<p>I keep hearing that Upenn is the social ivy and the party scene is big. Is this true or are they over exaggerating?</p>
<p>If anything, Dartmouth would be the social ivy. Though really, all the ivies have pretty big party scenes, but they’re not intrusive or distracting if you don’t want them to be and there’s plenty to do besides go to parties.</p>
<p>Penn’s party scene is a pretty traditional college scene. You would not get the sense, if you went out to frat parties at Penn, that you were at a prestigious or academically respected university. It’s just people going crazy, and frats/sororities are really important. </p>
<p>If you’re looking for a snobbish sort of social experience, you won’t find anything to rival Pton’s Eating Clubs or Harvard’s Final Clubs. There are a few WASPy or international frats that are classier, but they’re very selective. Unless you come from a well known prep or a privileged international background, you probably won’t be eligible. </p>
<p>If you want a quirky/nerdy/artsy social experience, then there are a lot of clubs to join. Clubs tend to throw their own parties and go out to BYOs(restaurants that allow you to bring own alcohol) to drink together. I knew a few kids who had a hard time socially at first, but then joined A Capella groups, theater troupes, Model UN, or something like that. then they had a solid friend group.</p>
<p>To the post about Dartmouth, I have a few friends at Dartmouth and according to them, yes it is more greek and it seems that everyone goes to frat parties, but they’ve told me that a lot of the parties are extremely awkward. Like it will feel that you are at a smart school partying whereas if you go to a party at Penn, you would never guess that you were at one of the country’s best schools. Again, I haven’t partied at dartmouth myself so I can’t say, but thats what my friends who have visited told me</p>