<p>Does anyone have info about this coed community service fraternity? Is it a well respected fraternity?</p>
<p>It used to be HUGE at my school, but has kinda dwindled in the past couple of years. It won all of the organization awards for about 5 years straight before I came to school. Their big project for the year is that they get to build the homecoming bonfire. It used to be pretty hard to get into, with lots of weekly meetings and a big genealogy project.</p>
<p>If it's anything like it here, the last time I checked any student can pledge; they will not reject anyone. They are also barred from having a fraternity house as well by their bylaws.</p>
<p>A good majority of my friends are in it. Here, anyway, rush is a lot lower-key than normal frat rush, and during the pledge period you have to do a certain number of volunteer hours, as well as to stay an active brother.</p>
<p>yeah, at my school, anyone that wants to be in APO can be in it. All you have to do is go to designated rush community service activities for about a week, and then...you're in, I guess. I'm planning on joining this semester.</p>
<p>Ah wannabanz88, in the other thread you stated that you will never join a fraternity. Glad you decided to give it a chance :)</p>
<p>^well, technically, yes, APO is a fraternity, but it is a lot different than a "typical" one. For one thing, it's co-ed. You also don't live together. More or less, it's just a group of people who like to do community service, but decided to make themselves fancy by saying they're a fraternity.</p>
<p>I also love being a hypocrite.</p>
<p>at a school where community service is pretty big, we have a very large chapter of APO (over 200 after the fall pledge class). I guess the pledging process is different everywhere, but generally I believe the chapters are open to anyone. Pledging for my chapter consists of rush events, of which you must attend at least one. Then there is a 6 week pledging process, where you attend weekly meetings to learn about APO and such. You also must attend a certain number of events (like 5 or 6 out of 20ish scheduled), 2 mandatory sessions that are on Sunday afternoons, and interview (talk for like a minute) with 40+ pledges and 40+ brothers in an attempt to make sure you meet people. And you have a service hour requirement.</p>
<p>Requirements to stay a brother are (at least ay my chapter) a service hour requirement (and 2 mandatory fri/sat night shifts of campus escort (walk people around campus at night) if they want) and attendance at half of the weekly meetings.</p>
<p>We do almost any project you can think of, and you can start your own project or do other volunteer stuff outside of APO that will still count.</p>
<p>unlimited, they actually rejected a friend of mine. She was very sad at their decision. Alas, it's a frat and they have to reject people on the basis of its exclusivitiy within their criterias.</p>
<p>At what point did your friend get rejected?</p>
<p>You do not need a bid to pledge APO, but to cross you need to fulfill the minimum requirements. </p>
<p>And I'm beginning to think that you are writing up vague examples just to say something negative about fraternities. Feel free to prove me wrong.</p>
<p>And your sentence "reject people on the basis of its exclusivitiy within their criterias" does not make sense. APO is known for laying out all their pledge requirements at the beginning; if you fail to complete the minimum requirements then you do not cross, it's as simple as that.</p>
<p>Writing up vague examples? Excuse me, but my friend actually did get rejected from APO. She told me about it the day after she didn't stay on AIM for very long. I don't think she didn't fulfill minimum requirements, whatever those may be, but she truly is a leader in community service. Again, it speaks for the exclusivity factor of frats. Very immoral and unwelcoming, in my opinion.</p>
<p>APO is not a frat.</p>
<p>The only "fratty" thing about APO is it's Greek letters.</p>
<p>Failing to meet the minimum requirements for any organization does not make said org 'exclusive' when they choose not to accept you. APO's reqs are fairly simple, nothing crazy, just service and meeting brothers. If she was too busy to meet pretty basic requirements then she probably didn't have the time to be the kind of effective member she would have wanted to be anyway. That's neither immoral nor unwelcoming.</p>
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APO is not a frat.</p>
<p>The only "fratty" thing about APO is it's Greek letters.
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<p>It was already established earlier in the thread that APO is not a typical fraternity. I also believe it just brands itself as one, although it's different from a club because it has a pledge program.</p>
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Very immoral and unwelcoming, in my opinion.
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Hey, you go to UVA, you know what b/c I was OOS I would have no shot in hell of getting in! That is immoral and unwelcoming in my opinion. You are a terrible, immoral person who is going to hell because I couldn't get into UVA. That's why I don't like competitive schools, they reject people which is not very friendly. I believe I am qualified to get into any school in the country and my parents agree, so why can't I? It's because everyone is elitist and immoral!</p>
<p>Jeez, calm down, kid. UVA is not as great as people think it is. Why don't you just be an in-state resident and you'll get in for sure. Sure I agree they may be immoral and elitist but getting into frats is not the same sense of competitiveness as going to elite schools, where they expect a more complete "package".</p>
<p>Well respected? Not at all</p>
<p>Big? Definately</p>
<p>I am about to pledge my school's chapter. It doesn't seem like a stereotypical frat, and I really am just joining because I wanted to do some community service anyway, so I figured why not?</p>
<p>Quick update, if anyone cares: I am now an Active Brother in my university's APO chapter!</p>
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Well respected? Not at all</p>
<p>Big? Definately
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This sums it up concisely and accurately.</p>