Case Western Reserve University Top Questions

I am very involved in athletics at Case. Sports are not always the biggest news on campus, but we always get recognized in the school paper and by the athletic department. We have a beautiful new stadium and track. Our football team has gotten much more popular because of our undefeated season and trip to the playoffs. We always have a few outstanding athletes in every sport. There are a lot of Greek activities, as well as organized activities from the student groups around campus. There are parties, and fun ones at that, but don't be surprised to see someone studying on a Friday night.

I'm involved with Case Swing Club and it is a huge part of my life. Its members make up most of my friends, and it has introduced me to a hobby that I do all the time and plan to continue for the rest of my life. I tried to join a fraternity, but found that I just had more fun with the people in Swing Club (we teach and learn Swing Dancing, a group of partnered dancing styles from the 1930's and 40's). I met my closest friends at Swing Club and through Fencing Club. Athletic events are sadly rather poorly attended--I say sadly because some of the teams are doing rather well and they don't get the attention that they would at some other schools. The theater seems to be pretty popular and particularly IMPROVment, our student-run improvisational comedy group. People seem to party pretty regularly, or not at all. There are a pretty sizable group of students who maintain a pretty vibrant social life without partying at all, and there are a lot of people I know that say that they don't drink and they're still really social. On a given Saturday night you could go to an Improv show, watch a play or musical being put on by the students, go to a concert somewhere in the Cleveland area (I read the Free Times and Scene, Cleveland's two free weeklies to keep up to date on events in Cleveland), go see a movie, go bowling, go to a frat party (which often doesn't involve drinking--most of the official ones don't). As for myself, I go to concerts at some of the bars and music venues in Cleveland and I go to dances, or I'll go dancing at the concerts. Music and dancing takes up a lot of my time and money and about half of it is off campus.

Not much to do on a weekday night other than study because its too cold in the winter.

The social life is certainly lacking at Case. However, the situation is what you make of it. Cleveland offers a variety of unique opportunities, pro sports teams, clubbing, bars, etc. There are also museums and things of this nature on campus.

Fraternities and Sororities are a group of people whom you trust and get along with. When you join one, you are joining a family...for better or worse. You will live with them and deal with any problems as they come. Because of this though, they do become like a family and you spend much of your time with them. While you wont spend all your time with your fraternity or sorority, you will spend a majority of time with them because they will be your roommates, and often, your closest friends.

A lot of the students don't get out much, although it's not too hard to find a group of people who do all sorts of fun things. Athletic events are unattended. Theater is pretty big here. The guest speakers are great and are well attended. I met a lot of my friends in classes. Most people don't party at all, although if you find the 'right group', it's totally different. Fraternities and sororities are really big here, although I would DEFINITELY not classify them as 'traditional' in any way. It's more of a social and community thing than for arranging big parties. Also, there is only friendly rivalry. There is a lot to do off campus. Coventry is an old hippie street with some interesting restaurants, stores, and a pretty big concert scene. Some students go downtown to Playhouse Square to see plays or go to Severance Hall - which is practically on campus - for the orchestra. There's also the Art Museum, which is phenomenal. Little Italy has some nice Italian restaurants and bars and is within walking distance. There are lots of non-drinking fraternity and sorority dance parties.

This answer will be different for every single students at Case. Basics -- around 30{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} are in Greek life, but if you're not you don't care about it. It's easy for anyone to be in Greek life that wants to ("nerdy" chapeters, "athletic" chapters, etc) but if it's not your thing, you can be just as happy with your own group of friends doing whatever it is that suits you. From my observations people make friends within their dorm freshman year, and maybe to a lesser extent their classes. Depending on your major you may have small classes with people that you wouldn't be friends with, or large classes where there's bound to be someone you could be BFF with. However, I would definitely say that if someone ends up joining a particular frat or sorority, they become good friends with their chapter members and spend most of their time with them. For example, two of my best friends from freshman year joined a sorority and after that I rarely saw them. I went on living my life and had and made other friends, and they had Greek life, but that seems pretty common. Also, once you are in a specifi chapter, you seem to stay friends with those people and not people from another chapter (except for frat-sorority interaction). Dating scene is so-so. If you are actively looking for a boyfriend/girlfriend, you will probably get one. Even the "nerds" find love here. In the past, athletics didn't seem to be that big of a deal here, but recently our football and men's soccer teams have been doing very well, and more people have started attending games.

All students get involved in some way or another. (intramurals, bars, varsity sports, engineering groups, cultural groups). People party on the weekends or not at all. Fraternities and sororities are about 30{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the students, so that's where a lot of socializing happens. Student performances like plays, musicals, singing groups, improv groups are well attended.

Fraternities dominate the

There are many different groups that students are able to join. There are groups that involve sports, music, drama, community service, and anything else you could possible think of. If more than one group interests you, you are able to join all of them. You are not limited to only one group. These organizations also put on different events throughout the year around campus that is open to all students. Some of these events include: relay for life, hudson relays, movie nights, guest speakers, concerts, dances, contest...