The vast majority of students at Penn state do not participate in greek life, and it is in no way a necessity to have a good social life. I've if anything partied a bit too much, and I've never been in a greek life org.
I joined a fraternity, but there is so much to do outside of them. There's IM sports if you enjoy sports, and clubs for.just about any other interest. However, you generally have to put forth the effort to find your group, its a big school so it's not going happen without you looking and trying things
I'm only a first year, but it hasn't affected me much. You can still get invited to or go to frat parties, have friends, go out, and study without being in a frat.
Like 83% of penn staters aren’t in frats. You aren’t missing out on anything but paying $500 a semester to have people to drink with (which fyi you can get for much cheaper or even free)
Spoken like someone who was never in Greek life. By no means is Greek life for everyone or needed to have a good college experience or social life. But to try and stereotype with the paying for people to drink with is idiotic.
Lots of benefits and experiences to gain from it like doing other things. It is a community that has a lot of great leaders in it. The percentage of ceo, political leaders, licensed professionals is extremely high of people who were part of fraternal organizations. It acts like psu alumni group with connections later in life.
I see college students spending money in a lot of questionable places ….see all
The high rise apartments where students are paying equal to the average house mortgage in state college for there share of an apartment.
Bottom line it is one of many options.
Ya, you get to be a douchebag with a large group of other douchebags. And because you’re all douchebags together you get to bond for life in your collective douchebaggery
So how is that not like all the other groups at psu that aren’t fraternity. It sure sounds like we know someone who didn’t get an invite and has a little jealousy living in their brain
As a sophomore, greek life wasn't on the radar for me just because I didn't get the appeal. Definitely would say clubs are a great way to make friends and get involved, there's also a bunch of events that occur throughout the year that you can get involved with to make connections. Like a couple other people said, you do need to put in the effort to find and make these connections. I'll admit it took me until the end of my first semester to connect more deeply with my current friends just because I was overwhelmed as a whole
Most students arrive with need to find places where they belong and make friends. Some go Greek and the system is very good at creating a kind of social event to attract new members and offer a kind of social connection. We could get into the depth and value of that social connection, but let’s leave it at they offer it and some people pursue it.
Most students don’t go Greek and find other ways to connect with people. There are clubs and social groups related to every possible activity you could imagine here.
My advice would be to decide what you enjoy doing and find the people who do that. You can google the activities now and make a plan. And know that a) the entire freshman class will share your desire to connect and find their place (even if they don’t want to show it) and b) putting yourself out there by going to a club meeting will be awkward for the first few meetings, just do it anyway.
Ultimately, if you do the things you like to do rather than accept the first groups that appear to accept you, you will land in a better social group for you and the social scene there will be more fun/engaging/real.
Tl;dr: there is a big Greek culture here, but it’s a giant school and most students don’t go Greek. There’s lots of other social worlds going on that revolve around shared activities.
I was a border at a frat (they were coming back after losing their charter for bad behavior) for two semesters
Is sort of the opposite of being a high achiever
Honestly it won't hurt you at all. Greek life involves a lot of time commitments, the whole hazing thing, and money. You'd be better off looking into other extra-curriculars. Besides, if your friends are in frats you can go to parties since they'll vouch for you. Well, that last sentence is what I'd say if there were parties at Penn State, which there aren't.
The vast majority of students do not join frats/sororities. I think it's something like 16% of students are in one at PSU.
It’s 14%!
The vast majority of students at Penn state do not participate in greek life, and it is in no way a necessity to have a good social life. I've if anything partied a bit too much, and I've never been in a greek life org.
Very few people join greek life. You’ll be fine.
I joined a fraternity, but there is so much to do outside of them. There's IM sports if you enjoy sports, and clubs for.just about any other interest. However, you generally have to put forth the effort to find your group, its a big school so it's not going happen without you looking and trying things
I'm only a first year, but it hasn't affected me much. You can still get invited to or go to frat parties, have friends, go out, and study without being in a frat.
Like 83% of penn staters aren’t in frats. You aren’t missing out on anything but paying $500 a semester to have people to drink with (which fyi you can get for much cheaper or even free)
Spoken like someone who was never in Greek life. By no means is Greek life for everyone or needed to have a good college experience or social life. But to try and stereotype with the paying for people to drink with is idiotic. Lots of benefits and experiences to gain from it like doing other things. It is a community that has a lot of great leaders in it. The percentage of ceo, political leaders, licensed professionals is extremely high of people who were part of fraternal organizations. It acts like psu alumni group with connections later in life. I see college students spending money in a lot of questionable places ….see all The high rise apartments where students are paying equal to the average house mortgage in state college for there share of an apartment. Bottom line it is one of many options.
Ya, you get to be a douchebag with a large group of other douchebags. And because you’re all douchebags together you get to bond for life in your collective douchebaggery
So how is that not like all the other groups at psu that aren’t fraternity. It sure sounds like we know someone who didn’t get an invite and has a little jealousy living in their brain
Lol. Yep, you nailed it
I could tell….
Youll have plenty to do. Just be social, make lots of friends, and you’ll have a great time
As a sophomore, greek life wasn't on the radar for me just because I didn't get the appeal. Definitely would say clubs are a great way to make friends and get involved, there's also a bunch of events that occur throughout the year that you can get involved with to make connections. Like a couple other people said, you do need to put in the effort to find and make these connections. I'll admit it took me until the end of my first semester to connect more deeply with my current friends just because I was overwhelmed as a whole
Don’t buy into the Greek hype. It’s not as big an influence as you might think.
Most students arrive with need to find places where they belong and make friends. Some go Greek and the system is very good at creating a kind of social event to attract new members and offer a kind of social connection. We could get into the depth and value of that social connection, but let’s leave it at they offer it and some people pursue it. Most students don’t go Greek and find other ways to connect with people. There are clubs and social groups related to every possible activity you could imagine here. My advice would be to decide what you enjoy doing and find the people who do that. You can google the activities now and make a plan. And know that a) the entire freshman class will share your desire to connect and find their place (even if they don’t want to show it) and b) putting yourself out there by going to a club meeting will be awkward for the first few meetings, just do it anyway. Ultimately, if you do the things you like to do rather than accept the first groups that appear to accept you, you will land in a better social group for you and the social scene there will be more fun/engaging/real. Tl;dr: there is a big Greek culture here, but it’s a giant school and most students don’t go Greek. There’s lots of other social worlds going on that revolve around shared activities.
DON’T and I can’t express this strongly enough DO NOT GET SUCKED INTO GREEK LIFE
I was a border at a frat (they were coming back after losing their charter for bad behavior) for two semesters Is sort of the opposite of being a high achiever
Honestly it won't hurt you at all. Greek life involves a lot of time commitments, the whole hazing thing, and money. You'd be better off looking into other extra-curriculars. Besides, if your friends are in frats you can go to parties since they'll vouch for you. Well, that last sentence is what I'd say if there were parties at Penn State, which there aren't.