<p>I understand that Greek Life is not a major thing at UChicago. However, does anyone have a rundown of the "stereotypes" of the Fraternities? For example, certain frats that tend to involve more community service or something like that?</p>
<p>Also, is there any discrimination towards Asians of any sort, subtle or blatant? Would it be difficult for Asians to join the more popular frats on campus?</p>
<p>I’ve been here for four years and I have absolutely no idea. I do know that we have a frat that is predominantly Asian. I wouldn’t say that there are “more popular frats on campus” either.</p>
<p>Lots of the frats list their brothers on their webpages, or at least their officers. The ones I have seen show pictures and names that pretty much scuttle the hypothesis that Asians might not be welcome, since there are lots of Asians. Even AEPi, explicitly a Jewish fraternity, seems to have a token Asian. At the others, the numbers aren’t token.</p>
<p>As for their stereotypes, that’s beyond my level of information. I’m sure each has its style distinct from the others, but I suspect a visitor from Mars, or Europe, or even Ohio State might not be able to tell them apart. They are all “the smart, slightly nerdy boys who wish more people would join”. In some cases, you could probably add “who play sports” in there, but I don’t know which cases. Each of my kids had a couple of good friends who were in fraternities, and when I met them I never would have guessed they were in frats.</p>
<p>Fraternity life at UChicago is surprising robust, although not in the typical state school sense. You can divide the fraternities on campus into two main groups; the older, more established ones like Psi U, Alpha Delt and Fiji, which have had houses on “fraternity row” for decades and newer fraternities that either have more recently established houses in the area or are in the process of acquiring one.</p>
<p>Fiji, the football fraternity, probably hews closest to the classic “Animal House” stereotype. Psi U and Alpha Delt have a mixture of athletes from various sports. The newer ones I have no idea about. Non athletes are welcome, too, of course.</p>
<p>I’m a Psi U and my pledge year way back when was made especially raucous by the fact that our pledge master just happened to win a Rhodes Scholarship that spring. The brothers were a mix of wrestlers, football players, basketball players, lacrosse players and general ne’er do wells. They were also really smart, making for a combustible mix of inventive, puerile behavior.</p>
<p>About 20-30% of the bothers were minorities, including African American, Asians, Indians, etc. There was no racism whatsoever among the kids and everyone got along incredibly well. The pledge process was pretty insane, made all the more fun by the fact that the antics were done on such a serious campus. Alpha Delt, so the story went, would drop off naked, tied up pledges on the NU campus with “Northwestern Sucks” written on their chests. They were given 5 hours to return to Hyde Park or face expulsion. </p>
<p>Not surprisingly, the brothers were to a man hard working and ambitious. I’d say about 2/3’s of my pledge class ended up going into law or investment banking with the remainder going into academia and medicine. About half of the nine kids in my pledge class are also millionaires now, which is a supremely scary thought.</p>
<p>If you intend to go into banking, I’d heartily recommend joining a fraternity. Working in stressful, teamwork oriented fields like banking requires a high degree of social skills and it helps to have a fraternity or sports team background during the initial job-seeking process. </p>
<p>I was a hum major in college with deplorable math skills. I also had no idea what investment banking was. Given these drawbacks, I got job offers from a couple of banks that I suspect had to do with my fraternity connection.</p>
<p>I reconnected recently with a fellow pledge class brother from my fraternity. He was an English lit major and joined a BB firm right out of college. He’s spent most of his life in NYC and Asia and now is a CFO for a major media company in LA. Another brother from my pledge class is a world famous surgeon, which is hilarious knowing what he was like as an 18 year old.</p>
<p>So ultimately, if you’re a social person with good time management skills and don’t mind making an ass of yourself from time to time, I’d heartily recommend joining a fraternity at UChicago. It’s a welcome diversion from the stress of academics and you’ll make life long friends and hopefully get a leg up career wise.</p>
<p>Amazing posts, thank you all for the helpful information.</p>
<p>Just to add a couple of notes, former US Supreme Court Justice and UChicago alum John Paul Stevens was a Psi U back in the late 1930s. Former US Senator Charles Percy was the president of Alpha Delt at UChicago around the same time.</p>
<p>Whatever you do, avoid this frat. </p>
<p>[Racist</a> Frat Prank At University Of Chicago: Phi Delta Theta Says They Are Victims In Anti-Gay, Racist Stunt](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>Racist Frat Prank At University Of Chicago: Phi Delta Theta Says They Are Victims In Anti-Gay, Racist Stunt | HuffPost Chicago)</p>
<p>These are stereotypes, not facts.
AEPi: Jewish, nerdy but nice
Alpha Delt: creepy, date-rape allegations a few years back that ruined their reputation, sometimes crude, racist
Fiji: Football frat
DU: ******bags, track people, and minorities
Sig Chi: classy, well-dressed, WASP
Sig Ep: no set stereotype, seems to be a hodgepodge of fratty people who didn’t pledge Psi U or Sig Chi
Psi U: Tall, WASP, foreign, athlete, the most “popular” frat
The Jericho: The ultimate frisbee “frat”, good parties
DKE & DTD: New, not really sure what to make of it yet</p>
<p>I imagine the frats at UofC are not like the frats at other schools. I remember my tour guide mentioning how people here never fit into certain stereotypes. Pretty sure those in frats at UofC are still more smart than most people who aren’t in frats at other colleges such as UofI. That’s why hearing of that prank and the other incidents involving or being associated with fraternities at UofC is really surprising.</p>
As an undergraduate at UChicago not involved in Greek Life, I feel that the students involved in the Greek scene command a lot of respect from non-Greeks and professors alike – they hold many of the highest positions on campus and add color to Chicago winters. There has been a recent push to broaden the Greek life scene and I know fraternities and sororities regularly hold mixers and the top fraternities host killer parties. Two years ago, it was different, but more and more undergrads are looking to go Greek.
So. When you join a frat, do you for sure live with them? And how does that work when you’re submitting your housing forms?
@ILoveUofC @LazySundays
Tagging you guys for the above question!
Thanks for your information thus far, too.
Greek life is getting bigger…definitely…probably the result of the common app and of UChicago attracting more traditional and less quirky students.
Personally I hope the frat / sorority influence stays small. UChicago students have lots fun; it’s just more constructive than standing around and drinking to oblivion then behaving badly.