Santa Clara University - SCU Greek Life Reviews

Santa Clara is a small school without a football team, this already sounds like a bad social scene. But one of the positive parts about Santa Clara social life is its Large Greek Life population. If you want to make your Santa Clara experience more memorable and enjoyable, joining Greek Life is the way to do it.

SCU has a small student population compared to a lot of the schools around it, with just under 6000 undergrad students, no frat row, not the biggest sports, you would not expect Santa Clara to be as fun as it is. Santa Clara certainly makes up for what it lacks (again, big houses/row, huge events/tailgates, football). With roughly 1000 students involved in greek life, it's a sizable amount of the student population. Huge indoor parties are not really possible since most of the houses are not much larger than a typical suburban neighborhood house, as well as outdoor night parties get shut down pretty easily with a few of the neighbors are non students and refuse to leave. But Huge outdoor darties (open to all) are thrown a few Saturday's a quarter by various fraternities and definitely make up for it. During the week though indoor night mixers are thrown usually Wednesday and Friday and are closed off to just guys in the fraternity, but open to all girls. That being said, your social life at Santa Clara for a guy can kind of suck not being in a fraternity with only a handful of parties you can go to each year, as well as the lack of stuff to do around campus to make up for not being allowed at mixers really hurts your options for fun. People will always complain about greek life (both those in it and those who are not in it), but from what I've seen and experienced, people really do enjoy their college experience more in greek life and make those life long friendships. Even though its on a smaller scale than other schools, Brotherhood and Sisterhood is definitely something you can find in Santa Clara's Greek Life.

Santa Clara being a very small school with not a ton around campus to do (walking distance), being in Greek Life makes your night life at Santa Clara a lot more enjoyable. Besides having parties a few times every week, fraternities are a great way to meet people. A group of guys you can always hang out with, do homework, work out or get food with. It may not be for everyone, like Greek Life is everywhere, but if you want to have the option to make the 4 years of your life the most fun, with being able to go to parties when you want to and sit out when you don't, joining Greek Life really is your best option.

I'm leaving this review for all prospective and incoming students interested in joining a fraternity or knowing what the social scene is like at SCU. First and foremost, Santa Clara is a VERY small school compared to neighboring ones like Stanford and Berekely, so MOST of the social/party life is, unfortunately, concentrated in Greek life. From the two quarters that I spent on campus, not in a frat, I realized that SCU doesn't do very much in regards to having students socialize with others aside from clubs and the occasional ABP events which are OK at best. And I'm not putting all the blame on the school for the lack of socialization, but unless you're a social butterfly and heavily involved in clubs and intramurals, it's very difficult to meet new friends outside of your classes and actually go out together--especially since you have to go outside of Santa Clara to find something fun to do (which means you need a car). Most greek houses are located right next to campus along and around Bellomy st. which is the main 'frat row'. Most frats have a main house and several satellite houses that they rotate for parties no more than a 2-3 minute walk from campus which is ideal for most students. The first two-three weeks of fall quarter all parties are open so frats can 'scout' PNMs, but once rush starts they are only open to girls/mixing sororities. So if you're a guy not in a fraternity and don't have a lot of friends that like going out, you can bet you'll be spending your Friday nights in your dorm having major FOMO. That was me. It's worth noting that SCU doesn't affiliate with Greek Life so if you're not in a fraternity you really gotta be close with some of the brothers to get into parties--if that. And from personal experience, being the only 'GDI' at a mixer with frat bros that you don't know is really a mood killer. Now I'm not saying you NEED to be in a frat to party--Most frats throw 1-2 big day-parties every quarter that are always open to SCU students. Nonetheless, everyone has their own definition of fun so if you like to party 24/7 definitely go greek; but if you're a more reserved individual that wants to prioritize academics and only party occasionally, don't rush. The pledge process is 9-16 weeks depending on which frat you join and is basically a 9-5 job where you show your dedication and commitment to the fraternity. You can definitely get by and pass all your classes, but don't expect to be pledging and maintaining a 4.0 with 21 units. If you're trying to get out of your comfort zone and try something new, as I did, don't give in to the stereotype that having 'fun' in college strictly means going to parties and getting viciously intoxicated--because it's not. Sure parties are fun, but too much of one thing gets boring very quickly. I'm not going to say whether you should join a fraternity or not because it really is a question of what you're looking to get out of college. If you want to meet more friends and socialize, definitely join a club or intramural sports and if that's not you're vibe, rushing might be the way to go. We had a lot of guys drop in our class mid-pledging because they realized it just wasn't for them, and there was nothing but respect. I'll end off by saying don't think being in Greek life is the only way to have fun--exhaust your options and really figure out what it is that you're looking to get out of these four years.