NationStates Jolt Archive

Yeah, a week into college, and let me tell ya, I'm having a bloody good time. UC Davis isn't really known for its sick parties, but there have been some tight ass parties that I've been to. Does everyone love college as much as I do?

I loved college. I behaved very oddly there. :)

I like college, but I've only been to one party and it, frankly, sucked. I hear there are better ones, but there are more important things to me, like getting my homework done and posting on NS. :p

Yeah, a week into college, and let me tell ya, I'm having a bloody good time. UC Davis isn't really known for its sick parties, but there have been some tight ass parties that I've been to. Does everyone love college as much as I do?Just imagine how much fun you could have if you were in college somewhere other than Davis. j/k :D

rez was quite the party.

but just wait until you actually have to study.

it's not quite so fun.

I'm fed up with it!! Then again, I have been there since 2002...ugh, so long!

Yeah....between drunken parties with strangers and posting on NS....NS wins every time. ;)

yeah, college is allright. lots of spare time to spend on ns, parties, sleep, etc :D

just enjoy it while you can. i just graduated last may, and the "real world" isn't the same drunken fun time as college. i haven't been out drinking on a weeknight since june (the week before i started working), whereas at school i stayed in on tuesdays and sometimes wednesdays.

waking up at 9 and sleeping in class sucks compared to waking up at 5:30 and fighting traffic for over an hour.

I love Northwestern. Of course, it doesn't hurt that we just beat Ohio State. :D

Only losers and nerds go to college. Real men sell lady shoes or become garbage men.

I like college, but I've only been to one party and it, frankly, sucked. I hear there are better ones, but there are more important things to me, like getting my homework done and posting on NS. :p

Holy christ i hope youre kidding. but then again, you are from OK

i can't wait.
this year, and then it's go time.
assuming i get in to my top picks, college'll be fun.

If you're looking for a party school...any SEC school will suffice...
Trust me, I go to one...

I go to Berkeley, and while work and such is not fun, the parties are excellent (Well the ones my friends have at least)...I did find that the frat scene got really old after awhile though.

Holy christ i hope youre kidding. but then again, you are from OK
Not at all, and trust me, my location has nothing to do with it. I'm definitely in the minority.

University of Noth Texas

smoke grass with the Psychology Majors, get drunk with the Political Science Majors, have coffee with Literature Majors, run around with the Student Feminist and take atleast one art class a year!

And get smashed by OU's football team :D

yeah, we played you last year, but whatever. lol

And get smashed by OU's football team :D

yeah, we played you last year, but whatever. lol


I get smashed with anybody but that's neither here nor there...

... although a first post, I have a solemn duty to chime in here.

I'm a little disappointed by the lack of mention of Penn State in a party school thread, so I'll have to do it. You haven't seen a party until you've gotten the chance to witness 100,000+ fans getting completely wasted simultaneously during a home game. Of course we don't have 100,000+ people on non-football weekends, but we'll take the 43,000 undergrad admissions and have one heck of a time with it.

I was asked to speak to my very small High schoo class of the 10 people in my graduating HS class, I was the first to graduate from a four year college. (yes, we're that small. We're in the CAtskills. Stop looking at me like that.)

I told the seniors who would be going to college to try everything. If you don't think you'll like it, try it anyway. If you know you'll love it, try something else and go back if ya wanna do it. College is the one part of life where experimentation on all levels - from social, to intellectual, to the fraternal, to the personal, is all welcome. do everything. NEver ever pass up a chance.

Though I did warn about greeks. God I hate those frigging greeks.

(no offence. But a death at our campus, and of my best friends failing after he hooked up with Greeks, just leaves a horrid taste in my mouth).

The Greek system is a piss poor excuse to charge impressionable Freshmen outrageous amounts of money to buy some friends and enemies. I absolutely despise it.

We just had a death in a frat house here last week, alcohol poisoning. I feel horrible for the guy's family and friends and don't really blame the frat - people will drink anywhere, for any excuse - I just think frat's make the problem worse instead of ameliorating it.

Hey there, a sensible, sensitive Greek here (a SigEp at Carnegie Mellon). I, also, absolutely loathed the Greek system for the entirety of my first and second years in college. I'm gay and not that into getting drunk on beer that tastes like piss, so what was the point, right?

The summer after my sophomore year, though, I became very close friends with an individual who was such a gentleman, so intelligent, and so much fun to be around. He was alcohol-free (I've never been that!), and in just about every way he contradicted the stereotype cemented by "Animal House" and frat boys.

I figured he was an aberration, since I'd heard every house has a few great guys, but he invited me over a few times, and everyone was incredible - but all different. I rushed. They wanted to know where my boyfriend was (He was at work.) during date events. I mean, come on! I found out there was no pledge period - a big issue for me since I didn't like the idea of humiliating myself or being at someone's disposal.

I joined. Why? Certainly not because I needed to "buy friends". I already had too many of those. There were a number of reasons. First, I'd never had a biological brother or a group of close male friends my age. I wanted to experience that, and I have to say I love these guys in a way I didn't know I could love people. Second, I'm a bit of a liberal hipster type, and I truly believe that the Greek system (when functioning properly) gets people involved in their communities in both civic and philanthropic ways - and gives people the tools to function that way their whole lives. Now that's an impassioned liberal's wet dream. Third, I wanted a more diverse group of friends. All of my friends were left-wing, humanities-oriented, and quite familiar with homosexuality.

Now I'm in a house that's half-Republican, majors all over the place, with varying exposure to someone who is gay. For some, I was the first person they ever knew who was open about it. And it's been such a learning experience, especially for me. I've gained more respect for right-wingers, Christians, etc. I've learned how to be a stronger leader. (This Saturday, as Greek Council Diversity Coordinator I give a talk to all new Greeks about diversity issues. I've become a Student Senator and started my own student organization.)

What I appreciate most is that group-think and conformity are highly discouraged at SigEp. The brothers recognize that stronger individuals make a stronger whole, and it creates a great atmosphere.

Granted, all experiences are not like mine. Two of my new brothers (I am a senior - they just joined.) who are openly gay were either assaulted or tossed out of other house's parties earlier this year simply for being gay. Greek Life all too often becomes a haven for bigotry, alcoholism, drug use, sexual assault, and overall poor treatment of women. Indeed, many girls tell me they come to our parties (which are not dry but are byob) because the floor isn't sticky with beer, the ladies' room is clean, and the guys won't molest them on the dance floor. So obviously we're doing things a little differently.

I guess my point is that you can't say fraternities shouldn't exist or that you hate them simply because a few - or even many - houses are fucking up big time. There does need to be serious reform, especially at larger schools where Greek Life *is* the social scene. But many guys and gals go Greek for noble reasons and make their houses noble too.

Greek Life is like Israel. If you visit and spend time there, you think it's great. But if you just read the headlines and watched the news, you'd think it's hell on earth. Either way, Israel still has a long way to go to being a safe and completely stable nation. And the same could be said for Greek Life. But please, please don't do this "buying your friends" or "this thing happened to my friend" thing that everyone does.

I didn't buy my friends. Nor did I buy brothers. We all put money in so we can hold the events we want to hold. And eat on a meal plan. That's it. And none of my brothers would *ever* violate a woman or verbally/physically attack someone because they were different. If they did, they'd be up for expulsion immediately.

In conclusion, I'm a reasonable, kind, and intelligent person whose fraternity means everything in the world to him. It breaks my heart when other fraternities or "frats" as I like to call them do such stupid and disastrous things to other people and themselves, more than you can know, much like how as an American the Abu Ghraib photos made me cry w/out making me hate all troops. Get it?

... although a first post, I have a solemn duty to chime in here.

I'm a little disappointed by the lack of mention of Penn State in a party school thread, so I'll have to do it. You haven't seen a party until you've gotten the chance to witness 100,000+ fans getting completely wasted simultaneously during a home game. Of course we don't have 100,000+ people on non-football weekends, but we'll take the 43,000 undergrad admissions and have one heck of a time with it.

That's because they don't want to have to deal with the reality of their miserable team. Hurry up and give Joe Pa the ax.

The Greek system is a piss poor excuse to charge impressionable Freshmen outrageous amounts of money to buy some friends and enemies. I absolutely despise it.

We just had a death in a frat house here last week, alcohol poisoning. I feel horrible for the guy's family and friends and don't really blame the frat - people will drink anywhere, for any excuse - I just think frat's make the problem worse instead of ameliorating it.

I knew it. When I read the post about doing homework I was suspicious. But this tears it. You are probably an RA at your school and obviously a GDI (god damned independant) GDI's have no concept of Greek life. Same old thing - "buying your friends", "brainwashing", "mindless drinking binges" "objectification of women" (well OK, yes, objectification of women but what college guy doesn't view women as an object?). You're probably too scared to rush because you're affraid you won't be accepted. That is the real reason you're down on fraternities - not because you don't want to belong but because you fear rejection. You can deny it. But I've seen it. I used to run rush for my fraternity. I met so many cool people during the semester and would ask them why they didn't rush, not just my fraternity but any. The answer given the majority of the time: "I was affraid I wouldn't get a bid." My answer: "Nothing risked, nothing gained."

I love college life here at Rensselaer, cept for the fact that its almost like attending an all guys school. And the work.

Hey there, a sensible, sensitive Greek here (a SigEp at Carnegie Mellon). I, also, absolutely loathed the Greek system for the entirety of my first and second years in college. I'm gay and not that into getting drunk on beer that tastes like piss, so what was the point, right?
...
In conclusion, I'm a reasonable, kind, and intelligent person whose fraternity means everything in the world to him. It breaks my heart when other fraternities or "frats" as I like to call them do such stupid and disastrous things to other people and themselves, more than you can know, much like how as an American the Abu Ghraib photos made me cry w/out making me hate all troops. Get it?I enjoyed reading this post, I do appreciate it when someone can point out the good in a system the majority of which is negative. I want to clarify that I don't hate Greeks, I hate the Greek system. What I hate about it is the exclusive, clique-ish attitude, but especially the fact that whenever you critize some part of it, any part of it, Greeks tend to jump on you, get in your face - attack you - in order to defend their system. In the past 24 hours, I've gotten screamed at last night for admitting that I was anti-Greek, ignored and snubbed in French class today when I suggested a solution to a problem might be quitting your sorority, and now I log online to find that this attitude isn't confined to Oklahoma...

I'm aware Greeks are stereotyped, but Greeks stereotype non-Greeks as badly, if not worse (I'll point to the post above this one as an example, and ignore it otherwise). If you aren't in a sorority, you can't be enjoying college. You can't be a pleasant, happy, and constructive member of your community. You must hate the Greek system because you don't understand it/are scared of it. And that attitude, which is prevailant in my experience, just pisses me off.

The fact that houses force you to do community service or philanthropy, the fact that they tend to (tend to!) channel people into a narrower type of being, the fact that people, gathered into little groups like that, do stupider things than if they were on their own and chosing their own path (ie, the guy who died of alcohol poisoning - it's like the concept of mob rule), the fact that there is not a place for everyone in this system, all is what makes me despise the Greek system.

I like to think I'm liberal and tolerant, but when I think something's wrong with the world, I tend to want to smash it up and completely get rid of it, instead of accepting it and maybe trying to make it a little better. I admit that the Greek system isn't all bad, but I would feel better about it if I knew more Greeks who were willing to admit it isn't all good.

But please, please don't do this "buying your friends" or "this thing happened to my friend" thing that everyone does.Look, I'm sorry, maybe you didn't join to buy friends, but that is why people do it. It's a freaking fact. You rush, you join a sorority, you pay their outrageous dues, you follow their stupid rules, and you are promised acceptance and social superiority. I know not everyone does this - my roommate from last year, one of the nicest and sweetest girls I've ever known, is a Delta Gamma and she loves it, she didn't join to buy friends but to branch out, get more involved, and help other people. But then you have our next-door neighbor from last year, who is an unhappy, insecure, selfish and spiteful girl who rushed Delta Gamma in order to get that social acceptance she thinks she so desperately needs. What she needs is a few good friends who will be completely honest and loyal to her - what she's getting is a hundred girls who don't care about her except for what she can do for them.

Like it or not, the Greek system is there to classify people by whether they join or not, and what they join if they do. It's a label - it can be a great experience, but you have to make it so... it's not inherantly great, like so many people try to make it seem.