<p>Frats. If Im a guy who wont drink at all in college and is uncomfortable getting that close to random guys, would a frat fit me? To me the only benifits seem to more friends( im good at making friends), beer( I dont drink), and parties(cant you go to frat parties if youre not a member anyway?)</p>
<p>exactly. i kind of see them as a bunch of football players living in a house and getting drunk as much as possible.</p>
<p>I'm a female who isn't in a sorority, but I can help a little. It depends on where you go to school. If you were at my school, where frats(especially non-university recognized ones) pride themselves on drinking, smoking marijuana, and being generally lazy jackasses, you would not fit in the frat scene. If you're looking for greek life, be sure it's at an academically decent school.</p>
<p>Do NOT do a frat. The guys in frats at my college come to class stoned and hung over. Retain your anonymity and safety - stay away from frats. Why would you wanna do something like that considering how you are now?</p>
<p>First rule: the greek system is different at every single school. What is common place at one school is unheard of at another. At some places, it's only about partying. At other places, Greeks get better grades, are more involved on campus, do more community service, and still throw way better parties. </p>
<p>My campus (a state public), and my experience was certainly the latter. Did I show up to class hungover, yeah, but that's certainly not limited to just members of the greek system. I had plenty of friends I would run into at the bars on thursday nights who weren't in chapters but were boozing as hard as anyone else. My chapter, with about 80 guys, routinely has an average gpa of 3.45 or higher (at a school where the average male gpa is about a 2.98). Of the 75 or so guys who have graduated since 2003 (so 4 classes thus far), more than half are pursuing advanced degrees (~8 MD's, 14 JD's, several MBA's, a 5 DDS's, a handful of other degrees). On my campus Greeks pretty much ran everything but the newspaper - Student government, college advisory boards, Dance Marathon, University Ambassadors, etc. You didn't have to be greek but it certainly helped. Greeks made up 15% of the student population and yet were 85% of the Student Alumni Association Board, were 76% of the members in Mortar Board Senior Honorary, and 90% of our other Senior Honorary society. They are the majority of Homecoming Royalty and winners of the School's Student Leaders of the Year awards. </p>
<p>I could go on and on about how much being in a fraternity helped me, and made my college experience the best it could be. I wouldn't be in medical school were it not for the guidance, support, and encouragement I got from my fraternity brothers. </p>
<p>However, I can promise you that there are plenty of other places where I wouldn't touch the greek system. Even at another large state public that I considered going to, I would have stayed independent. But at my school, it wasn't like that, and it was the right decision for me, easily the best I've ever made in my life.</p>
<p>bigredmed to the rescue again. The one thing I still don't get is why we Greeks (and non Greeks who at least acknowledge that there are benefits) are quick to admit that Greek life varies highly from school to school, and that our experiences may not be indicative of others, but people who dislike frats automatically assume that their negative experience is an examplar of the ENTIRE greek system.</p>
<p>Also OP, not all frat parties are open to the public. The most common type of "closed" frat party is the classic mixer, for which a frat invites over a sorority for a party.</p>
<p>I agree completely with Brown and Bigred. I'm not in a Greek organization but some of my closest friends are and they are great people! A guy from my HS was an okay friend in HS, generally a dbag though, and in just his freshman year of college has amazed me with his maturity and most of it needs credited to his fraternity. They party, they socialize, but they get some of the best grades on campus and do a lot for the community. Greek Week was last week here and there were so many philanthropy/charity events sponsored by the Greeks that I couldn't keep them straight. But it's not just during GW that they're actively involved on campus and the town. My school has an amazing Greek organization but I've been to and talked to people at other schools who describe their Greek life as one big party w/ just above the minimum grades, little giving back to the school/town. It varies by campus, bottom line.</p>
<p>I don't get the whole frat thing. Pi Kappa Alpha (PIKE) was just suspended at UF till Spring 2011 for continuous allegations of drugging girls, unregistered parties, underage drinking, hazing, and rape a few year ago (i think).</p>
<p>
[quote]
Do NOT do a frat. The guys in frats at my college come to class stoned and hung over. Retain your anonymity and safety - stay away from frats. Why would you wanna do something like that considering how you are now?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Sound advice. Our college has no fraternities or sororities for a reason, you know.</p>
<p>oh christ. i'm sick of all this greek bashing. If you dig it, fine if not don't worry about it. The best thing to do is keep an open mind, check out the scene at the college you go to, and make a decision then. I'm not in a house, but i can tell you that it's not all about drinking and partying (although people can/should drink and party if they choose to); They're regular people trying to make the most of their college experience, and they're having a good time.
The one thing keeping me away is i don't want to go through being a pledge, and frat houses can be pretty dirty, but hell what do you expect with 30 guys in a house.</p>
<p>like 50% of MIT males are in frats. So "typical" frat life is not universal. I'm not in one, but there is a wide variety of frats including dry frats, nerd frats, and yes the drunk and stoner frats. Don't pre-judge a frat based on an animal house perspective, because there's a lot more to them often.</p>
<p>yes ASMAJ, because no one else at UF drugs/rapes girls, drinks underage, has unregistered parties, or hazes (sports teams, looking at you).</p>
<p>People will do stupid, bad things regardless of whether they're in a frat or not. People like to hang out with people who are somewhat similar to them, and so fraternities can eventually become groups of people who have bad behavior. When this happens, national, or the school shuts them down, and they can be reborn by a diff. group with diff behavior. We just had a big anniversary weekend at my chapter, and many of the alums commented that it seems like if they were rushing now, they wouldn't get bids, and they love that fact.</p>
<p>wow....u all are a bunch of nerds with no life</p>
<p>thanks you guys, especially bigredmed, you guys are such a help :)</p>