<p>Hello everybody! I was wondering exactly HOW dominant Greek life is at Dartmouth. I mean, of course I know there are other options to engage socially with people, but I'm really not into the binge drinking culture at all. Could you give a rough estimate of what percentage of the student body is involved in Greek life? Also, how is the political atmosphere? I myself am a liberal that leans towards the center, and while I certainly would like to have people of different opinions to debate with, I wouldn't want to be surrounded by mostly conservatives....</p>
<p>Around 60% of eligible students go Greek. You should know that different houses have different personalities, and many contain a lot of kids who drink very little or not at all.</p>
<p>Campus is really left-leaning. The stereotype that Dartmouth is conservative is anachronistic and inaccurate.</p>
<p>It’s a northeastern school, hardly conservative. As for Greek life, read the newspaper, The Dartmouth–lots of articles over the years.</p>
<p>There is binge drinking on every campus. Plenty of it takes place in dorms, where it may be more likely to involve hard liquor. (Ever heard of “pre-gaming”?) And plenty of it takes place at schools with no Greek organizations. (I know people whose kids have been taken aback at the drinking that goes on at Bowdoin, Middlebury, Williams, and Duke, just to name a few, and most of those do not have Greeks.) The Greek scene at D is quite different from that at many other schools, very open, and the houses vary considerably. Many people pledge at D who would never go Greek on most other campuses. If there a lot of drinking? Yes. But the idea that it is a feature only of the Greek scene at D or elsewhere is very unrealistic.</p>
<p>There seems to be this idea that D is awash in “conservatives” because of the onetime notoriety of the Dartmouth Review. Given the number of people on campus who just can’t wait to be i-bankers, you have to figure that the campus is on average less left-leaning than, say, Wesleyan. But that’s about as far as it goes. (And, BTW, not everyone in the finance sector is right wing…)</p>
<p>Campus predominately liberal. Greek scene dominates but isn’t be all and end all. Not all Greeks binge drink. Some don’t drink at all.</p>
<p>First of all, almost any college campus you go to will be very very liberal, Dartmouth included. As DartmouthForever stated, the whole Dartmouth is conservative thing is extremely outdated. That doesn’t mean you won’t find conservative people here (you will), but in general, Dartmouth is quite leftist. </p>
<p>Now onto drinking. Yes, the Greek life dominates the nightlife here and yes about 60% (maybe more now) of eligible people decide to join the Greek system, but that doesn’t in any way mean you have to binge drink or even drink in general. In my experience, people will drink in one of three ways. The first and most common way is by playing pong in a frat basement. You’ll probably end up having quite a bit of alcohol this way, but it’s fun. However, it’s not necessary to drink during a pong game. You always have the option of playing with water or just tossing cups if you feel you’ve had too much and absolutely no one will fault you for it. The second way is pre-gaming in dorms which I think is a stupid idea since you’re much more likely to get caught and you have to pay for the alcohol, but to each his own I guess. The final way is by going to some frat party and drinking and dancing and other activities which is fun, but again, this doesn’t require alcohol. </p>
<p>If you want an estimate of people who are involved in the greek system in any way, I’d say damn near 90%. Everyone goes to a frat once in a while, but the great thing about Dartmouth is that frats are completely open to everyone and the brothers running them are some of the nicest people I’ve met. It’s not an exclusive scene at all, especially as a freshman where you can take advantage of everything without having the burden of rushing and pledging a frat. </p>
<p>If you don’t want anything to do with smelly frat basements at all, there are always events going on everywhere, just keep your ears open and keep checking your blitz (email) and you and your friends can easily find something to do.</p>
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<p>Too high of an estimate. I can guarantee you’re a freshman living in non-substance free housing.</p>
<p>There are a lot of nerds on this campus. The number is, at the most, 80%, and that includes unaffiliateds who hang out in basements.</p>
<p>You would be right, I’m actually right behind frat row, so my view of the social scene is probably different than, say, someone living in a sub-free floor of McLaughlin, but nonetheless, participation (to varying degrees) is quite high. It should be restated, though, that even where I live, there’s always something else interesting (poker or movies in the common room for instance) as an alternative to frats if you’re not up for basement life that night.</p>
<p>“you have to figure that the campus is on average less left-leaning than, say, Wesleyan”</p>
<p>You could say the same for Beijing.</p>
<p>Thanks to everybody that has responded. The way you’ve described the atmosphere in these frats has appeased my fears of not fitting in socially, and yes admittedly it is also a relief to hear that the idea of Dartmouth being conservative is outdated.</p>
<p>I’d say the frats are much more open than most schools. Its nothing like frats at other places, and the culture is overall very different. Additionally there are pretty large scenes outside of frats - lots of house parties, clubs, etc many with off campus houses. </p>
<p>As for the politics. Dartmouth is liberal, you sound like you’ll fit in perfectly.</p>