Depending on who you talk to, the most popular organizations will definitely change. I think their are many diverse groups that have large notoriority. One of the bigger groups on the campus, however, are definitely the greek organizations. This spring, I pledged a sorority and am now a member of Delta Delta Delta. Greek organizations by no means dominate Vanderbilt culture or social life, but they are definitely a main asset on campus because they run so many of the philantrophy and campaign events benefitting all types of organizations nation-wide. Students in the dorms leave their doors open at different times. I was very surprised first semester at how quiet the dorms can be and that you can actually get work done in your room. I think that dorm life definitely differs from other schools because of the unisex floor set-up. During the week, people are typically very busy with work and are coming and going. Some people have their doors open so you may walk over to a friends room for a snack, to hang out, or to say hello admidst study sessions. During the weekend, the dorm takes on a much different feeling. Usually starting thursday night, the dorms become much livelier and people are out and about getting ready to go out or to go eat. During the week days you may find people going to bed at very early hours (which is something I think is unique about Vanderbilt, because students actually sleep!) but on the weekends people may be up to all hours of the night. Athletic events are very popular. In the fall, football is a huge events and especially for tailgates on saturday which are a special event to get dressed up and go to the game. During the winter, basketball season becomes pretty big and normally people, especially the boys, get pretty hyped up about the events. Although most students do not go to as many as they should, every week there are dozens of guest speakers from all over the country. The dating scene at Vanderbilt is very limited. Vanderbilt has the traditional hook-up culture in which most people do not start seriously dating until junior year. Most students are so busy they do not have time for serious relationships, but it also takes away from that hospitible charm because people do not have to make as much effort and take people on dates. I was very lucky freshman year and met most of my closest friends on my hall. We had a tight knit group of about 10 girls who did everything together. Although I am still close with them, things are definitely changed since rush as getting into a sorority breaks up your group of friends because people pledge different houses. However, I am still best friends with the girl I met the first week of school. I normally go to bed early during the week or whenever I finish my work. I would never be up at 2am on a tuesday, but if I were, it was because I went out to go hang out at a fraternity house. Traditions/events that happen each year are things like community service events/projects run by various fraternities such as frats at bat, dance marathon, etc. Other traditions include founders day walk for the freshman, rites of spring before finals, tailgates for football games, and the list goes on. People party a fair amount at Vanderbilt, but party culture tends to die down a lot during mid-terms and finals because people are busy studying. Essentially, however, if you have no work, you can go out and do something every night of the week here. People that do go out every night just get their work done during the day so that they can play later. Fraternities/sororities are a big part of party culture. Fraternities are what run all the parties and supply most of the social scene - with all the fraternities there are always dozens of parties to choose from each weekend. Last weekend I hung out with my friends and went out to dinner fri/sat followed by going out to fraterntiy parties with everyone. For people that dont drink, you can go downtown, go to a movie at green hills, go out to any of the fabulous restaurants in Nashville, hang out with friends in the dorm, go to any concerts/performances at blair, go to various speakers or events on campus...the list is endless. Although most students choose to go out and party, other students choose a different scene and that is entirely okay. For students not involved in the greek scene or that do not drink, there are so many things to get involved in, as well as so many groups of students like them that there is not a problem finding a place to fit in at Vanderbilt. There are norms that most students do fall under, but wherever you find yourself or whatever you are happy doing, there will be a place for you.