It seems Greek life is a big part of Wake. What’s it really like socially for a student who is social but doesn’t drink and isn’t interested in joining a social fraternity?
Coming from a first year student at Wake Forest who’s second semester was cut short. Going into Wake I knew I wanted to be apart of Greek Life and I can honestly say I love the social scene here. That being said, Greek Life is even more dominant than I imagined. Despite being a top academic school, don’t be surprised to see people going to parties every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. My roommate was the polar opposite of me (Great guy, just using some context), and like you had no interest in drinking/going out. From what I have been able to see it is harder to find things going on that aren’t greek life related, but there are definitely smaller groups of friends who do not partake in drinking activities. My roommate found many great friends, and joined very interesting clubs and extracurricular activities which helped him find the type of people he was comfortable hanging out with.
So in short, yes Greek Life dominates the social scene at Wake Forest. Even more so than they let it seem to be. However, like any school, not everyone is into the big social and drinking scene and you will not be alone if you decide to attend Wake.
Hope this was helpful.
D found that Greek life was dominant, but she had gone to Wake in part because that’s what she wanted, so it wasn’t a problem for her and her sorority was a big focus of her social life while at Wake. Within that context, alcohol was a focus of social activities, obviously. D did have a peer who doesn’t drink, who attended Wake from our hometown; they found Wake difficult socially. So that’s an N of 1 for what it’s worth.