Gettysburg College Top Questions

The wealth part is. Everyone looks like they stepped out of a magazine. The student population is also pretty conservative although there is a healthy sized group that leans left, along with most of the professors. The only steriotype that appears to be unfounded is the lack of interest in service. As a whole, I see our campus very involved in the local, national, and global community.

To a certain extent, yes. Most students do join a sorority of fraternity (40{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of girls, 60{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of guys, but this does not include the freshmen class who are not allowed to go Greek until their sophomore year). Nonetheless, it's not hard to find a group of friends who aren't Greek. Many students wear Polo and J. Crew religiously (including those pastel colored Polos and Lily Pultizer dresses) and vote conservatively, but then again, there are those who go entirely against the grain, as well.

yes, to some extent. Yes, its a private school, there are bound to be a fair amount of rich, preppy kids, but there are also people that worked really hard to get here and whose parents don't have money. in the end, it only really matters if you make it matter. Oh and greek-life is a big deal. more so for guys than girls, but still. you CAN have a social life, and a fun one without being a member of greek-life. but be forwarned that if you want to party, your options will most likely be which frat house to go toon a specific night, which rocks if your an unoffiliated girl.

yes

Mostly, but other varieties of student do exist.

Yes

There are definitely students at Gettysburg who fit the stereotypes, but there are a lot of other people here too. With tons of extracurriculars, you are bound to find someone with similar interests on the campus. However, I think that the image of the stereotypical student at Gettysburg has been changed through the college's recent increase in selectivity.

While this may be partly true, the school still has some great aspects. For its small size, Gettysburg has a large International Student population. Many students do fit the preppy, white, rich stereotype, but many other student bring unique differences and perspectives to the campus communtiy. You will always have drinking on a college campus, but there is always something else to do. The office of student activities, as well as the campus activities board always has something going on on any given night. I encourage students to get involved and recognize the special and unique opportunities that Gettysburg has to offer.

town- pretty accurate, although the civil war feel is limited to the touristic part of town and the college has a very different unique feel students- like any group of people, there is bound to be a stereotype that represents part of that population and completely misrepresents the rest of it. That is the case at Gettysburg. Of course you have those that exemplify the stereotype, but you have many different types of students, and many of them are not conservative, rich and caucasian.

In some cases, I'd say yes, but every student does not fit the stereotype by any means.

It is pretty accurate--there is not much diversity on campus.

There are always exceptions to stereotypes. If you look around, you will find people don't all fit this description. However, most of the people you meet are upper-middle/upper class people from the Area. They pay for college mostly with their parent's money, and it shows in that they don't work as hard as those that are paying for college themselves.

1. It's true. We students have an name which pertains to alcohol for each day of the week, and you'll no doubt hear parties next door. But most of the students at Gettysburg College also know when to party and how hard. Gettysburg is a party school, but we still manage to finish our work. 2. While many of the students here are from wealthy families, there are others who do not. As with any college, there will be some rich snobs, but we're not all like that. 3. There are tons of things to do on the weekends besides drink. If you're not into drinking, there are clubs, movie theaters, the Gettysburg Outlets to shop, and volunteering opportunities. In addition, there are many outdoor activities in which you could get involved. The Gettysburg battlefields are one step off the campus, and students can be seen playing sports, taking walks, and enjoying the outdoors. 5. It depends on the department. The chemistry and biology departments are well-known to have professor accessibility around the clock; you will often find many chemistry and biology professors in their offices from 8am to 10pm. However, the math department is notorious for having "office hours" once a day, which means that you only have an hour or two to see the professor. So it really depends on the department. 5. Your UPPER classes will be tiny. However, in most cases, the introductory classes (psychology 101, chemistry 107, biology 111, English 101, etc.) will hold 40 to 50 students in one classroom. 6. While 2,100 students may not sound like a lot compared to larger universities, that's still a lot of people. You'll recognize some people, but you definitely won't know or recognize everyone.

For the most part, but diversity is increasing. There is a place for everyone.

yes we are a history town - and most of the students are on the preppier side and we do work hard and play harder

Yes. The majority of the campus has the prep/WASP background. There is very little diversity on our campus.

For a fair majority, yes. The school is expensive, so a lot of kids have money. A lot of girls wear overpriced brand names just because they can. But these girls tend to be Delta Gammas or Gamma Phi Betas. They all dress alike.

Somewhat, but the same can be said for any small liberal arts school. There's enough diversity to get by.

for some people

For the most part.