<p>I'm looking into Cornell for an undergrad in english and creative writing. I understand that Cornell has a fairly large Greek Life. I, however, am not interested in Greek Life and was curious about how big that comes into play on campus. Are most students at Cornell into Greek Life or are there a fair amount of students who are more independent, alternative individuals.
Any insight on social life in general at Cornell?</p>
<p>Greek life is huge, but only about 30% of students are in a house. It only seems like so much more are because greek life dominates the social scene: frat parties in the fall, mixers and wine tours in the spring, plus annex parties and the bar scene is mostly all upper class greek kids.
You might think that you aren’t “into” the frat scene, but I’d recommend rushing anyway and seeing if there are any houses that you like-- especially for guys, there are a ton of options and there truly is a house for everyone.</p>
<p>Since Cornell is a very prestigious university, I was wondering if much of their greek life is more geared towards academia/community service perhaps. Or is it more of that preppy, mostly just partying stuff? Thanks for the insight, by the way, that did help a lot.</p>
<p>There is a philanthropy aspect of Greek life, which a lot of people are involved in, and can be very fun and rewarding</p>
<p>However, there’s no doubt that its mostly about partying, having a good time, being in college, and de-stressing. Its definitely possible to have fun without being in Greek life, but a lot of people do enjoy it. Its a work hard party hard atmosphere, you will see some of the most intelligent people in your classes dancing on tables. It’s not for everyone, but a lot of people do like the opportunity to let loose. </p>
<p>I’d say, go to a few of the open parties during oweek and the first few weeks of school (although idk how its working next year). It might not be for you, in which case you can avoid it, but if you have fun at all, try rushing. There’s no obligation and its a fun, interesting experience.<br>
I would never had considered myself joining a sorority, but it ended up being a great way to meet more people in such a large place. A large amount of the people who join Greek life at Cornell aren’t the typical frat/sorority guy/girl</p>
<p>I’m only going to be a junior, but as of now Cornell is my top choice and I’m really interested in the Frats there, however, my parents are pretty against them. Do you think that being in a frat hinders academic success? and in order to get into a frat will you be required to do bad things?</p>
<p>I’d echo most of what alamode said above…
Premed: There is no reason that a frat/sorority should hinder your academics. My first and second semester at Cornell, I went out 5-6 nights a week and still made dean’s list and held down a 25 hour a week job. Success at Cornell (IMO) has a lot to do with how well you manage your time, and there is no reason why you cannot be in a house and do well academically.
As far as “doing bad things” goes…
Depends on what you mean. Drinking a lot? Sure, if you want to. Doing drugs? Sure, if you’re into that. Hazing is pretty prevalent in the so-called “top tier” frats, but that only last a few weeks and it honestly doesn’t seem that miserable-- most guys I know said they wouldn’t do it differently if they had the chance.</p>
<p>D2 just graduated from Cornell, had nothing to do with frats/ sororities whatsoever and had a great time there. If frat life is huge, Non-frat life must be huger, since 2/3 of the students are non-frat.</p>
<p>Can someone post a brief “guide to Greek Life” for the clueless among us – what exactly is rush, for example? Is there a list anywhere of the different houses and their characteristics/reputations?</p>
<p>Like monydad’s daughter, my daughter just graduated from Cornell. She never had anything whatsoever to do with Greek life and had four very satisfactory years there and plenty of friends.</p>
<p>Thanks to both Marian and moneyday. That’s what I was hoping to hear. Though I may look into Greek Life once on campus, I’ve never really been into that whole scene, especially because I don’t really drink. I’m glad to hear that there is a social life outside of Greek and many people have found it to be fun and fulfilling</p>
<p>From my experiences, Greek Life is really evident during the fall freshman semester, when a fair number of freshmen head out in droves to parties. Not everyone does this, but a fair amount of folks do; and usually, these people have already had some degree experience with the dominant type of party scene present at Cornell (booze, girls…and other things). After the spring rush, fraternities do various pledging events and stuff with sororities, and they therefore don’t hold as many events. The once free freshmen are now pretty much bound to whatever fraternities/sororities they got into (if they managed to get a bid, which is another issue in itself).</p>
<p>It may be Cornell, but it’s still college.</p>
<p>Edit: I just noticed you said you didn’t drink. Neither do I, but I still went to parties frequently after a few months of the first semester. You can get as involved as you want.</p>
<p>-joining greek life wouldn’t effect your grades, unless you have 0 time management skills/can’t control yourself</p>
<p>-“bad things?” definitely not for a sorority. for a frat, depends on the frat, and depends on what you call bad. some frats haze. disagreeing with Beebs26 here, and I’d say at least a few of them haze very hard. I don’t know any guys who dropped out or ever regretted their decision to go through with it, but I do know guys who were absolutely miserable when it was happening.</p>
<p>-mathmomvt, rush is the process that takes place before second semester in which underclassman can visit and learn about the different houses, and eventually join one. It is very different for guys and girls. its pretty complicated, and there are plenty of threads describing it in detail if you do a forum search. same with the different houses.</p>
<p>-a lot of people who don’t drink still go to parties and join frats/sororities, and enjoy them</p>
<p>-if you decide to drink for the first time in college, which a lot of people here do, it’s not a bad thing, but be careful and learn your limit. </p>
<p>-you can definitely have a fantastic time at cornell without joining greek life. there’s something for everyone here, that’s what’s great about it!</p>
<p>-the frat scene is pretty big first semester freshman year, because nobody really knows anyone and its what everyone does at night, so you meet people. all the parties are open though, so it’s not exclusive–you don’t have to be involved in greek life to go to them. it’s supposed to be to show you whether or not you might be interested</p>
<p>-if you decide that it’s not for you, you’ll probably make friends who feel the same way, and just hang out with them!</p>
<p>-the only difficult part of the whole thing is really second semester freshmen year. if you didn’t join greek life but liked it, or didn’t join when all your friends did, you might be frustrated by this semester. everyone who goes greek has tons of things to do relating to pledging/closed events, and there are not very many open events to go to if you are not in greek life. hopefully, you would’ve made other friends not in greek life to hang out with.</p>
<p>I realize some may be reluctant to talk about there pledge and give names, but can anyone tell me some of the rumors about what the hazing/ pledging entails?</p>
<p>premed4 you can read more about past hazing incidents that have been reported here. [url=<a href=“http://hazing.cornell.edu/cms/hazing/incidents/descriptions.cfm]Descriptions[/url”>http://hazing.cornell.edu/cms/hazing/incidents/descriptions.cfm]Descriptions[/url</a>]</p>
<p>hazing.cornell.edu is pretty crappy when it comes to the hazing descriptions of each frat. For the most part, all frats do the same thing, and you aren’t going to find out what they are until after you have gone through it. Nothing you will have to do is that bad, IMHO a lot of it is a blast. It was once described to me as “the most fun you never want to have again” and I would say thats pretty fitting.</p>
<p>What are the costs associated with joining and maintaining membership in a fraternity at Cornell?</p>
<p>it varies greatly between each house (some chapters own their house, some have higher social dues, etc.) the best thing you can do is get to know some of the houses first and see if it would be a good fit then start figuring out the economic side.Cornell has deferred rush so you have all first semester to figure out if it’s for you (for free)</p>
<p>also alamode’s post was good</p>
<p>Premed: EVERY house on every single campus is different. You have a very valid concern about grades and fraternity life. I can assure you there are some houses at Cornell that stress academics and there are some that stress partying. I would encourage you to ask each house their average GPA, what are most members’ majors, list of campus leaders (student government, etc.), and how much money they’ve raised for charities in the past year. Those are all very valid questions…anyone that can’t readily provide such information should probably not be considered. </p>
<p>Regarding hazing: it’s very tame nowadays…and has become increasingly less predominant over the years. The stuff that happened to the GI’s returning from WWI and WW2 paled to what I experienced in the mid-80’s, and the stuff that happens now pales to what I encountered. It’s not PC anymore. It’s that simple. Back in the day…it was EXPECTED and part of the experience. It was almost all mental. I’m not going to lie; it was sometimes scary when you’re going thru it…but after you became a member you see it was all a big joke…someone might be yelling at your face, but there’s 3 guys right behind you silently making faces and doing bunny ears (you don’t see it…but know that it’s there)…really, really, really funny stuff, too. Yelling, mind games…I never saw the forced drinking…but that’s the most dangerous thing…but I would hope anybody in that situation has the ability to think on their feet and get themselves out of that situation.</p>
<p>The best thing about joining a fraternity…is the life long bonds you create. If I bought my friends, then it’s by far the BEST money I ever spent. It’s also nice to know as an alumni, you always have a place to go back to. My fraternity house is over 100 years old…it will be there 100 years from now. I return back to my alma mater most years for Homecoming…and it’s great to know that my house is waiting for me there…and I can meet the new members, see my old bedrooms, and act like I’m 21 again.</p>