Would you say it is hard to find people to go out with at Northwestern? Is going Greek the only way to party? I’m not a huge party girl, but I want to atleast have some fun in college.
You can always find people and/organizations who want to party at any university. Close to Chicago, you can always party in the city with many other not just NW students. Northwestern is one of the more serious academic schools where partying is fun, but may not be a priority for most students. Not the dressy school for women, like southern Vandy would be. High tuition, high academic admission requirements, high expectations of students. Having said that, there are surely groups at NW that party harder than St. Peter after he found out he was assigned in perpetuity the pearly gates.
My kid goes to Northwestern. Here’s what I can tell about the social scene (lots og generalities here, so obviously exceptions as well).
Greek scene is big. So if you go Greek your social life will be heavily involved in Greek things.
The students tend to be serious about academics, and it’s very common that students will cut short their attendance at sporting events or nights out to go back to studying.
Due to the seriousness about academics, the quarter system’s lack of lulls, and the slowmess of the mass transit, it is not easy to get people together for excursions into Chicago–tough to find a time when everybody has enough off-time that overlaps.
There is significant clustering by race & religion.
Females who aren’t Greek have fairly easy time getting in frat parties…though the easiness of entrance improves if they know someone who is a member of the frat or if they are attractive.
There are lots of clubs that have social events, and become the center of social life for Greeks & non-Greeks alike.
Lots of fake ID’s for entry into bars…though Evanston itself doesn’t have “college” bars. Alcohol on campus & in frats leans towards hard liquor as opposed to beer.
^^^ Ditto to pretty much everything. The college bar most people go to (The Duece) is a really shady place. If you don’t plan on getting completely sloshed, not worth it to go.
engPii, you don’t appear to have gone to NU (or been a parent of a student there). What makes you so confident you can speak to social life at NU vs Vandy or any place else? Btw, no one familiar with the school would use NW as an abbreviation. Please only add to these threads if you have real knowledge, not just impressions.
I am parent of 2 NU alums - neither one went Greek - but they did live at a Res College and played club sports, so didn’t need to go greek, even though older bro is a big greek mucky muck at other U. Never heard either complain about “boring” 
It IS NU - and there is always something to do - and somebody to do it with.
Going greek is not easy, girls are rejected for no apparent reason although i think who you know, your religion and your wealth status has a lot to do with. Then if you are rejected, your social life really takes a turn for the worse b/c all the girls who get in sororities get to go to mixers and parties. YOU don’t get to do that if you aren’t greek and now the frats are making lists of girls who can and can’t get in to their parties. Makes for lots of lonely fri/sat nights!
Also, most other organizations are easier to get in if you are GREEK, never thought NU would be so cliquey:(
@EngPII clearly has no experience with NU.
It’s very easy to find people to go out with fall quarter; hop onto a group walking to one of the many parties that happen friday and saturday from wildcat welcome through reading week. Earlier in the year (and after the freshmen freeze ends) frats host parties 4 or 5 days a week, as well as tailgates on gamedays.
Winter quarter it gets kind of cliquey. A very significant portion of the student body goes Greek, and there’s a lot of social interaction there that you don’t get in the non-Greek scene. Club sports have a similar thing going for them (several club teams have mixers together). Either way, find some group–having some social connection is critical.
A certain…establishment that may or may not have been mentioned earlier in this thread tends to be, shall we say, very lenient regarding IDs, especially if cash transactions are involved. The place is really sketchy. Some kids love it, but it’s not that uncommon for kids to leave in an ambulance on Thursday nights, and I would not recommend going–especially not without a large group and people you trust to watch out for you and not do dangerous things.
It’s easier to get into clubs and other student organizations if you’re involved in Greek life. Especially early on, meeting people involved in Greek life can make it much easier to get into competitive clubs (ISBE, Sailing Team, NUSH, IMG…basically anything with a serious interview process–knowing your interviewer is a godsend).