Northwestern University Top Questions

From my experience, the Greek scene will always dominate freshman year. Due to the fact that you'll be living in dorms and thus will now a few handfuls of people who want to rush, this is basically inevitable. However, after that year I found that it's presence had dwindled down to almost nothing. Of course, this will be different for you if you decided to rush and/or join a house, but I can't really provide any insight on that subject. Basically, the Greek scene is something you can chose to participate in -- or not -- based entirely on your own preference without worrying that it will ruin your social life in any way.

Overwhelming. Greek life really does take over Northwestern. My advice to prospective students: make friends with sophomores and juniors in your dorms so you can go to apartment parties and such. So much better than Greek stuff. Seriously, I've seen good people go rotten because of Greek life. It's right for some, but not all.

Junior Kristen Holmes describes falling down the stairs and breaking her arm at Northwestern's famous frat party.

The upstair area of the sorority house.

Sororities are a popular place for girls to live in their sophomore and junior years.

Sig Ep is one of the biggest fraternities on campus. Junior Christopher Sloan talks about what it's like to live here.

The row of fraternities lining Sheridan and Lincoln make this one of the most social spots on campus.

Legend has it that Paddy Murphy, a bootlegger and Al Capone’s right-hand man, died in this very fraternity house – SAE.