Pepperdine University Top Questions

The dorms, especially the freshman dorms, make it really easy to interact with your friends. You can call them up and meet up with them within 5 minutes. My closest friends can visit me whenever they feel like it. Malibu Yogurt, which is a 2 minute drive from campus, is a really popular place to hang out with friends or to go on a date.

There are tons of things to get involved in from greek life to inermural sports. Most people are friendly and you meet alot of interesting people that may be different from whom you grew up knowing.

The Greek life is different from any other school you will visit, and it is amazing!

Greek groups and athletes are the primary organizations on campus and most well known. It's easy to meet people though because you automatically have a little family that you live with in your suite of eight. If one likes to go out, that is accomodated as well as calm get togethers. I personally can find myself in LA on the weekends: eating out, at the mall, dancing at a studio, going tothe movies or a concert, or just strolling with friends.

Not a whole lot of dating goes on. You hear a lot about this girl from that sorority hanging with that frat boy but it doesn't last long. The dating stereotype Pepperdine has acquired is that if you study abroad, you'll come back with a husband/wife.

My favorite part.... There's athletic events and theater events. Although its not a huge part of social life because of lack of a football team. Social life is there if you want it. Parties are generally controlled by the Lacrosse, Waterpolo, and fraternities (usually the one that parties the most - right now Beta). The only thing you have to worry about is coming back on campus drunk. Don't let campus security see you and do not drive drunk, of course for safety reasons but also because chances are you'll get caught and they're strict). The good part.. there's a lot of people with houses off-campus and its usually a quick walk to your dorm as long as you have a DD to get you back on campus. Opposite sex has to be out of your room by 1, out of the dorm by 2.. but there's no curfew and most RA's don't check up on you too often... mine didn't at all. Like I said.... not much to do in Malibu besides party. Either go to the beach, stay on campus and do stuff, or drive to Santa Monica. Good thing about SoCal is that you can drive to a lot of fun places, both for clean entertainment or partying.

Go Greek. It's saves a lot of time trying to find things to do, and you can be as committed as you want to. It gives you formals and mixers and looks great on a resume. Pepperdine has a very "ring by spring" mentality. You can see the Tiffany's brochure's flooding the mailboxes in January. People are either looking to get married, or a simple hook up. But the later is quite difficult with such a small student population, you can kiss bumping and dumping it good bye, trust me, you will see them again.

There are many things to do around Pepperdine like go to dinner, movie, the beach. There are shopping centers in both Santa Monica and through the canyon. On campus, there are different activities throughout the year and they hold events like "Spring Fling" where you can stay up for Disneyland tickets. There are many sororities and fraternities that you can get involved in. People throw parties off campus but much of the campus is pretty chill.

Fraternities and sororities are big at Pepperdine. But for those of us who play sports we usually stick together. The campus is quiet at night, which is great for studying. Off campus in Malibu there is not much, but down the road is 3rd street in Santa Monica as well as the Topanga mall 20min through the canyon.

There are many different types of groups or organizations you can get involved with, whether it be the greek life or a club I really recommend something to connect you with other students. Athletes tend to stick to their teammates, but you will know a lot of them which makes it fun to watch their games. Obviously some sports have a bigger following than others. I honestly wish more people went to the athletic events because we have some very talented teams. I am in a sorority and I love it. I thought I would hate it, but the greek life at Pepperdine is very different than everywhere else. It is very laid back and just gets you much more involved with the social scene. I actually met most of my best friends the first week of school in NSO, while the rest of my best friends are mostly from my sorority. The dating scene is interesting, I feel like a lot of people start dating right away or date people from other schools. The older you get, relationships start to form more often. If I'm awake on a Tuesday night at 2 a.m. I am probably driving through jack in the box after a night at the Malibu Inn. People party more than you would assume at Pepperdine. But it definitely has less options than other schools. It is not a bar school like other towns. It is mostly house or fraternity parties. But there are definitely a good number of people that would rather not drink and enjoy a night out in Santa Monica walking around the pier or promenade. You could go out for a night in LA or just to see a movie in Malibu if you aren't into drinking.