<p>Ha! I like the fact that their website includes information to make sure people understand upfront that this is NOT an honor society or an academic fraternity! To quote:
“Theta Tau is a coeducational professional engineering fraternity. It is not an honor society or academic fraternity. It is, however, a fraternity which is designed to give engineers a sense of brotherhood and interest in the field of engineering.”
(Shouldn’t eng’rs already be interested in the field of eng’g?) I’m just sayin’…</p>
<p>My son joined the fraternity the fall of his freshman year. We are now on the cusp of graduating and I can say with 100 percent confidence it was a wonderful decision. He has formed so many great friendships that he will always treasure. He, like many others in the fraternity, would not have fit in with other Greek organizations at bama so to have a place has been a blessing.</p>
<p>My son is a junior and has been a member since freshman year. He really enjoys it. I will comment later when I am near my laptop and not typing from this IPad.</p>
<p>My son has been a member since freshman year, about to finish :). This group has been a great experience in his college life and over Christmas he indicated how he’ll miss his “brothers” when he graduates. And yes the girls are also referred to as “brothers”.
The house is also co-ed. This is his first year living there, because we did not know that his housing scholarship could be used here also. The fraternity does not own the house and it is part of the university housing system and as such he was still able to use it.
He also was able to take part in the National Theta Tau 4 day leadership conference this summer. They have a block for football games, and yes they are very good at staying. One point he really liked as a pledge was they are able to dress comfortably during the game and not die of heat exhaustion.
The Honors fraternity for Engineers is Tau Beta Phi, he (and other brothers) are members there too. The nice thing about Theta Tau is they understand the work load and you can find support within the house.
Last point LOL- although I don’t know exactly costs are not as high.</p>
<p>If it’s one of the university-owned Greek houses, one big difference in cost is that they don’t run a kitchen. The costs are way different when your house operates a kitchen and has employees. Not sure about the housemother/father situation - they may not have to have one. That would be another salary eliminated.
Also, the group rents the house, rather than owns it. I would assume that would mean you wouldn’t have to have to put back money to pay for normal wear-and-tear repairs.</p>
<p>Hokiefan here reporting back with info. The main thing I want to say is this fraternity house is not like anything that has been talked about on this forum. Forget glamour, glitz, housemothers, cooks etc. We are talking old house, old furniture, tiny kitchen etc. No meal plan, dues run just under $500 /semester if you don’t live in the house and a little less (maybe 25-40 bucks) if you do live there. Sixteen people can live there. There is someone designated as the ‘house manager’ who is kind of like an RA but not really. They run interference when things go haywire. Most of the rooms are really small, think shoebox with 2 students per room. I swear they are smaller then the room he had freshman year in Ridgecrest.</p>
<p>I don’t have to say much else because socal2 bama and gamom said it for me. My son loves this community. He is living in the house this year and says its convenient to engineering classes and he just likes the brotherhood stuff. I never really understood the draw for him until I spent the entire day there when I came down for the Ole Miss Game. All the members were nice, polite and just normal young adults. They come in all shapes, sizes and colors. Some were dressed preppy (not too many), and some were in t-shirts and cargo shorts. Girls and guys just mixing and mingling like a family would. The light bulb went off and I finally understood what my son liked about this group. </p>
<p>Like any family or group living situation, there are ups and downs. My son doesn’t share much and I don’t ask. They learn to work it out. Being in the fraternity and living in the house have not effected my son’s grades at all. In some cases, it has helped as he does a lot of tutoring in math since that seems to be one of his strengths. </p>
<p>My son is also a member of the marching band and really enjoys that group as well. </p>
<p>I hope this was helpful to whoever is looking for information.</p>
<p>I don’t have anything to add about the Bama chapter of Theta Tau, my daughter did visit the information table at the organization day the beginning of Fall semester, but did not end up attending any recruitment events. However, my husband is a Theta Tau from another school, so I can share information from that end. At his chapter (back in the 80’s) it was a male-only organization, women attempted to pledge but were not offered bids. The Theta Tau’s were somewhat of an “Animal House” chapter, they put on the best parties on campus, were definitely wild, participated in Greek Week activities and were more of a social fraternity on campus. The chapter did a lot of professional activities as well, and I know they won several awards at the national convention that my husband attended. Often they had events with other Theta Tau chapters at nearby universities, many of which were co-ed at that time. Several of the brothers changed majors outside of engineering after joining, but their membership was not revoked, I have no idea if that was against bylaws. Throughout the years when interviewing for other jobs, Theta Tau membership has come up, and I know it has been viewed positively for my husband. His Theta Tau brothers are still among his closest friends, and the past 25+ years they still get together for the Annual Slurp and Burp Weekend . . . and now you know why they were the “Animal House” chapter on campus! LOL</p>
I was looking to join theta tau myself, but I was wondering what it was like. How easy is it to talk with and make friends with the members? Are they inviting? Is it awkward at first or do they make you feel comfortable enough to be yourself?
From what my friend said (who was in college same time as me) and recent members have said, yes, it is very easy to talk to them and make friends. You can def be yourself. That’s what the rush events are for - to you to get to know each other. You can go to the events without having to pledge. And generally speaking, the pledge period is a sort of trial period - you learn about the fraternity’s history and operations, and get to know the members. If it’s not for you, you can resign.
:). This group has been a great experience in his college life and over Christmas he indicated how he’ll miss his “brothers” when he graduates. And yes the girls are also referred to as “brothers”.