someone who goes here, tell me about greek life

theres no right or wrong answer, but im curious if the frat scene seems separated from rest of student body. do the frats keep to themselves generally, are most frat parties closed to a few fraternities or is it open for everyone? is greek life at umd very similar to other big ten schools or is there something distinct (AND BE HONEST PLZ)

Bump

@RealTalkdoe I know you’re looking for student input, but I can add a little info. My daughter is in a sorority there. From what I can tell there are multiple socials a week. Usually the frat has a social with a specific sorority. Often times they have themes. Now that the weather is nice there are frequent “day drinks” on the weekends. I think during rush week the parties are more open so potential pledges can get a feel for each frat, after that period though it’s harder to get in a party if you’re not in that frat. I would say that they are separated from the rest of the student body to a large degree. Physically they are separated too if you live on frat row. It doesn’t need to be that way of course, but I think it is that way quite a bit. I know that between school work and greek functions, there is little time left for anything else. I suspect that many students not involved in greek life, have some negative feelings towards the frats and sororities. And, even though my daughter is greek, I understand why some of the negativity exists. As I’m sure you know there have been a number of very negative stories about frats recently, including at UMD. Frats/sororities can be great, but they can also be super obnoxious. Yes, there is brotherhood/sisterhood, philanthropy, and a great networking channel, but there is also a rather negative/dark side to many of the houses.
This probably wasn’t the type of info you were seeking, but I think it’s the truth.

@terpmom7 no that’s actually exactly what i wanted to hear…the truth…but to anyone looking at this thread, i would strongly suggest that what terpmom7 said is not unique to UMD. thats the truth about greek life at almost any large university. the reason i asked was because i visited a bunch of large state schools but UMD was the most difficult to get a sense of their greek life, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t make a college choice based on a false perception that their greek life was any different