The Greek scene is a popular resource for incoming freshmen at Wash U. It is an easy way to make friends, meet guys and girls, and ind a set of ready-made activities and social events. The frats and sororities have mixers, crush parties, and semi-formals throughout the year, as well as other intra-Greek events that make them a tight-knit community on campus. Nearly a quarter of the student body joins a fraternity or a sorority, and among the socially active, that percentage could represent almost half. Most students argue that the Greek scene does not dominate, though. There are plenty of other parties and social groups around, and not joining a fraternity or sorority isn't social suicide.
Freshmen have plenty of time to decide whether or not to join a fraternity or sorority. They get a feel for the different fraternities and sororities in the first semester, attend rush events in the beginning of the second semester, and receive bids about a month later. Another option is to rush sophomore year, but few people actually do so. To give a rough impression of the different groups, here’s a caricature of each fraternity and sorority: Sigma Alpha Mu (Sammy) and ZBT are the off-campus party frats, Sigma Chi has lots of athletes and techno parties, AEPi is sort of a Jewish Sammy-lite, Kappa Sig is a random assortment of outgoing guys, Sig Ep members pay too much attention to their hair, Beta Theta Pi members are laid-back all-American types, Theta Xi is ’80s-rock-loving beer drinkers, Phi Delts are jocks, Sigma Nu is mostly nerds and potheads, and SAE is kind of a mystery. For the sororities: Kappa Gamma is almost all blondes, Pi Phi and AEPhi are Jewish girls and their friends, Alpha Phi is athletic fun-loving girls, Delta Gamma is an unclassifiable mélange, Chi Omega is very Asian, and AOPi is just getting started.
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Greek Life at Washington University in St. Louis
B
changing
The presence of greek life is changing a lot at this school. when i chose to come here, it seemed as though it was a work hard, play hard environment, and that greeks had lots of parties and it was a "fun" school for how highly ranked it is. While almost 30% of the students go greek, this year the administration seems to be doing everything they can to make the school less of a fun school and more of a UChicago-type school. A lot of the social scene has now shifted off campus to bars and clubs in st louis, as frats are now extremely limited in the amount of parties they can have and how "rowdy" the parties can be. I don't know why the school wants to ruin all the fun, but before you choose to come here just keep this in mind
Apr 27, 2012
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Greek Life at Washington University in St. Louis
C-
get out while you can
Greek life is slowly being destroyed. If you care about this, do not come here. The school's goal is to make greek life irrelevant in the next few years.
Apr 26, 2012
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Greek Life at Washington University in St. Louis
ablasch
Operations Management '15
5.0
A+
Greek Life = Main Form of Social Life
Greek life makes college nightlife so much more fun. When you are part of a sorority or fraternity you are invited to more exclusive events and your weeks and weekends always have events planned. However, they are usually not mandatory and you can be as involved or uninvolved as you want in your sorority or fraternity. Greeks would agree that Greek life significantly improves your social life but non-Greek students seem happy as well and find things to do on campus on the weekends too. Only frats have housing.
Mar 16, 2012
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User rating for Washington University in St. Louis - Greek Life is
4.6 out of 5
based on 37 user reviews.
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