Gettysburg College Top Questions

I find that Gettysburg is not very racially diverse. The student body is primarily upper middle class white students from the east coast. although i have come in contact with many students who do not fit this description, I still wouldn't say that Gettysburg has reached it's goals in obtaining a diverse campus. However, despite this fact, the campus hosts a lot of events which foster diversity and understanding other cultures. Gettysburg is not insensitive to other races and cultures, it just doesn't offer much first hand experience with students of non-white backgrounds.

Coming from a wealthy background, I do not personally feel that money is a huge issue on campus however when considering a student with less money, I can see how it may pertain to them. I have friends who are from different financial backgrounds than me, and participating in the same activities isn't very difficult. The student body is largely homogenious. It does not bother me, but being from New York City, one of the most liberal cities in the world, I am not one sided about anything. It bothers me a lot when the pro-life protestors come to campus. I am strongly, strongly pro-choice and I am a very open to others opinions. If the protestors came off in a different way it wouldn't concern me if they were on campus, however they scream, and as a woman on the campus I want to scream back. The beauty of freedom of speech. Four tables at Gettysburg: the football players. They are all the SAE, and ATO brothers- they stick together. It doesnt intimidate me at all, in fact I think its nice they are so close. As a team that is extremely important. The TKE brothers. I have never seen a TKE brother walking or sitting anywhere without ANOTHER TKE brother. They travel in packs. To class. To servo. To get their mail. I will be walking into an academic building and 10 TKE brothers will pass me all at once. They must all sign up for the same classes together. They all sit at the counter area on the upper level in servo. They don't face eachother, and sometimes don't even talk to eachother, they just sit and look out on the scene. I find it extremely amusing. ontop of the jocks, and the fraternity boys mentioned, there is a group of people that arent as social. I feel like they always sit together- they dress differently than the majority of people, they look different, they discuss different things...sometimes people wonder how they came about choosing Gettysburg. This next part is about to sound absolutely horrific. The last table is always African Americans. I feel like the non caucasian people at Gettysburg often times feel very inclined to do everything together. I think about it like this- if I went to a school that was 95{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} black, I am guessing that I would be friends with the 5{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} white people as well. It's 2008. We should be past this. But I guess a bit of 1960 is still within each of us. The majority of the student body is by NOOO means exclusive in that if a non white person were to sit at my table, I would not mind at all. I feel like THEY feel uncomfortable though.

There are definitely groups of similar people on campus, and they're not exactly cliques, but once people find their niches, they usually just stick with them. However, people make friends throughout campus, and there is a group of friends to hang with for everything that goes on. In my case, I was part of the Black Student Union fashion show (so what if i'm white?), I began exploring many Christian groups (who cares if I was agnostic before?), I hang out with all the jazz and marching band kids (and I sing opera), there were two guys in my women's studies class, and we had guys hanging out on our all-girls floor all the time. I think it's impossible not to fit in at Gettysburg. For example, my best friend's roommate wants to fight zombies for a living, and he wound up becoming the coordinator for one of the hip-hop dance groups on campus. Go figure. There are a lot of kids from New England at Gettysburg, like Jersey, NY, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, as well as a whole lot from in-state. I'm from VA, and I know very few people who are from further south than I am, but then again, one of my best friends is from Utah. There is also a huge amount of international students and professors. Within my first week, I knew kids from Lithuania, the Philippines, Palestine, Botswana, the Czech republic, and Switzerland.

For the most part the student body is NOT diverse. I remember during my interview I asked what is one thing that you wish you could change about this campus, and my interviewer said "add more diversity". I have friends from several religions, ethnicities, I have gay friends (and profs), and I have noticed an increasing amount of foreign students (from Italy, Bulgaria, Germany, etc.) But it is still an area that Gettysburg needs to improve on. I think a student from a low socio-economic class would feel out of place because most students have money (but definitely not ALL). Sometimes I feel as though everyone dresses preppy and everyone is a carbon copy of one another, but one day I looked around one of my classes and noticed that most kids were just wearing sweats and T-shirts. I think the students form cliques just like in High School-there are the sorority girls, the frat boys, the theater kids, and the "normal" kids you can't quite classify.

A lot of Gettysburg's student body come from middle to upper class, white families. Come Spring, plaid shorts, sundresses, and pale popped-collar polos are annoyingly prevalent. That is not all there is to the school, however. There are many t-shirt and jeans-wearing kids as well. Pajamas or swears in class are fairly common, as well. Most Gettysburgians are from PA, NJ, and NY, but we get people from the Midwest, West Coast, and international students, as well.

The student body at Gettysburg is extremely active. Their are tons of clubs that are run by students that the majority of the student body joins.

Some students where clothing that can be slept in, other go full out with skirts, boots, and scarfs. There are definetely groups- the preppy sorority girls, the athletes, and academics, but people can belong in all three groups or generally feel accepted by them. A lot of students are upper middle and upper class. But Gettysburg College does a great with financial aid. I have never heard students talk about how they based their major on the amount of money they will earn one day. But then again, I am around science students who can't really look foward to being millionaires in the near future.

I have a very small group of close friends that I've been close with since my freshman year. It was very hard for me to feel like I fit in when I first got to Gettysburg because a lot of people are very rich an preppy and that's not really my socioeconomic status or the way I choose to present myself. There are other kinds of groups at Gettysburg but you kind of have to look. Most of the campus is very right wing politically I'd say. I don't really interact too much with people outside of my circle of friends but I think that's how it would be at any college really.

The college community is somewhat open but at times they can be very culturally insensitive to certain backgrounds. People are welcoming and happy to help out.

I had friend who went to the University of Maryland College Park comment to me when she visited campus how shocked she was at how nice everyone dressed. It was a rainy, gloomy day and most people I saw were in sweatshirts! I told her she should come on a sunny Spring day, then the Lilly and labels are in full flair. It really is a great place to be stylish!