College Confidential Community,
I am somewhat interested in SMU and the renowned Cox school. I have received a good amount of money, but I am concerned I will not have a fun college experience. I am not an avid drinker nor do I smoke. I have an interest in joining a frat for the social aspects and a memorable experience not for its substance abuse. Can someone please let me know if a frat is a good idea if I just want to meet people and make good friends? Is a frat necessary to have fun every weekend?
Thanks
SMU has their fraternity rush in January (though I thought I heard that this might be changing). If you decide to go to SMU that will give you a semester to meet the different guys and decide if that is something that you are interested in. You can also get a feel for if everyone in the house parties all of the time or if there are some members that are not in to partying all of the time. My son is at SMU and decided not to pledge a fraternity - just wasn’t right for him. About half of his friends are in a fraternity and half of them are not. He seems to have had a good time at SMU without being in a frat.
There is also some business fraternities at SMU - so even if you don’t decide to join a social fraternity there is an opportunity to join a business frat - which would help with finding friends in the same major. One of my son’s friends is in a business fraternity and a social one.
Hey Cnikroo,
As a current student at SMU, let me assure you that being in a frat is NOT necessary to have fun every weekend or to have a memorable experience here at SMU. Like Wrestlingmom mentioned, SMU does deferred rush (rush in the spring) which is awesome! It gives you an entire semester to get to know every fraternity on campus and all the guys in them. Then when rush comes a long you get to make an informed decision.
And if you decide not to join a frat, that’s perfectly okay too! There are so many ways to get involved on campus and so many things to do! I read an email the other day that stated that greek life participation this last year was about 40%- that includes both IFC, Panhellenic, Multicultural, professional, and religious greek organizations. So it’s definitely not the majority!
Greek life, like a lot of things in college, is what you make it.