<p>It seems like people would stop joining if they were all bad. Lots of congressmen/women and high-level CEOs have greek backgrounds. Connections, connections, connections...</p>
<p>"Lots of congressmen/women and high-level CEOs have greek backgrounds."</p>
<p>Let's not forget to control for other variables; you all know my good friend ceteris paribus. Of course, joining a sorority at HYPS (or whatever catchy elite school acronym you prefer) is different than joining a prototypical "spread-our-legs pi" sorority at a party school.</p>
<p>no one is going to be able to say if Greek life is the right choice for someone to make. if you're thinking about it, go to rush. see if you like it, and even if you do accept a bid leater to find it's not what you expected, you can always drop.</p>
<p>if you're on the outside, it's something you'll never understand. if you're on the inside, it's something you can't explain.</p>
<p>^pretty much sums it all up right there</p>
<p>Ceteris paribus, more than 75% of congress are members of fraternities/sororities. They didn't all go to ivy/elite schools. Control for whatever variables there are, and there's still a trend. </p>
<p>Part of the advantage of joining national organizations is that you are in contact with people all around the country. Networking and connections...</p>
<p>My personal experience: Joining a fraternity is similar to joining a religion. There are a lot of people who pay lip service to the ideals espoused by the organization, but certain churches (chapters) might have people that better adhere to the standard than others (say, for instance, my chapter versus that of the same fraternity at a school an hour down the road. And then there are the equivalent of the Mardi Gras Catholics- It can be an excuse to party for some.</p>
<p>"Ceteris paribus, more than 75% of congress are members of fraternities/sororities. They didn't all go to ivy/elite schools."</p>
<p>Additional data that are necessary: % of overall population in fraternities and sororities. % of overall population in an arbitrarily selected group of elite schools. % of congressmen that went to the arbitrarily selected group of elite schools.</p>
<p>And that's just a start. </p>
<p>"Control for whatever variables there are, and there's still a trend."</p>
<p>Translated: "I know that no one here will do all the work that I also didn't do, so let's just say that the hypothetical evidence would support the premise I proffered."</p>
<p>"if you're on the outside, it's something you'll never understand. if you're on the inside, it's something you can't explain."</p>
<p>Powerful terse rhetoric and all, and I agree with the spirit of the statement, but I doubt that it's beyond comprehension from the outside and inexplicable from the inside.</p>
<p>i'll stick with what i originally said...</p>
<p>Well yeah... you wouldn't have said it if you didn't mean it the first time around. Unless you were satirizing juicycampus discussions on the topic :
"Greeks pay for friends!"
"You non-Greek losers don't understand!"
"Have fun with your homo hazing!"
"It's hard to explain, but it's nothing like that... you're all just jealous"
...ad nauseam.</p>
<p>I would like to point out that anti-greeks will always make blanket statements regarding the system as a whole, whereas any Greek or any pro-greek independent will tell you the truth, which is that it largely depends on your campus.</p>
<p>Before I start my defense of the numerous fallacies mentioned on here, I just want to save everyone the time and let you know that what's going to happen is a greek or two will defend the numerous anti-greek points, at which point the anti-greek side either gives up or fires back with "well I heard about this one time where..."</p>
<p>Here we go:</p>
<p>Community Service:
While Greek life is highly campus dependent, one of the things that is consistent is that Greeks log more community service hours and fund raise more money for charity per capita than any other type of college student. To the person who said that Greeks do it because it looks good: very, very few people in this world do things purely for the good of it. Some people volunteer because their parents told them to, because they want to spend time with their friends, because they want to put it on a resume, because they get a tax donation, because they think it makes them appear to be a better person. Community service is community service, plain and simple.</p>
<p>Greeks pay for friends:
Last time I checked, when I hang out with my friends who aren't in fraternities/sororities, or when groups of people not affiliated hang out, they usually spend money. When I hang out with my brothers, things are usually paid for "by the house" Instead of paying for movies, dinners, go-karts, etc at each individual event, like most people, I pay up front and the house picks up the tab when we do the events.</p>
<p>Hazing and Time Commitment
This is where I will admit, I cannot speak for Greeks universally. I can assure you that all organizations have anti-hazing rules in their constitutions, but I cannot guarantee you that they abide by that rule. At my school, without a doubt, the sports teams haze much, much harder than the greeks. At a lot of schools, particularly Division I schools, the athletes know they can get away with it because the school will protect them because the sports teams are important to the school. Many schools do not feel the same way about Greek life, and as such, the students who are in charge take more precautions. I can promise you that most chapters will not haze, and that academics comes first. Many chapters have mandatory study hours for the pledges to ensure that they are doing their work, and my chapter (and I'll admit, we're definitely more loose than most) will allow you to skip pledge events if you have a test or a paper due the next day.</p>
<p>Please, please, please rush, is all I ask. You don't have to pledge, just don't go to school thinking Greek life is not for you. Until you've gotten the little taste that is rush, you honestly don't know. I, as well as pretty much every other Greek, can say that joining my fraternity has been the best decision I have ever made, even more than where I went to school. I went to a small all boys school for 12 years, and less than a year after graduation I only was speaking with about half a dozen of the guys. Within my first year at college I found brothers whom I honestly can't imagine losing touch with. I just finished my junior year, and at our final meeting of the year, I was in tears over the idea that the guys I had only known for 3 years were not going to be down the hall from me anymore. Being in a fraternity has taught me how to lead, how to listen, how to help others. I've met people on campus and from across the nation that I would never have known if I hadn't gone Greek. The organizational, conversational (i.e. rush), and managerial skills that the fraternity have instilled in me are life skills that I will never forget, and I know that I would not have learned them as well as I did had I not gone Greek (I can see it when I look at my friends from freshman year).</p>
<p>I will certainly not say that I can guarantee that you will have the same experience I did, but I can guarantee that if you don't even give greek life a chance, you certainly won't have the type of experience I did.</p>
<p>I agree with Brown about the features of joining a fraternity. 35 years after graduating, about half of my closest friends are my fraternity brothers. The fraternity caused me to get to know a large number of guys more quickly and intimately than would have otherwise been possible.</p>
<p>On the other side, my academics and grades suffered significantly because of fraternity distractions. This doesn't mean yours will.</p>
<p>This is a tough call; overall, I remain undecided if joining is a good thing. But if you rush, I think you will probably join one; the enthusiasm is contagious.</p>
<p>It is an NPC rule that Potential New Members (PNMS/rushees) be given a very accurate dues and fees chart at the 3rd round of recruitment. Nobody wants a girl to pledge and then have to quit over finances because she didn't realize it wasn't in her budget.</p>
<p>I am an alumna member of a NPC GLO and I advise my GLO's chapter at a nearby university. I have also been an advisor for my GLO's chapter at other universities when we lived elsewhere. My daughter is an active member of a different NPC GLO at her own college.</p>
<p>On a national level, my particular GLO has been proactive on Career Connections for its members since at least the 80s when I was an active. In terms of alumnae life, I have joined our alumnae associations in every area my H's job moved us. Contacting the aa president to get names of realtors, doctors, dentists, etc was always one of first phone calls especially if I didn't have any friends in the area.</p>
<p>My daughter's GLO is also very strong on the national level. She will have the same systems to tap into when she graduates.</p>
<p>You have nothing to lose by rushing.</p>
<p>The opportunity cost of time is not nothing.</p>
<p>You might as well go to at least a couple rush parties though. You should have time to party that early in the semester anyway so why not get some friends together and give it a shot. Rush parties are fun.</p>
<p>I think fraternities at different schools vary a great deal. So, yeah, check things out at your school, talk to people and ask about it. You will find out that each frat has a reputation of some sort. If you wait a semester or two, you will most likely meet kids in various frats and get the info you need.</p>
<p>My S ended up joining a frat in his Sophomore year. At times he was happy and at times not so happy about his decision. He did have to participate in community service. He went to meetings, attanding events, parties, etc. He met some kids he liked a lot and some kids he didn't like so much. There was no hazing at all for him, so look into that too.</p>
<p>All in all, I think he would say it was a mixed bag, but a good experience overall.</p>
<p>It can vary so widely from campus to campus, between fraternities and sororities and from house to house. No. 1 question to ask: are you a joiner? Don't do it just to meet people. There are many other ways to meet people on a campus. However, if you are a joiner, need/really want to belong to a group that becomes like a second family, then it's worth seeing what it's about. </p>
<p>Then ask a lot of questions around campus and of people outside the fraternity/sorority. First of all, do they have houses? There is a big difference between groups that have houses and those that don't. Are the houses on campus or off? Ask others on campus about the reputations of the various groups. Some will have reputations as partiers/jocks/more studious/very social, etc. Try to see how many members have friends outside the group. </p>
<p>Sometimes fraternities and sororities will try to "own" their members and the peer pressure is great--for good and bad. If it is important to you to have a wide variety of friends from all walks of life/interests, look carefully at the fraternity/sorority to see if this will be encouraged. And don't just ask members for input. Ask faculty, staff on campus, non Greeks to get a full picture of the situation.</p>
<p>As many have said, it definitely varies from campus to campus. At some campuses, a chapter may be the best. At another, it may be in the doghouse.</p>
<p>One thing about Pledged though, the supposed rituals it reveals are nothing more than material cannibalized off websites. The things the author describes, drinking, sex, materialism, self criticism, think it only happens on Greek life? </p>
<p>I would argue against the paying for friends, many times dues are used towards house renovations, insurance, events such as mother daughter teas, alumni reunions weekend, etc. Think about it, most clubs have club dues in college, Greek orgs just have higher dues because their expenses are greater. </p>
<p>Easy you seem dead set against Greeks, reminds me of another very anti Greek person that used to frequent these boards.</p>
<p>I would say take all the stereotyping and rumors with a grain of salt. They might have very far removed origins, but get to know the Greek org members and then make your decision. It could be a waste of time, but then again you could be meeting people who will be at your wedding 10 years down the line, who will be your support network in college, who will be your best friends and watch your back, and who could make a large environment much smaller.</p>
<p>"Easy you seem dead set against Greeks, reminds me of another very anti Greek person that used to frequent these boards."</p>
<p>I was under the impression that I was straddling both sides of the fence for fraternities; I just hate stupid pro-frat arguments. I'm actually slightly pro-fraternity myself, despite me believing that it's not for me. Different strokes for different folks, to each his own, etc. etc. </p>
<p>Despite my fondness of sorority girls, I do have a distaste for sororities. If I had a son, I'd encourage him to join a fraternity. If I had a daughter, I'd steer her away from sororities.</p>
<p>easy, every post you have in this thread is bashing greek life...</p>