<p>what do med schools think pledging a sorority or fraternity? whether it is honors or not?</p>
<p>It’s like a club.</p>
<p>Have fun…</p>
<p>Kids do not do it for Med. School, they do it to have fun, sort of family outside of family. D. has only 2 pre-meds (including her) in her sorority. Most pre-meds do not do it because of time constraints.</p>
<p>If you can manage your time well it is not a problem. My son and his freshman/sophomore year roommate both pledged the same fraternity. Son just finished first year of med school and roommate is at Duke Law.</p>
<p>An Honors society may use Greek letters to identity itself but is nothing like a social fraternity with the possible exception of a few Engineering fraternities that are more social in nature but restrict their membership to engineering majors.</p>
<p>I certainly listed it, and I can say that with 100% honesty that it’s the reason I got into medical school…not because there was some old alumnus on the admissions committee but because the fraternity was the impetus that got me involved on campus. That campus involvement and the leadership experiences from those groups was certainly the strongest part of my application. Add in the fact that I had great mentoring from the older guys in the house along with the support and encouragement (especially during some difficult times) from my pledge brothers and other guys in the house and without a doubt, I know there’s zero way I would have made it in had I not joined my chapter.</p>
<p>Whether or not admissions committee would find Greek membership a positive or negative is largely a personal response and can vary widely. But I think my example proves that the benefits can largely exist outside of what anyone thinks specifically about joining a fraternity or sorority.</p>
<p>For the record, in the 7 years of pledge classes that overlapped my 4 years of active membership (from the guys who were seniors in 2001-2002 when I was a pledge to the guys who were freshmen in 2005 when I graduated), there are at least 12 doctors/current med students (plus 3 more starting in the fall)…which out of about 140 guys is a pretty decent %age, especially when you include the 15 lawyers, 4 dentists (1 orthodontist, 2 oral surgeons), 2 PharmD’s, 2 with Masters’ in architecture, 6 CPA’s, and 18 MBA’s. And those are just off the top of my head, so I may be missing a few here and there.</p>
<p>Please excuse my ignorance here. What is the difference between pledging a sorority or fraternity and joining a club that is not a sorority or fraternity? Is “pledging a sorority or fraternity” much more intense than just joining a club?</p>
<p>My child has been joining a particular club for many years. Although he is not a leader or an important figure in it, I notice that the club has many positive influences on him. (He used to be not very active in any club in high school. Maybe his high school orchestra class was like his only “semi-club” at that time, as he and several other orchestra members often went to the orchestra room during lunch hours to hang around with each other.) He seems to be happier (and busier) since he joined that club in college. He often spent 2-3 evening (each time for 2-3 hours, as we were told) a week in that club. At one time, he had to spend the whole weekend away from campus, traveling to another state. I also heard many graduated club members who happen to work in that city still go back to the club from time to time.</p>
<p>“pledging” is much more intense than “joining.” however, pledging frats has a diff rep than pledging sororities. my roommate pledged a sorority and it was basically parties and giving gifts, while depending on which frat u pledge (from what i’ve seen from my friends who have pledged) the hazing can be brutal. in others, hazing is non-existent. as opposed to clubs, the other men in your frat are your “brothers” and u share many aspects of your college career with these men. just make sure that if ur son wants to join a frat that he looks into the ones on campus and knows what he’s getting himself into.</p>
<p>Every greek system is different. What’s common at one school will be entirely foreign at another.</p>
<p>In general though there’s a big difference between “joining” and pledging. Membership in a given fraternity must be offered by the chapter, it’s not so simple as just signing up. Further, the expectations of the time commitment are usually much higher, and the breadth of different activities the chapter participates in span from community service to intramurals to social events. For example, my chapter owns a house that rooms 65 men. I lived in the fraternity house for 3 years. The bonds you make from living with someone extend well beyond what you’d experience just by joining a club. My best friends in the fraternity, I ate most of my meals with, I studied with, I went to parties with, I worked on homecoming floats with, I played intramural soccer with, I volunteered at the hospital with, I took classes with, I watch tv/played video games with, pretty much did all my activities with. Even the guys in my chapter that I didn’t particularly care for, I saw most everyday. Simple courtesy and having 80 mutual friends is going to dictate that I still end up knowing a lot about that person, and that I’m likely to prefer hanging out with them over a bunch of strangers…Those bonds of brotherhood are certainly beyond anything a mere club is likely to provide.</p>
<p>I should point out that not all colleges and universities have greek systems with large, campus approved, living arrangements. However, most Greeks from schools where these are absent will still tell you that the bonds they have with their fellow members are stronger than those from other clubs.</p>
<p>does it get really stressful being part of a frat and doing pre-med? I don’t have very good time management skills, but I really want to do both…</p>
<p>If you join the “right” chapter, it shouldn’t. </p>
<p>Bottom line, good fraternity chapters are going to help you towards your goals. You’ll adjusted to college faster, study more, get better grades, make better friends, go to better parties, meet hotter girls, avoid bad professors, get involved more, and generally just make the most of your college experience.</p>
<p>But there are certainly fraternity chapters where the top priorities are how much beer can you drink, how many classes can you skip, how many bong hits you can take, what your high score on a video game is, and how much physical/mental abuse can you take before initiation without giving up.</p>
<p>As long as you ask the right questions, pay attention and make smart decisions you’ll be able to tell the difference as you go through recruitment.</p>