Gettysburg College Top Questions

Greek life. lots of it. you can avoid it if you want, or you can try to, but inevitably you'll know someone who rushes somewhere. gburg is unusual in that you rush sophomore year, not freshman year. this can be unfortuante because people make "freshmen" friends and then ditch them all the next year to rush. even if they don't ditch their friends, they find it hard to balance Greek and non-Greek frienships because Greek takes over your life. gburg athletics suck, except for lacrosse. music ensembles are pretty big, and choir concerts bring in a large crowd (the band, though one of the larger ensembles, draws teh smallest crowd. go figure). there are weekend events and several yearly things--a dance, a spring party, stuff for seniors, etc. mostly on weekends i hang out with friends in the dorm, rather than going out and getting drunk and being stupid.

The social atmosphere is pretty positive and people are always willing to talk to you. Through your first year you’ll develop friendships that will last all of your college career and maybe even further (I haven’t gotten that far yet to find out). The College wants to keep its students as active as possible whether it’d be through college sponsored events or events run by student organizations. These are offered mainly on the weekends to provide some activity for the students who do not wish to take part in the drinking atmosphere. I’d rather not say that the college competes with Greek Life, but it is a force to be reckoned with – out of all the students who are eligible to rush (Gettysburg College does not permit you to rush until your sophomore year) 60{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of those are involved with either Fraternities or Sororities. If you’re concern is about drinking then come prepared because students will always find an excuse to drink...that’s no matter where you go.

Gettysburg has tons of clubs and organizations, fraternities, sororities. As I said previously, students are very involved in every aspect. A lot of people participate in Greek life...either as part of a fraternity or sorority or by attending one of their events, but it's not a necessary part of campus life. We support students making their own decisions, whether you decide to remain substance-free or drink. Gettysburg can be a pretty big party school, though.

The social life here is great. In your freshman dorms you'll meet a lot of great people. I got lucky and made friends with nearly everybody both on my floor and the floor above me. There's always someone who wants to hang out, and just hanging out can be really fun. It's like having all your best friends from high school living just down the hall, or around the corner. People almost always leave their doors open, and there is usually a steady flow of kids from one room to the next, talking, getting homework help, or just relaxing with one another. There is no one singular club or organization that seems to reign on campus. But there are many that you can choose from. There's a seemingly endless supply of extracurricular here. You just need to ask where to find them, as sometimes it's not crystal clear where to go to find something to do. Athletic events are fun to watch, and probably even more fun to be involved in. You'll always have some Gettysburgians in the stands cheering you on if you're in a match. There are also tons of guest speakers hosting events on campus. Fun things, like comedians, and plays at the theater, but also speakers who inform you of job opportunities, internships and the like. People party pretty regularly here. Nearly every weekend there are parties and drinking going on. If you're into that, cool, but if you're not, don't sweat it because it's all up to you here. You're the adult. Fraternities are very prevalent here, I count seven just thinking about it now. I'm not into Greek life myself, but a lot of people are. I find almost all the frats a little sketchy, but if you have nothing better to do on a Saturday night and feel like dancing, if you know a couple people you can usually find an open frat and have fun. I would never join one though, but a lot of guys do. Sororities exist too, but they don't have houses thanks to some crazy 19th century law that says no 6 women or more can live in the same dwelling alone, as it is then considered a brothel (no joke!) The dating scene is big too. There are a lot more random hookups though, especially in freshman year, but dating is big too. Me and my girlfriend got together in the beginning of Soring semester and have been together ever since (it is currently the end of May). So if you want to date, it's completely doable. The college puts on a lot of dances and social events on weekends as an alternative to drinking, and they can be a blast. So again, don't sweat it if you don't want to drink! There's a lot more to college life then getting wasted, believe me.

There are a lot of sports events to go to which are division III or club sports. There are a lot of guest speakers offered by the school and are open to the general public usually. You meet most of the people you know for your college career either in your first year residence hall, sports team, or through greek life. Greek life dominates most of the social scene and about half the school is involved in a greek organization (students are not allowed to rush until fall of sophomore year). Student activities offered by the school consist or two big concerts, one each semester, parties in the school night club, movie nights, and other events such as crabfest and springfest. Depending on which fraternity you go to you could be able to drink 5-6 nights a week. If you're looking to go out and drink and you're under 21, fraternities are pretty much your first choice and if you're looking to socialize and not drink you could go to campus events, which are offered frequently. Off campus there really isn't much. There are bars and movie theatres. People that go off campus usually don't go into town but go to other schools or the baltimore area.

Gettysburg goes to great lengths to bring in speakers of interest. I went to see Carson Daly and Chelsea Clinton speak. I've watched presentations on garbage as a means of addressing environmental studies and the struggle of making global issues relevent to the individiual as well as macro economic presentations on the current monetary issues impacting the housing market.

Although they school doesn't like to advertise it on campus visits or in viewbooks, fraternities ARE the social scene at Gettysburg. Because we are in a small town and there isn't much to do off campus, the majority of us party at the frats--any night from Wednesday to Sunday. Parties are open to mostly everybody, though, so it's a fun way for the whole campus to come together on weekends and definately creates a sense of community outside of the classroom. Most first-years meet their friends on the hall (we live with people from our first-year seminars, so people often share similar interests), and these friendships tend to last throughout people's time at Gettysburg. The administration seems to know that the students are mostly interested in partying on the weekends, because there's not much else to do that is well-attended.

The craziest thing about Gettysburg is safety. Students reserve their desk at the library with their laptop, then leave for dinner. People regularly loose their ATM card and have it returned to them. During lunch time the lobby of Servo (the dining hall) is filled with backpacks. You could leave it there for days and no one will touch it. That kind of environment says a lot about the people who go to Gettysburg. I am involved with a variety of activities on campus, from athletics to tourguiding. Students are very involved in campus activities. Greek life is important, but not a requirement at Gettysburg. You can have an active and involved social life without being in a fraternity/sorority. The Attic is a place on campus where students can go to hang out. It hosts events on campus over the weekend life comedians and musicians. It's also open during the week for students to hang out, watch TV and play pool. If you're awake at 2 am on a Tuesday you are: a) studying for an exam on Wednesday b) frantically writting a paper c) out at "pitchers" at the Pub on Tuesday nights (if you're 21 of course) d) a night owl who is slowly getting ready for bed

Greek life is by far the most prevalent organization type on campus. I'm in a sorority and I never thought I would be. I'm still up in the air about whether I'm glad I joined it or not, and most of my closest friends are independent. There isn't much to do that doesn't involve drinking as far as I've seen, and I always wonder what people do if they don't go out on a Friday or Saturday night. The biggest party every year is called Springfest, where the college sponsors outdoor concerts, barbeques, and big outdoor activities. This year, MTV came to film an episode of Made, which was pretty cool. Athletic events are pretty popular, and sometimes we even have fan buses to other school for big games. The campus itself is pretty safe, people leave their doors in dorms open, but there are also thefts and vandalism sometimes, mostly by townies.

This is not a relationship school. Everyone is too busy for that. Greek life is prevalent but you don't have to be Greek to go to a party and most everyone on campus enjoys the social scene the fraternities and sororities provide. Seniors can live off campus so there is usually a healthy amount of off campus houses that throw parties but you've got to know someone to go so it's usually the same people you would see at the bars or the frats. Lacrosse is big here and the guy's games are the best attended sporting events.