Harvard social life -- explain the paradox

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to MIT which had a pretty vibrant social scene. We have a such Greek scene. Parties usually corresponded to getting past key testing schedules or holidays.

I never, literally never met a Harvard student at a party but to be fair that part of Boston is pretty far from their part of Cambridge.

MIT has long pushed for all Greeks to come back on campus. Thankfully, they can't force the issue because it probably wouldn't be as great if so.

I think the network is more post-graduation but it's also in the grade inflation. Harvard 4.0 >>>> MIT 3.0 to most graduate institutions which is frustrating.

They are both in Cambridge and I think two stops on the red line. A five minute drive.

I watched those soap opera type reality episodes of rushing for Sororities down South. The girls spoke to the screen on TikTok while applying makeup. Most had bleached hair. They then named the brands of clothing they wore plus the jewelry. They ran around for a couple of days hoping to get picked for a sorority. At the end they simultaneously opened their envelopes and then squealed like pigs who just found mud piles.

The exact opposite of the females at Harvard. 80% of Supreme Court Judges went to Yale and Harvard. Leaders around the world studied at Harvard including our Canadian friends Trudeau and Mark Carney. It’s not a large party school with frats and sorority girls getting black out drunk. It’s more smaller groups of friends getting together. Much nicer.

Takes about 15-20 by bus, but MIT parties were in Boston which is more like 25 min plus walking. Mostly in the frigid cold. No one I knew drove anywhere. We all took public transit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to MIT which had a pretty vibrant social scene. We have a such Greek scene. Parties usually corresponded to getting past key testing schedules or holidays.

I never, literally never met a Harvard student at a party but to be fair that part of Boston is pretty far from their part of Cambridge.

MIT has long pushed for all Greeks to come back on campus. Thankfully, they can't force the issue because it probably wouldn't be as great if so.

I think the network is more post-graduation but it's also in the grade inflation. Harvard 4.0 >>>> MIT 3.0 to most graduate institutions which is frustrating.

MIT's vibrant greek scene is really surprising to me. Are the parties open or only for members of the houses?

Generally, the only men at a party would be the fraternity brothers throwing it. So other men wouldn't be allowed in unless they were friends with someone in the house. All women were welcome. Sororities aren't allowed to throw parties.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to MIT which had a pretty vibrant social scene. We have a such Greek scene. Parties usually corresponded to getting past key testing schedules or holidays.

I never, literally never met a Harvard student at a party but to be fair that part of Boston is pretty far from their part of Cambridge.

MIT has long pushed for all Greeks to come back on campus. Thankfully, they can't force the issue because it probably wouldn't be as great if so.

I think the network is more post-graduation but it's also in the grade inflation. Harvard 4.0 >>>> MIT 3.0 to most graduate institutions which is frustrating.

Yeah Harvard students don’t care about the tech school down the street!(Bacow called it that. What I’ve heard is that not even the MIT girls go to the MiT parties. The BU/Simmons girls are the ones seen there. So sad that the MIT guys won’t look at the MIT girls. I know some do, but talking about parties.

I was a woman at MIT and went to a lot of MIT fraternity parties. We objected more to the f&ck truck from Wellesley than anything else. We'd often have semi-private events 1 on 1 with a fraternity before a bigger party. I wasn't a huge fan when things would get out of control so at that point I'd head out, but there would always be MIT girlfriends or friends that would stay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to MIT which had a pretty vibrant social scene. We have a such Greek scene. Parties usually corresponded to getting past key testing schedules or holidays.

I never, literally never met a Harvard student at a party but to be fair that part of Boston is pretty far from their part of Cambridge.

MIT has long pushed for all Greeks to come back on campus. Thankfully, they can't force the issue because it probably wouldn't be as great if so.

I think the network is more post-graduation but it's also in the grade inflation. Harvard 4.0 >>>> MIT 3.0 to most graduate institutions which is frustrating.

MIT's vibrant greek scene is really surprising to me. Are the parties open or only for members of the houses?

Generally, the only men at a party would be the fraternity brothers throwing it. So other men wouldn't be allowed in unless they were friends with someone in the house. All women were welcome. Sororities aren't allowed to throw parties.

Is the exclusion of men who are not members of the fraternity a new thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to MIT which had a pretty vibrant social scene. We have a such Greek scene. Parties usually corresponded to getting past key testing schedules or holidays.

I never, literally never met a Harvard student at a party but to be fair that part of Boston is pretty far from their part of Cambridge.

MIT has long pushed for all Greeks to come back on campus. Thankfully, they can't force the issue because it probably wouldn't be as great if so.

I think the network is more post-graduation but it's also in the grade inflation. Harvard 4.0 >>>> MIT 3.0 to most graduate institutions which is frustrating.

MIT's vibrant greek scene is really surprising to me. Are the parties open or only for members of the houses?

Generally, the only men at a party would be the fraternity brothers throwing it. So other men wouldn't be allowed in unless they were friends with someone in the house. All women were welcome. Sororities aren't allowed to throw parties.

Is the exclusion of men who are not members of the fraternity a new thing?

Are you kidding?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to MIT which had a pretty vibrant social scene. We have a such Greek scene. Parties usually corresponded to getting past key testing schedules or holidays.

I never, literally never met a Harvard student at a party but to be fair that part of Boston is pretty far from their part of Cambridge.

MIT has long pushed for all Greeks to come back on campus. Thankfully, they can't force the issue because it probably wouldn't be as great if so.

I think the network is more post-graduation but it's also in the grade inflation. Harvard 4.0 >>>> MIT 3.0 to most graduate institutions which is frustrating.

MIT's vibrant greek scene is really surprising to me. Are the parties open or only for members of the houses?

Generally, the only men at a party would be the fraternity brothers throwing it. So other men wouldn't be allowed in unless they were friends with someone in the house. All women were welcome. Sororities aren't allowed to throw parties.

Is the exclusion of men who are not members of the fraternity a new thing?

Are you kidding?

At most universities fraternities are responsible for the party scene of the whole university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a Harvard freshman who is having a blast on Saturday nights (nothing happening the night before games). He's an athlete, but hangs with a number of non-athletes who are very social.

Where do they find parties? Are freshman allowed to go to final clubs?

Plenty of upperclassmen have parties and their dorms often have the space.

I guess it wouldn't really be that different at Yale, where, to the best of my knowledge, most parties happen in dorms also.

A good chunk of Yale upperclassmen live off campus so many more opportunities for parties/socializing in private spaces. The university admin is also much more easy going about noise etc so on campus events don’t get shut down regularly like they do in Cambridge and invest in/encourage socializing. Here’s a Harvard student’s take written last year

https://harvardindependent.com/what-harvard-could-learn-from-yale/

This is a really good article.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's weird to explore places and activities within a 5 mile radius of your college campus?

No, but it is when it's your primary social outlet instead of your own college.

Who said anything about it being primary? It’s easy to do both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's weird to explore places and activities within a 5 mile radius of your college campus?

No, but it is when it's your primary social outlet instead of your own college.

Who said anything about it being primary? It’s easy to do both.

Have you not read the thread? Going to other college parties was discussed in this thread as an alternative to Harvard's supposedly lackluster social life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yale has a lot of social events and parties. It is much more well rounded than Harvard.

I went to Yale, and I'd say this is true. There was a lot going on. I have a couple of good friends who went to Harvard. They are fun, smart and social. They didn't like Harvard very much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yale has a lot of social events and parties. It is much more well rounded than Harvard.

I went to Yale, and I'd say this is true. There was a lot going on. I have a couple of good friends who went to Harvard. They are fun, smart and social. They didn't like Harvard very much.

Yea, the "fun, smart, and social" personality type seems to have the worst experience at Harvard and it has always been that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Isn't this why the finals clubs guys are said to prefer girls from outside harvard for parties? I'm not sure how parents of daughters at Harvard feel about that.

Why would they care? So many other (and better) parties at other Boston/Cambridge campuses.

I think the poster was hinting that the Harvard guys are looking for better looking females. Maybe BC. Or Simmons College that is virtually all female.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to MIT which had a pretty vibrant social scene. We have a such Greek scene. Parties usually corresponded to getting past key testing schedules or holidays.

I never, literally never met a Harvard student at a party but to be fair that part of Boston is pretty far from their part of Cambridge.

MIT has long pushed for all Greeks to come back on campus. Thankfully, they can't force the issue because it probably wouldn't be as great if so.

I think the network is more post-graduation but it's also in the grade inflation. Harvard 4.0 >>>> MIT 3.0 to most graduate institutions which is frustrating.

MIT's vibrant greek scene is really surprising to me. Are the parties open or only for members of the houses?

Generally, the only men at a party would be the fraternity brothers throwing it. So other men wouldn't be allowed in unless they were friends with someone in the house. All women were welcome. Sororities aren't allowed to throw parties.

Is the exclusion of men who are not members of the fraternity a new thing?

Are you kidding?

At most universities fraternities are responsible for the party scene of the whole university.

Maybe in like the 90s. This is not really true to most colleges that aren’t in the south.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harvard has these pre-professional clubs that socialize a ton. They have dinners (each must have 10-12 per semester!) at the fanciest places and also go away on long weekend trips to interesting places. I guess that’s their “partying”, but you’re right in that it’s not the typical college social life. 🤷 Nothing like MIT but most kids do not feel bad about it.

Sounds unaffordable for the non-rich. As intended, I suppose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Harvard has these pre-professional clubs that socialize a ton. They have dinners (each must have 10-12 per semester!) at the fanciest places and also go away on long weekend trips to interesting places. I guess that’s their “partying”, but you’re right in that it’s not the typical college social life. 🤷 Nothing like MIT but most kids do not feel bad about it.

Sounds unaffordable for the non-rich. As intended, I suppose.

These events are free for the members of the clubs which earn money through the work they do.