<p>Hey guys, I'm new to CC.</p>
<p>I am a current Penn student who wants to get involved in greek life. I know that pledging anywhere won't be easy, but I am a student-athlete and want to make sure that I keep up my academics and do well athletically. I was just wondering what fraternities are known for having a bit of an "easier" pledging process where it will have less of an impact on my sport and schoolwork.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>No fraternity is going to have an “easy” pledging process. The point of pledging a fraternity is to put in several months of hard work to bring yourself to a level of mutual respect with the brothers and to better yourself as a person. You really can’t take an easy way out if you want to go Greek.</p>
<p>Now, if you’re asking about levels of hazing, that’s a different story entirely. Some fraternities ask their pledges to do pretty brutal stuff. I’d be glad to answer more of your questions privately if you have anything more specific you’d like to ask.</p>
<p>Sure, I completely understand that. I guess that I was somewhat using a euphemism for hazing here.</p>
<p>My main concern includes activities like being locked in the fraternity basement for days on end, or having to do things that will put me at a big risk for injury (I think that my sport will be in season during the pledge process). Thanks!</p>
<p>Pledging at Penn is normally brutal but safe. However, if you’re that worried about it, don’t pledge a fraternity that any of your athlete buddies are going for. Those are traditionally the harder fraternities.</p>
<p>Which if Penn’s frats are most “down to earth” – if that makes any sense?</p>
<p>Down-to-earth is pretty subjective. Are you looking for fraternities with a more intellectual culture? Fraternities that are more down to smoke rather than drink?</p>
<p>I also had questions about fraternities/sororities. What are some examples of hazing procedures? If anyone knows any…you can just list them out. Thanks!</p>
<p>These things are fraternity-specific and are secrets of the fraternity. I’m not going to be discussing this specifically. You will get to campus and hear about which fraternities haze harder than others, and it will be pretty obvious which ones you won’t want to pledge if you don’t want to deal with that. There is no shame in that whatsoever.</p>
<p>I’d be interested in hearing which frats you believe have more of an intellectual culture. Does such a thing exist?</p>
<p>Sure thing. Off the top of my head, you should consider looking into Lambda Chi Alpha, Sigma Nu, Phi Gamma Delta, Alpha Chi Rho, and Kappa Alpha. These aren’t the stereotypical “top-tier” fraternities, but you should only join a fraternity because you like the men it comprises.</p>
<p>Nobody at Penn is dumb, but I’d definitely say that those fraternities are a bit more down-to-Earth and foster a slightly more intellectual culture than other chapters here.</p>