Arizona State University-Tempe Top Questions

Arizona State is believed to be home to the very "bro" stereotype and the plastic, sorority girl stereotype. There are definitely these types of students here, but it's not the whole story. This school is so big that you can find whatever you would want to get involved in. Barrett, the Honors College is wonderful, and the students who are in it are amazing. It also to find normal, non-"frat bro" or non-plastic students in other residential halls, but I really cannot speak for their experience. Quality of life fluctuates from student to student, even in the Honors college.

ASU is an incredibly large university - the largest in the world. Therefore, we have many different students that represent many different cultures, backgrounds, and ideas. Are there jocks? Sure. Are there frat rats? Sure. Are there dedicated intellectuals? Expressive artists? Music junkies? Yes, we have all of that. And that is the beauty of our school. At the end of the day, there is a social environment here for everyone. With four different campuses, a prestigious honors program and over 600 organizations, the possibilities are endless. The stereotype of students here at ASU? I think the reference by Alec Baldwin's character, Jack Donagy, on an episode of 30rock sums it up best. He says, "A parent is the one person who is supposed to make their kid think they can do anything. Says they’re beautiful, even when they’re ugly. Thinks they're smart even when they go to Arizona State." Although I laughed heartily when he said this, the stereotype is inaccurate. Unlike Harvard or Stanford, ASU accepts a large number of students. We strive for equal opportunity education, which is to say that not every student accepted was a high school valedictorian or top SAT scorer who attended private school. Indeed, a large number of ASU students do meet that criteria and those high achieving Merit Scholars are saving thousands of dollars. I might have been a naive high school senior, but saving money during my undergraduate education seemed like an intelligent decision to me…I have yet to decide otherwise. Choosing the right school and learning environment is important and different for each individual. However, if you are looking for a static or homogenous environment that could be easily stereotyped or defined, you simply won’t find it at ASU.

The stereotype of students at ASU is that all we do is party. Hearing this stereotype before I came here was scary for me, because I knew I was coming here for school. I do think the stereotype is accurate for some people here, but it's like that at every college. Socialization is a huge and exciting part of college and I completely encourage it. However, going out every night of the week is obviously not the best way to socialize. There are so many opportunities on campus like clubs and greek life to get involved and meet a ton of people!

The stereotype would be that we're party animals. This is totally inaccurate; of course, nearly every college university will have that. But I guess some feel that they have to live up to expectations and end up in a cycle of behavioral confirmation/self-fulfillment. College is simply what you make of it.

The kids at ASU are stereotyped as "partiers." Students that go out every weekend, forget about homework, and do the bare minimum. As ASU progresses as a top school at an international level, we prove this stereotype wrong. Student work hard, devote their time to their education, and earn their degree, leaving the fun for later. Most of the students I know are always hard at work, proving to be individuals who have high GPAs and support their school through excellence in academics and community bonding activities. We do tend to have fun once in a while, but what school doesn't? We make sure the work is done first. Prospective students should not underestimate ASU- we are a powerful group of students ready to take on the world and make changes for the better.

Giant party School, everyone is there to party. This is not the case, college it what you make of it regardless of the campus you are on. The ASU tempe campus offers many wonderful opportunities and has many great professors. I am by no means a party person and I believe i got the most I could out of my college experience.

The stereotype at Arizona State is party-hardy frat kids. I'll admit, I know a fair amount of people who spend half their week drunk and abusing alcohol. This stereotype is somewhat accurate, but mainly because of the enormous population of ASU. With over 30,000 students enrolled, the number of partying students is probably higher than the population of some smaller schools.

I would say that the main stereotype of students that go here is the party kid. There are a lot of students who come here from out of state to just party all of the time. However, there are a lot of very intelligent, nerd-type students here as well. I happen to be one and know that there are lots of us!

All of the kids in Greek life are a bunch of party people who never go to class and drink all the time. The jocks are guys who are too cool for most of the campus and never really come around the general student body too often. The geeks are all from China or other countries and don't really socialize with any of the other students on campus.

The most common stereotype of students at ASU are the frat kids and jocks. There are indeed many fraternities and sororities but most students are really laid back and friendly.