I’m a very social, female perspective freshman who is very interested in GWU! I really don’t know a lot about the social scene at GWU other than the fact that almost 45% of the students are in Greek life, which hasn’t ever interested me. However, I want to find a tight knit group of friends in college. Is GWUs sorority scene like the stereotypical one you see at Alabama or FSU? Also, what’s the most popular way a freshman makes friends at GWU? And most importantly, what kind of kids go to GWU? I come from a prep school and I am sick of the prepiness and cliques. My goal is to go to a school where there is a diverse student body (artsy, granola, athletic, preppy, etc…). Will I find my people???
Before I answer some specifics in your post, let me link a few threads that have gone over a lot of your concerns:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/george-washington-university/1624808-good-and-bad-of-gwu.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/george-washington-university/1821019-could-gwu-students-weigh-in-on-their-experience.html
So, GW as a stereotypical sorority scene? I’d say, “absolutely not.” Sure, there are a few sororities that have a reputation for that, but they are in the minority. When you found that stat about 45% of the students being in Greek life… that’s because there’s a frat/sorority for anything. Honors Society, major-specific, and plenty others that aren’t known for their Mixers.
As far as student diversity, I think GW has some strong points. Socioeconomically, you’ll find everyone. Sure, there’s a lot of students from rich families, but there’s plenty others from “average” middle class families (just like me). I think that racially, GW isn’t as diverse as the U.S. itself. The large majority of students are white, but there’s a noticeable number of international students from Asia and the Middle East. I don’t know if this will bother you as much, as your post about diversity seemed to be more about personality (which again, GW has a wide range of).
Will you find “your people?” I’d say that as long as you’re open to meeting new people and willing to step outside your comfort zone at times (I’m assuming you are since you describe yourself as very social), then YES. You’ll meet so many new people the first couple weeks of school that the odds are definitely in your favor 