Gettysburg College Top Questions

The most popular groups are the Fraternities and Sororities. Parties are the main event on campus. Frats host parties every night Wednesday through Sunday. It is loud and drunken come the weekend. Since it is in a small tourist town, if you do not drink, you can go on tours of the battlefield or just explore downtown.

the most popular organization to be involved with is CAB-Campus Activites Board. CAB plans many of the activities on campus. They also finance many activities. The biggest activity planned by CAB is Springfest, which is basically a weekend of fun games, concerts, eatting, and drinking.

The stat is 32{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the student body is greek. Well, 30{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of that student body are freshman who are not allowed to rush. So that's like 40{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the student body (soph-sr) who are greek. That's almost half of each class. 600-700 students a class. That's about 300 students a class greek. Go greek is my point - the school is very into that. And off-campus there is not much to do. I grew up not far from Gettysburg and Gettysburg makes my town look like New York City. Mind you Wal-Mart was the hot hang out spot in my town. Take what you want from it.

Frat life is pretty big on campus. Soroities are also pretty important, however, they do not have houses. A lot of people go out partying on the weekends, but if that is not your style, there are still people who do not go out. Gettysburg also offers a program called RISE for students who are willing to commit to not drink or do drugs, although some people in RISE still do. If you do not like to go out you can always hang with friends, go see a movie, go into town and go to a restaurant, go to the outlet shopping mall which is about 10 minutes away, or do something on campus (the school usually provides some type of activity at least once a week). Popular events on campus include DTO(Drop the Octave)-an all male accapella group, Movie night-where the college shows a movie that is recently out of theaters and not quite out in stores yet, Shots in the dark-an improv show that everyone enjoys, midnight madness-once a month the college opens the dining hall at midnight for snacks, Springfest-a week worth of fun activies including some kind of a concert, and many other exciting events.

I have already said that it's not big on sports and is big on community service. I met my closest friends through the band and the community service fraternity I joined my freshman year, Alpha Phi Omega. It was absolutely the best decision I made while I was in college, although studying abroad comes close. As for the social scene, I guess I will have to be frank. If I was awake at 2am on a Tuesday, it was because I came back from pitchers at the bar and was giggling and eating pizza bagels with my roommate. There is definitely a lot of partying at Gettysburg, I would say. We have the RISE program, (no substance abuse) but honestly, even people in that drink. If I were to find something to do on a Saturday night...I honestly can't remember the last Saturday night I had at Gettysburg that didn't involve drinking. This does make me sound bad, but seriously, I was about mid-range. There were people who drank tons more than I did. There are two movie theaters in Gettysburg now though, which weren't there when I started, and that's great, and CAB (the campus activities board) sponsors movies and things. The Attic, the on campus club, has great events, which often serve alcohol but anyone can attend. They usually have a theme, we love theme parties at Gettysburg. And Servo, the dining hall, offers free food from 11pm-2am about once a month, called Midnight Madness. A lot of people do go drunk, because it's fried food and it's wonderful, but I don't want to give the impression that everyone drinks all the time, because if you have a great group of friends you love, it's just not necessary to be drunk to have fun together.

Despite going to a college with an influential greek life and despite being a member of a sorority myself, I do not embody the stereotype of a typical sorority girl who is constantly ditzy and drunk. There are plenty of things to do on campus where drinking is not necessary, and ultimately, the choice to drink is one the student makes (hopefully with the concequences in mind). Gettysburg is not a dry campus, so students 21 and over can have alcohol in the dorms. However, it is assumed that students who are legal will be responsible. Public Safety on campus is very prevailent, and their main goal is to keep the student body safe. For this reason, no questions will be asked if a student must go to the hospital and the burrow police are rarely called (unless violence errupts of it is out of Public Safety's hands). I have many friends who choose to drink and many who choose not to. Like at any college, it is a decision that the student must make for his or her self.

Everything revolves around greek life. I walk by tours, and having been a tour guide for 4 years in highschool, I understand some things are supposed to be exaggerated. I hear the tour guides say that even if you are not in a fraternity or sorority there is a ton on campus for you to do. If you are on a sports team I definitely agree, but if you are not an athlete, or a sister/brother, I feel that there is not a whole lot socially for you to do. we have mixers every weekend, spring fest weekend revolves around greek life, and for guys especially its impossible to get into frat houses. If i want to find something to do on a sunday night, or tuesday night, or ANY night, i can call people and even if i dont find something at first, at least SOME one will be doing something social, or drinking. I can go out every night of the week if i really wanted to. the school that i went to for freshman year was very different. kegs would be kicked at 1130 on a saturday night. being from new york city that was impossible. gettysburg is the greatest place on earth.

From the second that I set foot on campus, I was surrounded by the friendliest and most outgoing group of people that I had ever been a part of. I lived on the only all-girls floor on campus, and while I know there were certain things I was missing out on, I feel like I gained so much more from just having girls on the floor. We got a lot closer a lot faster without all the testosterone getting in the way. Almost every door was open, and it's impossible to mope or sit around and do nothing when you're surrounded 24/7 by people that truly care about you. The girls from my floor are still my closest friends today, and I'm rooming with on of them next year. There is a lot of drinking that goes on at Gettysburg, but that's pretty much the case everywhere nowadays, except what, Brigham Young? That's just the way it is. I, however, found plenty of things to do on campus other than frat parties (which i think are disgusting and completely not entertaining). We would have movie nights on our floor, we would go out in the middle of the night to the Lincoln Diner for their gigantic ice cream dish, the Thing, on warm nights we would stargaze and have philosophical discussions, sometimes there was a band or a comedian to see, and some weekends there would be Midnight Madness (free hot dogs and doughnuts in Servo!!!). Springfest happens the weekend before finals week in April, and for four days there is constant activity on campus. Unfortunately, this is when a LOT of the drinking goes on, but even if that's not your thing, there are great musicians and concerts, fantastic food, and a carnival set up on the main quad. Especially towards the end of the semesters, there are a lot of student performances and events going on. The concerts for the a cappella group FourScores are always packed, the dance ensemble shows are always fun, especially when the B.O.M.B. Squad and D.O.D (hip-hop groups) were on, and SMuT (musical theater) usually puts on a show per semester. I was part of an Opera Workshop class that got to sing backup for a married couple that are both international opera stars, as well as perform solos and scenes individually. And last but not least, it should be a school requirement to go on at least one ghost tour. They're everywhere around the town of Gettysburg, and they're more fun than you'll like to admit! You'll be a true Gettysburgian if you go on a ghost tour.

Gettysburg has a lot of clubs and organizations. There is something for everyone. Dance, singing, political groups, club sports, community service, etc. I met most of my friends through either clubs, my classes, or my freshman year hall. Everyone leaves their doors open freshman year to meet friends but after that mostly everyone keeps them closed. We have had some good guest speakers-we recently had Chelsea Clinton and there was a large turnout. The dating scene sucks in my opinion-the guys are still in the "hook up" stage. I honestly have not met one decent guy besides my gay guy friends while at Gettysburg. Maybe I am looking in the wrong places, but I DO know that you will NOT meet a nice guy at a frat party. Drinking is big on campus and frats are a popular destination for the weekends. Besides drinking, you can go to the movies, take a road trip to Philly or DC or Baltimore, or just chill in your room with your friends. Sometimes the college hosts movie nights, Midnight Madness (free food at the dining hall), comedians, or bands. The social life could definitely use improvement, but depending on who your friends are you can be creative and find fun things to do.

Greek life is big, but there is a lot more going on on any given weekend, as well. Some club will have a dinner or a speaker, an author or other scholar may be giving a talk, students hang out in each other's rooms, Pizza House is open until late and is really close, and the Lincoln Diner is open all night. Every year we have the fall concert with a popular band, the Snow Ball-a semi formal dance, and Spring Fest, which is basically a carnival with free food, inflatable boxing rings, velcro walls, or toilet bowl races, face painting, a band, and lots of alcohol. Most people meet their closest friends their first year on their dorm floor. First years bond because half of your floor is in your first year seminar, and either it's really awesome and you all have a lot of fun, or you get stuck in the anarchy seminar with the crazy paranoid professor with a combover. Either way you'll bond with your classmates since you see them all the time, eat with them all the time, and hang out. The school generally does a really great job of selecting your first year roommate. There was only one room on my floor where the roommates didn't get along really well and stay friends throughout their school experience.