Questions About Cornell's Social Scene

<p>I just received some questions through a PM and I figured I would share my responses with everybody.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I've always been pretty interested in fraternity life...I read the thread where you say joining a frat as a sophomore may not be the best idea but I was wondering if you had any further thoughts on that.

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<p>In terms of the social life at Cornell, I may not be the best person to ask regarding the Greek scene, as I made my concerns about it known on the one thread. The fraternity system at Cornell is fairly large, and a lot of guys absolutely love the leadership and social opportunities it provides. It's really a "home" on campus for most students. The parties also tend to be huge and crazy, if that's your cup of tea.</p>

<p>That said, I do believe there are negative aspects to the Greek system, as I expressed elsewhere:</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/511323-fall-rush.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/511323-fall-rush.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I'm much better prepared to talk about social life among independents who live off campus, the bar scene, etc. I spent a little bit of time talking about it here:</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/...ll+party+scene%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/...ll+party+scene&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I'm of firm opinion that the off-campus party scene at Cornell is the best in the Northeast, and certainly puts anything you can find in Boston to shame. I lived in Boston for two years, and generally found the Green Line parties pretty pathetic.</p>

<p>As for whether or not you should hang out with your other friends on campus. It's up to you. You may end up having your own social scene, you may not. Cornell's a good place to explore what type of person you want to be. Either within the Greek system or outside of it.</p>

<p>
[quote]
What's the social life like for sophomores during second semester of sophomore year if you don't pledge? I hear the frats don't throw many open parties second semester and I wouldn't be 21 yet to go to the bars. I'm actually not going to be 21 until my senior year! Are the bars easy on IDs at cornell or should I not even try it? So what is the social life like for upperclassmen not in a fraternity?

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</p>

<p>Cornell is a very diverse place. And the most visible social circles are the Greek scene and the weekend bar hoppers, but there is a lot of other type of partying going on -- at the co-ops which feature all sorts of naked debauchery, the underground parties in the residence halls, among the architects, the indie kids and hipster set, the aggies, etc. etc...</p>

<p>A lot of non-Greek social life revolves around the various clubs and activities that people are involved with. Kids who write for the Sun tend to drink at the Sun. Kids who play rugby or ultimate or club soccer tend to drink with their teammates. Kids who sing in a capella group or are in the Glee Club... drink with their fellow performers... etc. etc. This typically occurs in off-campus apartments in Collegetown where upperclassmen live, but can often occur in off-campus housing on West and North. These often don't manifest themselves in huge raging parties, but rather smaller gatherings often featuring food and various amount of drugs. My sophomore and junior year, I lived in a house that liked to host fondue parties, crepe parties, beer making parties, etc. etc. But by senior year we were hosting 200+ people in our seven person house, complete with live bands, etc.</p>

<p>By senior year, there is actually a fair amount of interaction between the non-Greek and Greek sections of campus again. A lot of Greeks tend to shy away from their associations by the end of junior year. But others live it up in their house to the end.</p>

<p>The bars don't tend to get big for <em>most</em> students until the end of junior year/senior year. That said, the kids with fakes start going to the bars their freshmen year. And places like Dunbars don't really card. Going sake bombing or drinking at the on-campus bowling alley is bigger when you are a sophomore or junior.</p>

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[quote]
I'm thinking of joining the PreOrientation Service trips program or the Wilderness Reflections program to meet more people. Do you know people who went on any of these and was it worth it? Is there any advice you can give about orientation in general and did you like it?

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<p>And yes, Orientation is typically pure bliss. Just meet as many people as you can, go to as many events as you can, and sign up for as many clubs as you can. And don't party all night or else you will miss half the stuff going on during the day.</p>

<p>I was a WR guide for three years at Cornell, and heartily recommend it. It's a great way to meat other students and upperclassmen, and really helps you to find your footing before you step foot on campus. The same goes for POST, and I think every Cornell student should be made to do a pre-orientation trip of some sort, much like at Dartmouth and Harvard.</p>

<p>A very great description about the diverse social scene at Cornell.</p>

<p>Just wanna add...Plum Tree and Miyake are getting pretty strict about carding (or so I hear). Miyake lost their liquor license sometime last year and just got it back. Just a warning to those who like to take risks :-P</p>

<p>So that link didn't work. Try this one out:</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/499221-bars-nightlife-other-than-frats.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cornell-university/499221-bars-nightlife-other-than-frats.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>And I forgot to mention a couple of other things:</p>

<p>1) Wine tours.
2) Not everybody drinks or parties. Although some of this board would beg otherwise, a lot of students hang out and chat, watch movies, plays board games, bake, read, or go to the cinema. (Ithaca features three excellent independent cinemas, not to mention the ones at the mall.) Others go hiking, camping, or snowshoeing every weekend. Others take the bus down to New York City to do whatever they do in New York City.
3) Campus sports. Hockey, basketball, lacrosse, and football all attract decent crowds. The kids in the marching band and pep band travel every weekend to other schools to cheer on the Big Red teams.
4) Other campus gatherings. Like the top notch theater performances at the Schwartz Center, student-run productions at Risley, jazz and food nights at the Johnson Musuem, and other random nighttime events around campus... spanning everything from classical music concerts to raves.</p>

<p>yesss...wine tours!</p>

<p>Just went on my 1st one today....it was fun. Make sure you all go on one before you leave Ithaca :-)</p>

<p>I think people often segment campus into two groups: those who go out and get plastered at bars and parties and those who hang out in small groups at home or do small group things together. These groups are regarded as mutually exclusive, and that is a false statement.</p>

<p>I think many people across both groups "hang out," talks politics or social change, play video games, go to movies, eat dinner together, etc.</p>

<p>That said, the mainstream "going out/partying" social scene breaks down like so:</p>

<p>Freshman year: house parties in collegetown during Orientation week, frat parties fall semester, mixers for those who pledge spring semester, and a reduced number of frat parties for those who don't</p>

<p>Sophomore year: people in the greek system are usually fairly absorbed in their house. they host the same parties and mixers that happened freshman year (mixers happen fall semester, too). people outside the greek system move to west or collegetown, where apartment/house parties happen. </p>

<p>junior year: greek still a fairly big thing within one's own house, but people usually only go to frat parties at other houses on rare occassions, if they have a very good friend there. bars and collegetown house parties become bigger for everyone, as more people are moving out of greek houses into collegetown, more people are turning 21/getting fakes, more people are realizing that their fraternity is not the be all/end all of life.</p>

<p>senior year: pretty much everyone is 21, pretty much everyone is in ctown or west. house parties and bars. if you're in a fraternity you'll probably go to your own house's parties.</p>

<p>A word on IDs: bars range in strictness. if freshman have IDs they may go to bars, but the move to bars is really catalyzed by one's friends turning 21, which is why people usually start to go more often their junior or senior year.</p>

<p>do they ID u in ithaca even if u look old enough ? also, are there any hookah bars around ?</p>

<p>I'm 22 and I still get ID'd at the bars and liquor store.</p>

<p>No hookah bars, as far as I know. There are three headshops on the commons though, so I imagine having your own setup wouldn't be too difficult.</p>

<p>Also, Sparticus welcome back. I've found a lot of your old posts useful, and will probably send you a PM when we get closer to rush.</p>

<p>wine tours?</p>

<p>Get on a bus. Drive to a winery. Drink wine. Go to another winery. Drink wine. Enjoy the views of the beautiful Finger Lakes. Repeat.</p>

<p>psh...thanks to the current senior class, Cornellians may not be welcome at some wineries for some time.....</p>

<p>Seriously? I suspect a lot of wineries in the region actually depend on the revenues that Cornell students provide. Hazelit didn't invent the Red Cat for nothing.</p>

<p>Red Cat Red Cat!
It's an aphrodisiac!
Red Cat Red Cat
It will get you in the sack!</p>

<p>ughhhhh.....red cat</p>

<p>there was an incident on Monday that involved drunk boys, broken wine bottles, fighting with said wine bottles and state police.....</p>

<p>Red</a> Cat Story</p>

<p>My best day of senior week featured a wine tour... then Sake bombing... then Chappy.... then a house party.</p>

<p>It was ridiculous.</p>

<p>Ugh. That's awful. </p>

<p>Were said drunken boys in fraternities?</p>

<p>i love wine tours at like 12PM ... shwasted by 2 ;)</p>

<p>but really, they are fun.</p>

<p>I went on one the day before graduation - was plastered by about 2. Those little samplers really sneak up on ya!</p>

<p>My family got into town about noon that day and kept calling and calling. Everytime I would wake up enough to say, "Yeah. I'll be right over." then collapse in utter throbbing pain.</p>

<p>They finally got supicious. My Dad drove over, literally had to carry me out, and I sat there in a daze for this nice dinner my mom had made. I couldn't touch an ounce of it. They all mocked me profusely.</p>

<p>I actually had one group of friends that loathed the big party scene and I was in a fraternity that threw the big parties (even though anyone who knew me was shocked I would become a "frat boy" - I wanted to learn. Made some really good friends. Ignored the douchebags). </p>

<p>The friends who loathed the big party scene didn't lack for entertainment. We had a lot of fun. "Porn and beer" nights come to mind. Women, come to find out, like porn WAY more than they let on. Went on road trips to Niagara and NYC, went to the great independent cinemas in Ithaca (where I first fell in love with independent film), hung out at the waterfalls and in the gorges, had epic conversations about the meaning of existence... </p>

<p>It was a nice balance for me.</p>

<p>hah...CayugaRed....we had bets going around as to whether the trouble makers were frat boys</p>

<p>Fighting with broken glass is nothing new to Cornell. A couple of days before I graduated there was a beer bottle fight in Rulloffs -- blood all over, etc. A couple of meat heads decided it would be best to get in touch with their primordial ancestors and fight over a girl. </p>

<p>And it's not like these types of fights are new to Cornell. You hear about the same things happening at other top schools from time to time. You can take man out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the man.</p>

<p>And Applejack... there are sixteen and seventeen year old children on this forum! As far as they should be concerned, pornography doesn't exist at Cornell, let alone Roman orgies in Risley's basement.</p>

<p>P.S. I heartily endorse road trips to Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, and Buffalo/Niagara Falls.</p>

<p>wine tours are dangerous. I fell off a school bus.</p>