<p>Hi everyone I know that the Georgetown frat scene is very controlled and most are not officially recognized, and I might be interested in rushing one in the spring. What would be the disadvantages/advantages of joining a frat on campus? I was wondering if anyone could give me a description of the different frats on campus. Also, I would like to know which one you guys think is the best in terms of connections, nationwide popularity, prestige, parties, and social standing both on Georgetown campus and nationwide. Also, I'm in the college, so does that disqualify me from some of the frats? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you all in advance for the help.</p>
<p>Pretty sure Georgetown doesn’t have a Greek system.</p>
<p>Yea, this is kind of a difficult question to answer. Because the organizations are unrecognized, there’s no established Greek Life scene/hierarchy the way there is at other schools. No one can tell you which one is the ‘nerd frat’ - well, ok, we can, that’s DPE (the Foreign Service fraternity, which has a sorority component as well). But aside from that, there’s no "skinny frat,’ ‘ugly sorority,’ ‘coke addicts frat,’ ‘old money sorority’ or anything like that. They’re all more or less perceived as just another campus club that people do. No real way to gauge “connections” or “prestige” or “social standing” on campus, relative to any other student organizations. As for nationwide, I’m not sure who would be in the best position to gauge that, but it probably wouldn’t be someone from Georgetown.</p>
<p>There’s a small underground system of both Greek organizations and secret societies (a la Yale). None of it is a conspicuous or dominating presence on campus. </p>
<p>Despite this, GU has a vibrant and active social life. People organize themselves around their extracurriculars a lot, but there’s also a thriving general party scene that is very open to anyone. I was never turned away from a single party at Georgetown, and party-hopping the Village A “beach” was a common weekend pastime.</p>
<p>You just don’t get to become instant Big Man On Campus at G’town by paying your dues to an organization. You’re only as big as the connections you make, the interests you pursue, and the leadership you demonstrate. </p>
<p>Status is created, not inherited. For better or worse, that’s how it is, and most people at Georgetown believed it was for the better.</p>
<p>How does one join a sorority if there isn’t organized recruitment?</p>
<p>That’s not entirely true guys. Frats don’t play a large role on campus at all, but they certainly do exist, and one–APO, the co-ed community service frat–is officially recognized by the university. I’m not involved in Greek life at all, but I have a good number of friends in APO and they love it. APO has a decent presence on campus, a relatively large number of active members, and does a lot of cool projects–as for connections, Bill Clinton is an alum…but I wouldn’t join for the connections. We do have SAE and one other business frat that I can’t remember the name of, and one new sorority along with the national latin@ sorority LCP. If you want to get involved, you’ll normally find out about them through friends/clubs/events that they hold on campus, as there’s no real rushing season or advertising on campus (apart from APO, but it’s not major).</p>
<p>Joining a frat is a great way to make close friends and build a network at Georgetown, and I know that my APO friends have met a lot of cool alumni who regularly come back to campus for events, but being in a Gtown frat doesn’t confer the same amount of prestige that it would on other campuses…joining one of the big clubs on campus or doing student gov’t is probably the best way to build connections here, as is just going out and taking advantage of all the internships and opportunities in DC.</p>