Sakpo

Have you considered posing as a woman to join a sorority?

cjack

I was in a fraternity in college...I'm technically still a member, since it is a "join for life" organization.

A couple of caveats:

1. This was back in the mid 1980's, and I understand that the greek system has probably changed since then.

2. I was a "founder" of my chapter...meaning that I was one of the first members when the national organization decided to open a chapter on our campus.

As such, I didn't go through a typical pledge experience, and the task of building a chapter from the ground up is probably very different from the normal fraternity experience.


On the whole, I thought it was a very positive experience. There was a little theism, but not enough to be an issue.

Socially, it was great. I was somewhat of a wallflower, and it really helped me come out of my shell. I met hundreds of new people, did some good stuff for charity, and nearly destroyed my liver!!

I was against the idea of joining at first, and had many of the same misconceptions everyone has (you're "buying friends," you can't socialize with non-greeks, etc.) and found them all to be not true. Yeah, there were some stuck-up women and asshole guys in the greek system, but not any more than you'd find in the general population.

I can't speak to the housing situation, because our house was too small to have more than a dozen guys living there.

Academically, I think it actually helped! We had a GPA standard (can't recall what it was) and your brothers would be glad to help you if need be.

As far as time committment goes, it wasn't too bad. Weekly meetings, parties one night on the weekend (but not every weekend), etc. The only things that took up a lot of time was taking care of the new pledges...initiation and such.

Our dues were pretty low, too.

I had a good time, made a lot of really great friends, and (from building the chapter) gained a sense of accomplishment.

Aethari

I may have a somewhat biased view here, since I've never actually been in a fraternity...

But, in my two years in college, I've never met a single guy who was both in a fraternity and was also dedicated to their studies. None of the nice, smart people I've met in *any* of my classes have also turned out to be frat members. I'm sure the 'Greek experience' is different depending on your location, but around here, fraternities seem to primarily be gathering points for party-hearty drunkards who come to college for a 'good time' first, and learning second.

~Aethari

PopeInTheWoods

With the relatively high percentage of Greeks at Lafayette, there's probably a good mix of fraternity types. The big question for you should probably be if you think you'll fit in with most of the fraternity folks that are recruiting you.

In college, you pretty much meet people through dorms, classes, work, parties, and extracurricular activities (sport, clubs, etc.). Depending on circumstances, fraternities combine two or three of those areas.

FWIW, of the four college buddies I still see a couple of times a year (since 1989 we've scattered throughout the US), three were in the same fraternity as I was.

As far as the religion/ritual things go, it depends on both your national organization and your chapter. I was in Chi Phi (guess what the chi (X) stands for), headquartered down near Atlanta, and the national leaders were fairly enthusiastically evangelical xian. But our chapter up at Northwestern was predominantly Catholic and Jewish, with a couple of Pakistani Muslims and assorted Buddists and others mixed in. Nobody took the spiritual ritual stuff too seriously, it was viewed as simply tradition.

Oh, yeah, one other thing. After you graduate they will keep track of you and regularly ask for money....

Andy

echoes

Thanks for all your input guys.

Yeah we have Chi Phi here too, but I don't really know them well.

I have met most of my friends here through intramural sports and band, with only a couple friends made through class. Then many more friends made through those friends of course... I definitely don't feel like this is "buying" new friends as I've got plenty so that isn't really a motive for me.

I don't know about if it would help me academically like you suggest, cjack; they may have a minimum GPA but I guarantee that it's not up to my own personal standards. I'm here to learn, and do a damn good job of it. I don't want to let that be compromised by anything.

Anyways, today I officially accepted my bid. I figure I'll give it a little time to see how I like the guys and to get a better feel for what fraternity membership involves. At this point I have a feeling I probably won't go through with it, but I'll give it an honest effort.

Thanks again for sharing your opinions.