<p>Let me explain my situation. Right now my roommate is one of my best friends from high school and I have 4 other friends from high school that live in the same building as me. Although I enjoy hanging out with these people I feel that I may be stunting my college experience by keeping this same group of friends. Anyone in this situation knows it can be hard to break out of a group like this especially given how close we all live to each other. I have already signed a lease on an apartment for next year with two of these kids, which I am looking forward to. However, I am debating pledging a fraternity in the spring to meet some new people. Do you think this would help to break out of the high school group of friends I have while still remaining friends with them? I might add that none of these kids are interested in joining a fraternity.</p>
<p>If you pledge a fraternity, are you required to live in the fraternity house?
Because if you have already signed a lease, you are bound by it.</p>
<p>Can you be in the fraternity without living in the house? It is a great way to meet a lot of new people.</p>
<p>i probably should have mentioned that…the one I am interested in does not require you to live in the house</p>
<p>Then it sounds like a great idea, if you can swing the fraternity expenses! At least go through rush–it’s a great way to meet a lot of people</p>
<p>lol if you want your grades to suffer and go through a *<strong><em>ty period to just make friends? I thought about joining a frat too but i realized that school is more important and most of the fraternity bros here are idiots (sorry had to say it). I mean frats are great for getting ■■■■■ and making a ton of friends but your school work will suffer. Expect to stay up very late while pledging and get treated like *</em></strong>. Dont think about depledging like one of my friends did or you will have trouble getting into frat parties and greek members will look down on you. If you can balance school and fraternity life, I say go ahead and do it but realize that if you overparty, your going to have a low paying job with a lot of college friends. I just stick to going to open frat parties and mingle with people to make new friends. Also go through the rush process. I went through rush at 1 frat and got many perks out of it. I got into like 2 parties for free and they actually had decent beer+liquor. Even if u dont plan on pledging, act like you will and you will get rewarded.</p>
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<p>I’m glad you said that because I would like to clear up a common misconception. At the University of Alabama, a school with a very Greek-oriented social life, the average GPA of Greeks is actually higher than that of Independents. Every fraternity and sorority on campus mandates study hall hours everyday. What you are describing is a common stereotype that really has factual basis (at least in my school). </p>
<p>OP: Although I am not Greek (too expensive) and I can only speak for my school, I can see from the experience of many friends that are Greek that pledging is a fun time even though you will have to put up with a lot of stuff. If you do live with your high school friends, you will most likely stay friends with them. However, pledging is time-consuming, and you will meet new people who you will most likely be around more than your high school friends. Pledging has been described as “the best eight weeks of your life that you never want to do again.” From my understanding, pledging in the spring is easier because a) there is no football games you may have to miss out on and b) people are a little burnt out on the last pledge class. Also, your pledge class will probably be smaller in the Spring which may or may not be a good thing.</p>
<p>As far as meeting people, the Greek system has a built in social life for its members. Every Thursday night, one each fraternity has a swap with a sorority where you can meet new people. Most likely, your social life and circle of friends will expand dramatically.</p>
<p>my roommate is going through “hell week” this week and god knows what his fraternity is doing to him right now (he has to move out this whole week and live somewhere else), he has had to clean up the stadium every sunday morning. </p>
<p>i would like to know how many fraternity members are actually majoring in something serious and difficult such as engineering and computer science as opposed to psychology or political science. I hate fraternities because they come into the library for their “study hours” and just talk really loud and play farmville. But then again, that’s just my experience.</p>
<p>you have to realize the greek system is different at every school. I’m from NY and schooling is a lot different here when compared to the south.</p>
<p>I go to a southern school where greek life is pretty big. Joining a fraternity was probably one of the best decisions I ever made in college. On top of making tons of new friends and partying with girls, greeks are the ones who run the campus. Most of SGA is greek, student run organizations are run by greeks, and greeks have a higher gpa than the rest of the school. Pretty much every campus in the nation has strict no-hazing rules and pretty much every fraternity abides by them (or else you won’t be a fraternity anymore), so don’t worry about people telling you all the bad things that will happen to you as a pledge. Chances are the worst things you will be doing is cleaning the house on Sundays and driving drunk brothers around on Thursdays to get their signatures…it sucks, but after your 15 weeks of pledgeship you get to sit back and relax for the next 3 years and have people clean and drive for you, its a pretty sweet deal.</p>
<p>Pierre, alot of greeks split time between studying and partying. The stereotypes for fraternities is just overwhelming. For example I’m in a fraternity over at Purdue, which has a great engineering program and so on. I know MANY people who are Greeks who are engineers, CS majors, business majors, etc. It’s all time management since Greeks also participate in alot of philanthropy events.</p>
<p>lol cleaning a house is hazing. And don’t listen to this nonsense. All greek life hazes. It will affect your school work wich equates to hazing imo. Brothers will tell you the hazing isnt that bad but can you really listen to them?</p>
<p>think about this, you’re getting hazed for one semester so that you can haze other pledges for 3.5 more years…how twisted is that</p>
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<p>If you stick with the pledging and don’t get blackballed, the answer is a resounding yes.</p>
<p>I’m independent, but I do not have an unfavorable view of Greeks. I rushed twice, once in Fall and once in Spring of my freshman year, and I encourage everyone who is considering joining a fraternity to attend rush.</p>
<p>If you find out during pledgeship that the fraternity you’re part of isn’t treating you the way you want others to be treated, just remember the “sunk cost trap”: you can’t cry over spilt milk, so don’t rationalize that you’ve already invested so much time so you have to keep on going. Just leave.</p>
<p>Greek life IS different at different schools. My son is a double-major in Physics and Computer Science at MIT; he joined a fraternity in the Fall of his freshman year and is very happy with the decision. There was no hazing, no real Hell night, and he became a brother within weeks. He met many new friends - and a girlfriend - through the fraternity. The fraternity GPA is the highest of all the frats, and higher than the non-frat average. About 40% of the male students there pledge.</p>
<p>You have to decide for yourself what frat life is like at your particular school. You can make friends lots of different ways besides joining a fraternity, so look at all options and your own circumstances (financial and otherwise).</p>
<p>we can all tell that JKpoker2 is a gdi</p>
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Sorry, I just read a typo in my post. It should read "What you are describing is a common stereotype that really has no factual basis (at least in my school).</p>
<p>I was very close to joining a frat (like 50/50 and talked to my parents about it). 3 friends pledged and 1 dropped out. I’m pretty sure all 3 are doing bad in school right now due to pledging. I’m a transfer and I have realized that doing well in school is much more important than making friend + partying even though i love to party. Also drugs are big in fraternities and I didn’t want to get pressured into doing hardcore drugs.</p>
<p>Drugs are probably popular in fraternities at your school.</p>