Various Question about Pepperdine...

<p>Hi y'all! I got accepted into Pepperdine and I'm kinda in the process of deciding between colleges.</p>

<p>I got a nice 30K grant from Pepperdine (renewable per year), which makes it about the same for the schools in the UC system. So money is not a problem.</p>

<p>What I'm asking here is:
How's the social life at Pepperdine? (Preferably without the GreekSystem)</p>

<p>Speaking about the GreekSystem, which is the best fraternity, as in the one the have the best parties.</p>

<p>Drug Scene? How strict are the Campus Police?</p>

<p>How's the food, is it edible? Seeing as I'm "paying" nearly 55K total, is the food served in the cafeteria on par in comparison to the UC schools' food?</p>

<p>Is Pepperdine an okay undergraduate school for pre-health? (If it's ok/ good for pre-med or pre-pharm, that would be even better)</p>

<p>I went to an admitted student reception and was told by the Director of Admissions that Pepperdine’s pre-med grad school acceptance rate was around 90%.</p>

<p>I’m not a student yet (I will be in the fall), but I’ve talked to enough people to be able to help answer your questions to some extent. You can have a potentially amazing social life, but also a potentially lame one. It really depends on the classes you take. I have a friend who is a physchology major and has to work 2 jobs to pay for her tuition, and she doesn’t do much around campus. But I have another friend who is in communications, doesn’t work, and has a great time. There’s TONS of clubs that you can join, and tons of organized activities you can be a part of. I’ve heard that going to the beach is not worth the walk, or soemtimes even the drive (parking is horrible), but you can always do that. Also, there’s a few places around campus where you can go to just hang out…I went to a place called the HAWC, which stands for like…Howard A White Center, I think. There was a pool table and a fooseball table inside, and a little snack store upstairs, with a whole bunch of comfy chairs. It looked like a nice place to just chill with friends.
I’m completely uninterested in anything involving the Greek System, so I don’t know a lot about it. All I know is that they don’t have housing. My friend mentioned the top fraternity and sorority, but I don’t remember what she said.
I have heard from quite a few people there are still parties, regardless of the restrictions. Campus security is EVERYWHERE, but apparently they don’t do much. It’s more of a safety blanket for people who visit. It gives a “safe” vibe. All they do is get in the way. But I also know from a friend of my dad’s whose girlfriend went to Pepperdine that it’s incredibly safe regardless. She would leave her laptop and books out in the library for hours and return to them later, and never had the thought that someone would steal them. I suppose there’s a lot of trust there, which is good. Drugs/alcohol wise, it really depends on your RA. My cousin’s RA is really strict and doesn’t let anything like that get by. But she knows a lot of other people whose RA’s don’t care at all. They say “if you don’t tell, I won’t tell”. So, it will really depend. Just keep in mind that even if they say it’s illegal, people are still going to do it unfortunately, regardless of if it’s a conservative campus.
With the food…apparently, the food is AMAZING the first few months of school. There’s a really big variety (there was a burrito bar, burgers, hot dogs, pizza, fish platters, soup, pasta, deli bar, etc, along with a ton of different desserts and drinks), so it’s really awesome at first. And I can contest to the fact that the food really is delicious, not some horrible quality school food. But I guess as the year goes along, and the variety never changes, the food gets less and less desirable. There’s also a lot of snack places around campus, and a few places that sell food outside the caf. There’s a Jamba Juice, a coffee cart, and a Ralph’s not far from campus (you can take the shuttle). So you’ll never be at a loss for food.
Don’t know much about the medical program, so I can’t help you there.
Hope I answered your questions!</p>

<p>Honestly, the social life here at Pepp is what you make of it. If you actively participate in the greek system, then you’ll have no problem finding parties and philanthropic events to attend. If you opt out of the greek system, as I have, there’s no doubt that you too can find the same parties and events to attend. I haven’t really experienced any exclusivity when it comes to greek parties, so even if you’re not pledging, you’ll most likely be able to get in. Probably one of the more unique aspects of the Pepperdine community is the fact that you’ll get used to seeing the same faces at any social event you go to, whether it be a house party or Tuesday nights at the Inn. There are pros and cons to this aspect, but as a whole, it definitely makes the student community more closely knit. Living on campus at least one semester will give you a sense of where you can hang/meet people whether it be at the HAWC, the Sandbar or the Caf. If you move off campus, there’s a tight student community at most apartment complexes. Musicgrl38 is right about our lack of greek housing at Pepperdine, and I would say the top fraternity at Pepperdine is Sigma Chi followed by ATO. The top sororities ∆∆∆, DG and KKG.
Our on campus department of public safety (DPS) is pretty strict when it comes to alcohol and drugs. Seeing as we’re a dry campus, you cannot have any alcohol/drug related paraphernalia in your dorm room. They’ve responded to everything from alcohol poisoning to car accidents. Pepperdine obviously takes the alcohol/drug scene very seriously as you are required to enroll in an online alcohol guidance program upon enrollment to the university. I’ve definitely left my laptop out along with my backpack at various campus locations (CCB, Payson) and have a strong sense that my belongings would be where I left them (they were), but I’ve also heard stories of people having laptops/chargers stolen.
There aren’t that many dining options at Pepp, so you may get tired of the food options by your second semester. The Caf is pretty expensive for the food they serve, but if you’re on a dining point system it won’t really be a problem. The food is definitely edible, but it gets tiresome after sometime. One of the perks of living off campus is the ability to prepare your own food/have a kitchen, thus having more dining options. Only upside to a UC campus would probably be their dining options and variety of restaurants, etc.</p>

<p>Really? That’s pretty impressive. I’m starting to like Pepperdine more and more now, aha.
Thanks a lot everybody for your superbly awesome answers. :]</p>

<p>So about the campus security, I know that they’re strict now, regarding drugs and alcohol, but what about skateboarding? I saw the map of Pepperdine and its housing complexes, and I think the freshman dorms are really far O_O.
So, I’m thinking that I’ll probably bring my skateboard to Pepperdine and use it.</p>

<p>Freshman dorms are definitely a good distance from main campus. I don’t really think skateboarding is allowed, you can def get away with it but I had a friend who was longboarding around campus and DPS took his board; he picked it up a short while later.</p>