<p>I was waitlisted at Dartmouth, which was my #1 choice, so now I'm strongly considering matriculating to WashU. As serious as I am about grades, though, I also would really like a university with a good social atmosphere. So can any current students give me any insight on social life at WashU? I know it's not quite Big 10, but can I still count on having a party to go to on friday and saturday nights? Any greek life (I'm willing to go greek if that's what it takes)? Basically, on a scale of Brigham Young to Wisconsin, what am I getting myself into?
Thanks! :)</p>
<p>Lol, I love the scale you presented. Maybe somewhere in between? Wash U definitely deserves credit for a work-hard play-hard atmosphere. The one thing I like most about the social life here is that there is not one overwhelmingly popular thing for everyone. I mean, there are the fraternity parties that you can always find, but social life on the whole does not utterly revolve around the greek scene or alcohol in general. I think that I personally sort of typify the general do-what-you-want laid-back social life vibe, where what you end up doing for fun changes on a weekly basis. Maybe this weekend might be dinner on the Loop or CWE and grabbing Froyo (you’ll understand once you come here), or a movie/concert, maybe it will be going to a frat party, maybe it will be a random dance party in a suite, who knows.</p>
<p>I think the fact you are considering Wash U means that you probably aren’t 100% set on a school that defines social life by one overwhelming popular thing (like fraternities all the time, or building robots for fun all the time), and in that sense there is such a variety of things to do on campus and off campus that you’ll probably like it here. There’s really no excuse to be bored at WashU. </p>
<p>*Edit: I guess there are a couple overwhelmingly popular things on campus… WILD, Vertigo, Bauhaus, Diwali, etc… but they’re not like every weekend type things.</p>
<p>thanks so much for your insight! i just wanted to make sure that if i want to hit a frat party on a friday night as catharsis from an insane pre-med curriculum, it’s there for me. I love that there’s the type of variety you described, too. actually what you described is such a relief haha, i was afraid it was the robot-building all the time type school you mentioned.
now i just have to get myself to washu again to really see if it’s the right place for me. do you happen to know if students host overnight admitted seniors? i feel like that would be a really great experience to decide if the school’s a good fit for me and vice-versa. thanks!</p>
<p>
Yes, they do.</p>
<p>^sweet, thanks!</p>
<p>Yes, I’d definitely recommend visiting on a weekend so you can get a better understanding of what a typical Friday night is for us. I hosted a pre-frosh last weekend and all I have to say is that he had a lot of fun (perhaps too much haha) but still got the true Friday night experience.</p>
<p>^hahaha love it. im definitely visiting on a friday this month, just have to find time.
along the same lines as my original question, is it better to stay in the old dorms or new dorms if you’re really into meeting new people/traditional college social life? I’ve heard old dorms so im tempted to pick there if i go to WashU, but the new dorms look so nice…</p>
<p>In general, traditional dorms are more social than modern dorms, mainly because they are not suite style and so the whole floor tends to interact with each other more. However, there are quite a few modern floors that are very social, so it really does depend on who your floormates are.</p>
<p>Personally, I’m in a traditional dorm and my floor is very social. When you come and visit, I would try to get a feel for both if you can by asking your OWL (overnight welcome leader) to introduce you to someone who lives in the other type of dorm. In my opinion, modern dorms are a little bland - straight hallways instead of zigzags 
- but I’m slightly biased in that regard.</p>
<p>^thanks, that’s what I’d heard. i may just end up going traditional!</p>
<p>You can always find a party on any thursday, friday, or saturday night.</p>
<p>I know plenty of people who party 3+ nights a week.</p>
<p>However, do know that you might not see this as a visitor- lots of the frat houses enforce the ‘no-prefrosh’ rule since they can get into a lot of trouble for that (yet almost never get in trouble for alcohol to freshmen).</p>
<p>Yeah, prefrosh aren’t supposed be doing certain common friday night activities</p>
<p>apparently i was too slow on the visiting boat anyway- the only available day for me to stay was a tuesday night. i guess overnights are a popular option. so im touring/sitting in on class on a friday, but coming back on a tuesday for the overnight… i guess ill just ask around about usual weekend activities on the tuesday haha</p>