Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From my freshman's HS friends (in this order) - some are T25/30 but all private:

Vanderbilt
Notre Dame
USC
Northwestern
UChicago (surprising to me)
MIT
Georgetown
Cornell (another surprise)
Dartmouth
Penn
Duke (it's fallen a bit - used to be much more "fun")

It's Vanderbilt then USC then a massive gap before the rest of the schools on this list.

Notre Dame is fairly social, but the scene is dorm-centric, which gets old after a year or two.

Dartmouth and Duke are no longer the Chad-friendly Dartmouth and Duke of the 1990s and even the 2000s.

Northwestern's rep has similarly changed, though it was never as fun to begin with.

Penn has some Chads in Wharton, but it's a more buttoned-up kind of "fun" than at an actual party school.

Cornell has a surprisingly decent Greek scene but also an absolute TON of engineering chuds who can be seen lugging overstuffed backpacks around campus at 10pm on Saturday nights.

Chicago, MIT, Georgetown: no.

why would this bother anyone?

Cornell recently sanctioned fraternity members for waterboarding pledges with vodka. Is that fun?

Link?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From my freshman's HS friends (in this order) - some are T25/30 but all private:

Vanderbilt
Notre Dame
USC
Northwestern
UChicago (surprising to me)
MIT
Georgetown
Cornell (another surprise)
Dartmouth
Penn
Duke (it's fallen a bit - used to be much more "fun")

It's Vanderbilt then USC then a massive gap before the rest of the schools on this list.

Notre Dame is fairly social, but the scene is dorm-centric, which gets old after a year or two.

Dartmouth and Duke are no longer the Chad-friendly Dartmouth and Duke of the 1990s and even the 2000s.

Northwestern's rep has similarly changed, though it was never as fun to begin with.

Penn has some Chads in Wharton, but it's a more buttoned-up kind of "fun" than at an actual party school.

Cornell has a surprisingly decent Greek scene but also an absolute TON of engineering chuds who can be seen lugging overstuffed backpacks around campus at 10pm on Saturday nights.

Chicago, MIT, Georgetown: no.

why would this bother anyone?

Cornell recently sanctioned fraternity members for waterboarding pledges with vodka. Is that fun?

[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From my freshman's HS friends (in this order) - some are T25/30 but all private:

Vanderbilt
Notre Dame
USC
Northwestern
UChicago (surprising to me)
MIT
Georgetown
Cornell (another surprise)
Dartmouth
Penn
Duke (it's fallen a bit - used to be much more "fun")

Agree with all this. I'd add Columbia - my freshman DD goes out every Friday and Saturday.

Goes out to bars, restaurants and clubs in NYC or frat/house parties?

All of the above, but bars, clubs, and restaurants are more popular choices than frats and house parties.

We've heard Columbia is very sceney and pricey - lots of private clubs/bottle service. It's almost like the kids lead a 25+ life at 18? Everyone has a black card or Centurion card too. Out of control but maybe all city schools are like this now.

If that’s the case that’s a bummer.

Columbia and NYU always had a very tiny group of what we then called “Eurotrash” kids who were super-rich expat or international kids with a ton of money who led very separate lives from everyone else. But Columbia used to have a great, chill social scene. We would take the train down from Yale sometimes to go to parties in the university-owned apartments with friends. This was the early 2000s and the schools were still cautious about off-campus violence in the 90s, so they looked the other way and allowed a lot of on-campus partying.

Phones, better understanding of liability and risk, and job pressure have really taken the fun out of college. It makes sense that students are looking for more organized socializing in schools with Greek systems or really formalized southern social scenes; it seems like the only way to be sure there will be a little fun.

Define fun. Dor a type B student, Emory, WashU, Rice are fun.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From my freshman's HS friends (in this order) - some are T25/30 but all private:

Vanderbilt
Notre Dame
USC
Northwestern
UChicago (surprising to me)
MIT
Georgetown
Cornell (another surprise)
Dartmouth
Penn
Duke (it's fallen a bit - used to be much more "fun")

Agree with all this. I'd add Columbia - my freshman DD goes out every Friday and Saturday.

Goes out to bars, restaurants and clubs in NYC or frat/house parties?

All of the above, but bars, clubs, and restaurants are more popular choices than frats and house parties.

We've heard Columbia is very sceney and pricey - lots of private clubs/bottle service. It's almost like the kids lead a 25+ life at 18? Everyone has a black card or Centurion card too. Out of control but maybe all city schools are like this now.

That is mostly reserved for the very wealthy kids, which make up a large proportion of Columbia but doesn't represent the whole class. Going out scene is more relaxed than that for most people - free entry clubs, restaurants, house parties, frats.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From my freshman's HS friends (in this order) - some are T25/30 but all private:

Vanderbilt
Notre Dame
USC
Northwestern
UChicago (surprising to me)
MIT
Georgetown
Cornell (another surprise)
Dartmouth
Penn
Duke (it's fallen a bit - used to be much more "fun")

Agree with all this. I'd add Columbia - my freshman DD goes out every Friday and Saturday.

Goes out to bars, restaurants and clubs in NYC or frat/house parties?

All of the above, but bars, clubs, and restaurants are more popular choices than frats and house parties.

We've heard Columbia is very sceney and pricey - lots of private clubs/bottle service. It's almost like the kids lead a 25+ life at 18? Everyone has a black card or Centurion card too. Out of control but maybe all city schools are like this now.

Anonymous wrote:I know freshman boys struggling a little with the frat stuff at Duke, UChicago, Vandy and Georgetown. either going through the process and just being bogged down by pledge bullshit and academics suffering. or deciding to skip it and feeling out of the loop.

I know freshman at Yale and ND who are super happy.

also happy kids at Williams, Dartmouth, and Bowdoin. I think those are real "fit" schools, you have to know who you are before signing up of those. ND too.

Should my gay DS who wants to party rush a fraternity at one of the 4 schools mentioned above next year? He's worried that he will be shut out of frat parties if he isn't a part of a frat, but also isn't 100% set on rushing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From my freshman's HS friends (in this order) - some are T25/30 but all private:

Vanderbilt
Notre Dame
USC
Northwestern
UChicago (surprising to me)
MIT
Georgetown
Cornell (another surprise)
Dartmouth
Penn
Duke (it's fallen a bit - used to be much more "fun")

Agree with all this. I'd add Columbia - my freshman DD goes out every Friday and Saturday.

Goes out to bars, restaurants and clubs in NYC or frat/house parties?

All of the above, but bars, clubs, and restaurants are more popular choices than frats and house parties.

Anonymous wrote:I know freshman boys struggling a little with the frat stuff at Duke, UChicago, Vandy and Georgetown. either going through the process and just being bogged down by pledge bullshit and academics suffering. or deciding to skip it and feeling out of the loop.

I know freshman at Yale and ND who are super happy.

also happy kids at Williams, Dartmouth, and Bowdoin. I think those are real "fit" schools, you have to know who you are before signing up of those. ND too.

Agreed, also know a few like minded kids very happy at Colby, Middlebury, Hamilton and Amherst.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know freshman boys struggling a little with the frat stuff at Duke, UChicago, Vandy and Georgetown. either going through the process and just being bogged down by pledge bullshit and academics suffering. or deciding to skip it and feeling out of the loop.

I know freshman at Yale and ND who are super happy.

also happy kids at Williams, Dartmouth, and Bowdoin. I think those are real "fit" schools, you have to know who you are before signing up of those. ND too.

Georgetown doesn't have a greek system -

I think a lot of kids and parents listen to the school presentation on greek life and few ask the actual students. there are a lot of "unassociated houses" at Georgetown with all the rushing and pledging as frats. it's more of a thing than people realize

I work at Georgetown with a lot of young alumni (and interact with the alumni community), and I have never heard a single reference to Greek life—to being a member of a house or to Greek life’s existence at the school. I also see no evidence of it walking around campus, in the student newspapers, etc.

To the extent that it’s a thing, it’s not a thing like it is at schools with formally recognized Greek systems, where Greek identity is very obvious.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know freshman boys struggling a little with the frat stuff at Duke, UChicago, Vandy and Georgetown. either going through the process and just being bogged down by pledge bullshit and academics suffering. or deciding to skip it and feeling out of the loop.

I know freshman at Yale and ND who are super happy.

also happy kids at Williams, Dartmouth, and Bowdoin. I think those are real "fit" schools, you have to know who you are before signing up of those. ND too.

I have a Dartmouth student and it's surprisingly not fun. Far more geeky, quirky, striver, grinder than Chad in 2026 and you are stuck in the freezing woods at baseline. They are counting the days until summer.

That makes me so sad to read! I went to Dartmouth for grad school and had the best time, and the undergrads were having even more fun. They sometimes got bored with each other and invited us to their parties. I felt that the isolation of campus really encouraged people to make their own fun together in a good way. I think career and job recruiting pressure has really sucked any freedom out of being a college student.

Yes, it has changed a lot in recent years. I'm also an alum. Dartmouth was one of the last to fall to the "grinder applicant" culture but they've very much conceded over the past few cycles.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know freshman boys struggling a little with the frat stuff at Duke, UChicago, Vandy and Georgetown. either going through the process and just being bogged down by pledge bullshit and academics suffering. or deciding to skip it and feeling out of the loop.

I know freshman at Yale and ND who are super happy.

also happy kids at Williams, Dartmouth, and Bowdoin. I think those are real "fit" schools, you have to know who you are before signing up of those. ND too.

Georgetown doesn't have a greek system -

I think a lot of kids and parents listen to the school presentation on greek life and few ask the actual students. there are a lot of "unassociated houses" at Georgetown with all the rushing and pledging as frats. it's more of a thing than people realize

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know freshman boys struggling a little with the frat stuff at Duke, UChicago, Vandy and Georgetown. either going through the process and just being bogged down by pledge bullshit and academics suffering. or deciding to skip it and feeling out of the loop.

I know freshman at Yale and ND who are super happy.

also happy kids at Williams, Dartmouth, and Bowdoin. I think those are real "fit" schools, you have to know who you are before signing up of those. ND too.

Georgetown doesn't have a greek system -

looks like 6: https://www.greekrank.net/uni/184/fraternities/

Fun is really kid specific.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From my freshman's HS friends (in this order) - some are T25/30 but all private:

Vanderbilt
Notre Dame
USC
Northwestern
UChicago (surprising to me)
MIT
Georgetown
Cornell (another surprise)
Dartmouth
Penn
Duke (it's fallen a bit - used to be much more "fun")

Agree with all this. I'd add Columbia - my freshman DD goes out every Friday and Saturday.

Goes out to bars, restaurants and clubs in NYC or frat/house parties?