<p>I will be an out-of-state Student at UA the fall of 2013 from New York, but I can only afford to go to UA if I keep my scholarship for a half-ride which requires me to keep above a 3.0. So, if I receive a bid to pledge to a frat at UA, are my chances of attaining a 3.0 in jeopardy? And also, would the frats be flexible with their payment plans? Please let me know because I am very interested in joining a fraternity at UA, but not sure if I could afford to do it.</p>
<p>Sorry I can’t answer your questions my only advice would be is if you are concerned about Frat dues you may want to skip joining because beyond dues there are a lot of other expenditures associated with belonging to a fraternity.</p>
<p>I know little if anything about fraternities so I can’t be too helpful, but why do you do want to join a fraternity? The first step in my mind is to determine if you want to do it for the right reasons.</p>
<p>I want to join a frat because I haven’t had many real friends in high school. I wanna join an organization where I can make some long-lasting friends. The parties are also errrry nice too.</p>
<p>I don’t think you need to join a fraternity to make long-lasting friends, and if you are concerned are about maintaining your grades, being in an environment where there’s a lot of opportunities to party may not be the best for you.</p>
<p>What do you plan on studying? If it’s engineering, there is a professional fraternity.</p>
<p>I plan on studying business. Along the lines of finance or accounting.</p>
<p>Those are challenging majors.</p>
<p>There are many professional business fraternities too at UA, and I think a couple of them are specifically for finance/accounting majors. They might not have parties like social fraternities, but they do have a lot of other activities that would help you build long-lasting friendships with other business students.</p>
<p>My son is in a fraternity, loves it, serves as an officer, has made incredible friends, is double majoring (including business), works hard, makes sure he has play time, and maintains a very high GPA.</p>
<p>The key to enjoying the benefits of fraternity life while keeping your grades up is unflagging self-discipline. If that sounds like you, go for it. If not, fuggedaboutit. </p>
<p>Welcome to 'Bama, choose wisely, and Roll Tide. :)</p>
<p>If you are a good student you can maintain a 3.0 and yes, my son’s fraternity does have a payment plan. They break it up in 3 payments.</p>
<p>Some frats may have payment plans, but the dues are only part of the expenses. There are other expenses.</p>
<p>Maybe some who have sons in frats can detail what some of those other expenses are, plus include dues. </p>
<p>I would strongly suggest that someone who is going to pledge make sure that their school load that semester is on the light side. Not so you think you can blow school off, but just so you’re not overwhelmed. </p>
<p>How tight is your budget? Belonging to a social Greek orgn can be expensive. As others have mentioned, you do NOT have to pledge in order to make friends. You can also join the business professional fraternities and make friends that way.</p>
<p>Since you’ll be in honors (you did apply to the honors college, right???), it would be MUCH cheaper if you signed up for Outdoor Action or Alabama Action (the week before school starts). For a couple hundred bucks, you’ll spend a week doing stuff and making friends. We always hear of positive reports of kids making friends after doing AA or OA.</p>
<p>I missed the online honors app, but apparently there’s no official deadline to apply. I’ll talk to my recruiter a day this week.</p>
<p>JimOB32,</p>
<p>What part of NY are you from? We are also from NY and son who will be attending UA fall 2013 has already met thru the 2017 UA Facebook page many others from NY, NJ, PA who are also attending next fall.</p>
<p>For pledge semester I would take as light a load as you can & no early classes if possible.</p>
<p>As far as other expenses besides dues- you will need to have the pledge wardrobe; game& party tee shirts, & formal.</p>