<p>It's a bit embarrassing to ask this, but I am currently a sophomore in high school, and have not looked into it very much. </p>
<p>What exactly is Greek Life? Can somebody explain this to me?</p>
<p>My choices (in no particular order) are Harvard, Dartmouth, Princeton, Wheaton, Notre Dame, U Penn, and Stanford. Dartmouth was known for having a very active Greek Life.</p>
<p>Thank you very much! Sorry for bothering you if its a dumb question...</p>
<p>33 people have read this post, and not one of them have bothered to answer… tears are being shed (not really).</p>
<p>Fraternities and sororities are commonly known as “Greek organizations”, because they are typically named with Greek letters. The social activities associated with frats and sororities represent “Greek life”. </p>
<p>The prominence of “Greek life” varies widely from school to school, including those on your list. At Dartmouth, for example, student social activities tend to revolve around Greek clubs. At Notre Dame, on the other hand, Greek clubs are deemed detrimental and have been banned.</p>
<p>Greek Life is fraternities and sororities, and they are both a) very active at Dartmouth and b) very different at Dartmouth from other schools. 60% of eligible students are affiliated, and its an open system… anyone can basically go into any house that’s open and hang out. Rush at Dartmouth also isn’t until Sophomore year, so you have a year to solidify your base on campus BEFORE you rush, meaning who you are, who you hang out with, and what you do on campus aren’t defined by your house (although your house may be defined by those things…guys at least tend to pledge the same houses as their friends, certain campus activities or sports teams tend to be concentrated in certain houses, etc). Basically what you need to know is most Dartmouth students end up happily affiliated or unaffiliated, and most alums say that their house was one of their favorite things at Dartmouth.</p>
<p>It starting to make sense. These houses seem to revolve around interests. What type of fraternities are there?</p>
<p>I mean that great thing is that we don’t have rush until sophomore year, so mostly people just go everywhere at the beginning of their freshman year when they go out. And then you start to get a feel for where you feel comfortable, where you like hanging out, so you start hanging out there more and more, and that’s where a guy will rush. The key is finding the house where you feel really comfortable with the brothers, where you like spending time, all of that. Its really only if you play certain varsity sports that you’re significantly likely to go certain houses. For example, football players typically are in GDX or beta, soccer goes AD, tennis goes AD usually, squash traditionally AD, Crew Heorot, although this year they really split, hockey goes heorot, swimmers at psi u. But none of the houses are exclusively one team or anything… But the houses are AD, Heorot, Theta Delt, Psi U, SAE, Tri Kap, Chi Gam, Phi Delt, Sig Ep, Sig Nu, BG, Zete, Beta… and then a historically black house, a historically hispanic house, and maybe a native american one as well? There are also co-ed Greek societies, for those who want a different experience than the typical.</p>
<p>OT, but…if you’re a sophomore in HS, why are you asking in another thread about bringing a car to Dartmouth? Aren’t you counting your chickens a bit early?</p>
<p>Hiya - glad to see that someone replied to this (eventually!)</p>
<p>Know that you’re not alone - a friend of mine went around a load of campuses, all the time thinking they were using it as an example to demonstrate the school’s diversity.</p>