Would a student feel limited socially if he went to wake and didn’t join a frat? Does the campus social and party scene revolve around frats? Are there non frat parties on campus?
Yeah they would. I know that sounds brutal but in reality the fraternity scene is not like the crazy frat stigma at all. There are some that are pretty intense and throw a bunch of parties and live “that life”, but a lot of others are laid back and don’t care about social standing, being “prestigious” etc. In short, greek life is necessary to have fun - but it’s very easy to get into a fraternity and you will end up somewhere that suits you.
4 Likes
Greek life is a big feature of Wake but it’s not as exclusionary as you’d expect for other schools and it’s for a hilarious reason. At wake the frats/sororities are reserved their own section in the dorms for living and given a freestanding clubhouse behind it and this arrangement is on account of an old state law that would have classified that many young women residing in a residential house a brothel LOL.
But this also means that Greek students still mostly live on campus and that those little clubhouses being so close and on-campus are a built-in deterrent against drunk driving. When I attended the compromise position with the university was incredibly stupid: frats serve “beverages” in plastic cups to everyone because someone already “checked ID” at the door (your student ID) but being caught outside this area holding an EMPTY can of beer could get you suspended.
TLDR: not rushing Greek is less of a social liability than “being shy” your freshman year.
Frats and sororities had “reserved” sections in a particular dorm (usually the entire floor of one side) and you have to be in the sorority or frat to live there but this is trivial for non-Greek students compared to all your friends living in a separate residence off campus
The greek lounges are in the bottoms of the Quad dorms. However, it’s been years since parties were hosted in them. All of the fraternities now have houses in the “Compound” off of University Parkway - off campus, but walkable.