<p>I know Greek Life is big at Wake. Can anyone offer any insights into any of the frats/sororities? I know sororities do not rush until January but are there events beforehand for the freshman to attend?</p>
<p>the statistics i've heard are that about 30-40% of men are in fraternities, whereas over half of women are in sororities. you asked specifically about sororities, but i'll give a general idea about fraternities as well, in case anyone else is interested.</p>
<p>sororities! the rules concerning the interaction between freshmen women and sorority members during the first semester are reasonably strict, with most of them in place to make sure girls have an open mind once rush comes, after winter break. obviously unaffiliated freshmen (as all are, first semester) are allowed to become friends with women in sororities during this time, but they are not allowed to go on any sorority halls, they are not allowed to attend any sorority events, and they are not allowed to give anything to or receive anything from sorority members. that'd be considered a "bribe," which is considered "dirty rushing." there used to be rules about certain proportions of freshmen to sorority that had to be maintained while a mixed group like that traveled off campus together, but they were too complicated and (i believe) were scrapped. the only formal gatherings for freshmen girls and greek women are a number of "mixers", which are at the beginning of the fall semester are very awkward and consist mostly of looking at random sorority-themed items on tables, and later in the semester are sorority-specific and far more comfortable, assuming you know people. also against the rules is communication between sorority women and potential new members during winter break and rush (besides the actual parties), but i wouldn't claim that this rule is strictly followed. i would say the majority of the sororities are very into what's known as "pre-rushing," in which a lot of the first semester is spent looking for girls they'd be interested in and getting them to hang out, spending time with them, etc; for freshmen with their hopes set on pledging a sorority, it's important to meet upperclassmen women during the first semester and get to know them, because there simply isn't that much time during rush to really win people over, to get nearly complete strangers to want to invite you back to rush parties and, ultimately, give you a bid. obviously it happens that way with a large number of girls, but i'd say most of the girls i knew as we went into rush already had a pretty good idea of where they would end up due to who they were friends with, and other girls who had an idea of where they wanted to be but didn't really <em>know</em> anyone in the sorority/sororities ended up being disappointed. a lot of them dropped out of rush after a couple days, after being cut from their preferred sororites. HOWEVER, it's still important to go into rush with an open mind, because those i know who were initially disappointed but didn't drop out ended up in sororities where they were much, much happier than they probably would have been anywhere else.
the negatives, in my opinion: yes, there are stereotypes spread specific to every sorority, and while i'd venture to say that most of them have a hint of truth to them, it's mostly because every stereotype kind of applies to a portion of every sorority, anyway. yes, some sororities are considered "better" or "worse" by some people, and have reputations, but again, it's important that girls keep an open mind because they absolutely will be pleasantly surprised by where they end up, even if it wasn't their "plan." it's awkward to say this, but the sorority members are basically much better at realizing who's going to be happy with them than freshmen going into rush are. rush is entirely free of alcohol, and parents with horror stories in their heads about hazing during the pledging period should not be worried, as wake (along with the sororities' national councils) does a very good job of making sure no one's put in bad situations. any other questions about sororities can be either messaged to me or asked here; i'll be glad to answer.</p>
<p>fraternities! fraternity rush occurs twice during the year, once towards the beginning of each semester. rush requires a certain gpa (although fraternities have ways of getting around requiring this) and a certain number of hours, so the guys who participate in fall rush are sophomores or freshmen who started second semester of the previous year. spring rush starts in the middle of january and lasts a week or two, with scheduled parties during the day. there's a certain number of parties rushees are required to attend, i believe, and time limits the number they can physically go to and still meet a sufficient number of brothers, but the interfraternity council is changing rush around this year (apparently because they realized that a very low number of bids are being given out compared to what is allowed to be given out, and they think this is because there is not enough time for men to express serious interest in more than one or two fraternities; from what i've seen, this is very possibly the cause), so i don't really know what the new system is going to be like. like the sorority rush parties, these parties are also non alcoholic, but many fraternities also hold "off the books" parties at their off campus houses at night during men's rush. men's rush allows freshmen (and some sophomores rush in the spring, too, but more rarely) and brothers to get to know each other better than sorority rush allows, but it's obviously still to men's advantage to get to know brothers during the first semester. whereas freshman women are not allowed to attend sorority events during the first semester, the fraternities have parties far more frequently, and <em>try</em> to get people to come. later in the first semester a few of them will also have parties specifically for brothers, their dates, plus interested freshmen and their dates.</p>
<p>that may be a rambling mess, and i'm very sorry, but again, if there are any questions, i'll be glad to answer them. and if anyone has any corrections, i'll also gladly stick my foot in my mouth.</p>