ucsb greek life

it depends on what type of college experience you're looking for

it depends on what type of college experience you're looking for

Considering Greek life at UCSB is roughly 10 percent of the student body, I wouldn't say it is extremely "important". You don't need to be Greek to have a social life at UCSB, however, because it is such a small percentage of the student body you create tighter bonds with your fellow Greeks.
With that said, I have friends in and outside of Greek life so you can always take your first year to see what houses you like and then rush your sophomore year.

you're better off rushing as a freshman though because some sororities set only a small number of bids aside for sophomores. what I would say to any freshman is rush, give it a month, and if you don't like it or can't pay for it then drop! worst case scenario is you drop, but at that point you'll still have met tons of new people

Greek life is a very different scene than non greek life. Greek life isn't composed of only and all "popular kids" but is mostly that vibe. it's extremely hard to rush as a Sophmore/ spring quarter. if you want to party on the week days,you pretty much have to go greek. this years pledge classes were bigger than ever before and greek life is very rapidly growing.