Duquesne University Top Questions

Greek life is popular.

I don't really know about groups here, but I have been involved in SWSG (strong women strong girls) program. This is a volunteer group, aiming at help girls in primary school to know how to be a strong women in the future.

It helps to have a car on campus to get around, or to learn the bus routes ahead of time. I've spent much of my freshman & sophomore year getting stranded in various places, because public transportation isn't very reliable in Pittsburgh. Even the cabs. There are no sorority/fraternity houses on campus, and you can't drink on campus. Not to worry, there are plenty of parties elsewhere, in Southside, Oakland, etc., and the happy bus takes all the Duquesne students there and back.

Sports are not that important at Duquesne, but if any are relevant I would say it would be basketball. There are more females than males, and if you are not a partier, you probably dont experience the dating scene. I had few good friends at Duquesne. Most people drink in the Southside on weekends and week nights. Sororities and frats are not big.

The Greek life seems to be a huge popularity contest. Every frat or sorority comes with a stereotype (all of which just came to your mind are correct). I'll just leave it at that. All other organizations or activities are very open to the public - meaning that being part of the drama club does not equal uncool. Stereotypes exist in college, but the line between cool/uncool seems to disappear.

Student Government is fairly popular but you will find it is dominated by the same group of people, but it's really not that important. Fraternities and sororities are pretty prevalent, but I would never feel out of place not being in one. You notice their presence and they have parties and you see people wearing letters, but it's not really a big deal. The theater companies are small, but they put on good shows and people support their friends and watch them. I think a lot of people leave their dorm doors open, although they always advise us not to. My neighbors in my on campus apartment building always left their doors unlocked, and though we just met each other that year, we walked into each other's apartments all the time. I met my closest friends from living on their floor freshman year or through class. I am always up at 2am, I feel like. Usually studying on a weeknight, or if I don't have as much to do that day, chatting with friends, dancing around, or watching movies. People party a lot freshman year I feel like and then again once they turn 21. You pretty much have to go off campus to party, and Duquesne "owns" the nearby Southside. On campus, some people take advantage of the Nightspot which offers programs on the weekends, but I almost never go there. Occassionally I'll go when they show a good movie and get free popcorn with friends.

The greek life on campus is pathetic and the sports programs are inadequate and not entertaining.

Freshman year students did leave their doors open but that does not happen as much as you progress through the years. Most people move off campus after sophomore year. People party a lot. Most of it does not happen on campus but rather at Pitt or on the South Side. Frats and sororities are very important and they make up most of the school.

Greek Life is very popular at Duquesne. I'm not sure what the exact number is but I think it's about 85{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the students are in a Sorority or Fraternity. But there are professional (by major or school) and social sororities and fraternities in addition to the traditional social ones which gives people a lot more options. There are also plenty of other acitivites to get involved in as well. Volunteering is HUGE at Duquesne. Every student is encouraged to give back to the community and most people do. There are an unlimited number of opportunities given its location in the city of Pittsburgh. Some of my favoritie memories at Duquesne involve volunteering. Partying is something that most people assume happens at all colleges. Duquesne is no different. There are definitely parties all the time if that's what you're into. But there's plenty of other things to do as well. I'm was never much of a partier but I never ran out of things to do on the weekends and still had fun. There are so many great places in the city and its not hard to catch a bus or the "T" (our metro system) if you want to go somewhere a little farther away. It would take me all day to list all of the other things you can do, but trust me, you won't have trouble finding something to amuse you .

Greek Life at Duquesne is smaller than other campuses but it is an amazing place to meet friends. Currently there are 7 sororities and 8 fraternities on campus, and it is easy to find a place where you fit in because they are all very different. I have been on the dance team for 4 years and we cheer for Basketball games. The basketball games during the week are getting to be very popular and its a lot of fun. There are constantly comedians, movies shown, speakers, etc. on campus which are very popular. People at Duquesne like being involved and busy. Many people date other people at Duquesne-- many of my friends have boyfriends and girlfriends. People within Greek Life usually date each other as well. However, not everyone is taken obviously. The partying at Duquesne is definitely not crazy but it does exist. Sometimes people who are sophomores and not yet 21 complain about things not happening on weekends but Greek Life is a great way to fix that! Also, when you do turn 21, Pittsburgh has the most bars on one street out of any city in the US! The bar scene is definitely crazy here. Also, if people at Duquesne do not have parties, there's always parties at Pitt or at CMU, though I don't personally like them. Many people do because they have much larger campuses and large fraternity parties.