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<p>No! I need to get on that. Unfortunately since leaving college my opportunities for large-group sessions have diminished a lot.</p>
<p>Like Cayuga alluded to....I'm not sure I could classify myself into one general group. I certainly found ways to have fun...but I also had other responsibilities. </p>
<p>Throughout my three years at Cornell....my friends and I reserved Friday nights for dinner and then went to a movie (or hockey game when there was one). Saturday mornings/afternoons were for getting work done...or giving campus tours to prospective CALS students when the admissions office asked me. Before we all turned 21 (and even during senior year) Saturday nights were for renting movies or endless marathons of Mario Party and ordering obscene amounts of food from The Connection :) </p>
<p>Since not working was not an option....I usually worked the all day shift at Teagle pool until I quit that job during my senior year and moved to the library.</p>
<p>Even after I turned 21 I rarely frequented the bars. When I did...my friends and I would hit Rulloff's early before it got too rowdy...then we'd usually move over to the Chapter House or Pixel. I spent so long looking forward to the day I could legally drink and go to the bars...but once I could...I found it wasn't my thing. For one thing...every form of alcohol except good wine makes me ill. The other thing....I'm not too keen on being cramped in a hot, nasty bar with loud drunk people....and I have better things to spend $7 on than a malibu and diet coke :D</p>
<p>So...which is the real Cornell? That sounds really fun to be able to belong in a lot of groups. I don't drink, so I wouldn't like to go to a bar to hang out or anything like that. I'd still have my social options open, though, so that's good to know.</p>
<p>The real Cornell differs from individual to individual.</p>