<p>Can anyone provide any insights as to how intense the pledge process is for the frats in the spring? Any insights into Kappa Sigma's pledge process in particular? What is Kappa Sigma's reputation on campus?</p>
<p>LookingNorth, not sure that you will find alot of detailed info regarding the pledge process and any fraternity information in particular on cc. I can tell you that my son pledged a fraternity last year and I knew nothing about the process other than it was very time consuming. Secrecy seems to be part of the whole process and while I don’t quite get any of that having never been a member of a sorority, I just had to hope that he exercised good judgement and kept his grades up. I do know that every fraternity is different with regard to the process. I will be honest and tell you that I was quite anxious last year not knowing what the heck was going on but I am really happy that he seems to have made the most of the experience. He has a great group of friends, he has become very involved in many activities in and out of the fraternity and I think the whole experience matured him. I will mention that he had to drop a class which we were less than thrilled about. He thought having one less class would help him manage his time better.</p>
<p>D graduated this past May (2010). From her comments, agree that secrecy is a big part of the process – some fraternities more than others, (And, no, I don’t know one from another.) Most likely the secrecy comes in because some of the stuff may not be quite up to the WFU Greek standards??? A friend of mine with a S in D’s class at WFU pledged a fraternity. She (the mom) said it took over her S’s life for 2nd semester of freshman year and his grades probably suffered some as a result. She tried her best to dissuade him from joining/going through all that, but he wouldn’t listen. After the pledging part was over, though, she said he had a really good group of friends.</p>
<p>I didn’t mean to imply that the secrecy surrounding the pledge process was because they were doing things that perhaps they shouldn’t have. From what I understand from friends of mine who have sons that belong to fraternities at other universities, this is common. I think secrecy is part of the whole fraternity process wherever you are. I believe the theory behind it all is it fosters a sense of brotherhood, tradition etc. A group sharing a common experience known only to a select few so to speak. I have read alot about fraternities and sororities because as I mentioned in my OP, I knew nothing about them (except for Animal House and I was hoping that wasn’t a great example!!!) and they share alot of similiar characteristics with how people feel about their military squadrons and platoons. The sense of brotherhood is very strong. Although he has never said, I think that the process was a tad grueling but I don’t think he has ever regretted joining. In fact, I think he would say that it was one of the best things he ever did.</p>