<p>How's the Greek system at Cal?</p>
<p>Are fraternities worth joining? Does the pledge process ever become unreasonable? What's the pros and cons of joining a frat.</p>
<p>The Greek System at Cal is much less popular than at most schools, and thus, much less exclusive. For this reason alone, most of the frat guys are pretty laid back and haven't turned me away from any parties.</p>
<p>Berkeley is fortunate enough to have two alternative housing systems, the other being the coops. I highly recommend checking out both before making a decision. Both essentially serve the same set of functions, but each system attracts its own personality types.</p>
<p>I would have disagree and say that Cal's Greek system is a significant part of the social scene at Berkeley... especially your freshman year. The pledge process is usually pretty reasonable from stories I've heard, and you always have the option of dropping out if you don't like it. Although I am biased since I am part of it, there is a huge difference between a co-op and a fraternity. Fraternities are chapters of larger organizations... you often have hundreds of chapters of your fraternity at different schools which you can go to and meet and have a common history behind... you're not going to get that with a co-op. There are other reasons as well... but I think you'll figure those out once you explore you options.</p>
<p>So, just to be fair, many of my friends in fraternities do not particularly like this aspect of Greek life, especially in light of the dues required for membership of these national organizations.</p>
<p>My feeling is, students join fraternities, coops or any other community-oriented living space for exactly the same reasons. Each significantly contributes to the social lives of its members.</p>