<p>Hey I'm thinking about pledging a frat next year, but I have no older siblings who've been through this so I'm a little lost as to what to expect. Could someone outline the process? Do I need to get letters of reccomendation, and if so from whom?</p>
<p>Any help would be appreciated here guys.</p>
<p>Pre-rush is the week before classes where frats throw open parties for basically anyone to attend. Alcohol is rampant and it's a hell of a good time.</p>
<p>Rush is the first week of classes and it's dry, which means no alcohol is allowed. Each night every frat has something different going on (dinner, baseball game, bowling, stand up comedy, etc etc). You can check out the different ones and see how you like the guys in the frat. Friday night is Blue Chip dinner which is a formal dinner you get invited to by a frat. Unless you do something really stupid, chances are you'll get a bid from that frat the next afternoon.</p>
<p>Do they haze? If so, what do they do?</p>
<p>What does rush week consist of? Where and how does one get applications? Is any preparation neccessary?</p>
<p>I think there were some booths in McCarthy Quad last year for getting applications and such. Can anybody else confirm this? I wouldn't know too much about this because I'm not in a fraternity.</p>
<p>Fraternity rush unlike sorority rush is relatively low-key. I think you need to register with IFC at some point (either online or at one of the tables theyll have set up during move-in week). You dont need to apply or get letters of recommendation or anything like that. </p>
<p>Its a bit different this year than its been in the past, so heres a rundown of what to expect: </p>
<p>Freshman move-in day is August 22. The next day (Thursday) will be the big pre-rush night. Pre-rush is basically just a big party on the row a good chance to go around and get a general feeling for different houses and start to think about which ones youll be interested in rushing. </p>
<p>Moratorium starts on Friday, so houses will have to follow strict rush rules, such as no alcohol, etc </p>
<p>Sunday afternoon each house will have a tent on McCarthy quad, and theyll probably be barbequing, etc Just go around to each houses tent and meet people, talk to people, etc </p>
<p>Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday each house will have different events (e.g. hookah, bowling, beaches, concerts, sports games, etc ) Go to the events for the houses you are interested in. Id suggest focusing on just one or two houses, so you have ample time to meet people, and they have ample time to get to know you </p>
<p>On Thursday, each house will hold invite-only Blue Chip dinners. Friday is bid night (and the end of moratorium). If you are offered a bid and you accept the bid, then you become a pledge.</p>
<p>BigB_85: </p>
<p>Rush is fun; you’re not committing to anything by rushing. Nobody will be hazed during rush. Any hazing – if it takes place – would take place after you’ve accepted a bid and become a pledge. </p>
<p>And it really depends on the house. Some don’t haze at all. Others do. The nature and extent of it also varies widely. On a general note, I think many houses at USC have toned down their pledge semesters in recent years, mostly just because of the changing nature of the university and the student body… Since I have been at USC, I have never heard of anyone who has been seriously hurt or injured because of hazing at a fraternity. </p>
<p>It also depends on what you consider hazing… Are chores, push-ups, morning jogs, etc. hazing to you? It’s a subjective term… </p>
<p>If it’s a concern for you, it’s not inappropriate to diplomatically ask about it during rush. The candor of responses may vary, but it might give you a sense…. You can also ask around… every house has a reputation, though the reputation may or may not correspond to reality…</p>
<p>Should one join a fraternity in the Fall, or is it better to check things out and wait until Spring?</p>
<p>Depends. I pledged my freshman fall, and I’m glad I did, so that’s my bias… </p>
<p>The advantage of pledging in the fall is that you have an instant network of close friends (as well as older mentors) as soon as you enter college. The disadvantage is that pledging keeps you very busy right from the outset.</p>
<p>Fall pledge classes tend to be a bit larger than spring pledge classes, which can be either an advantage or disadvantage depending on your perspective… Fall semester also tends to be a bit livelier in terms of parties, football tailgates, alumni events, etc…</p>
<p>Thanks stressed.......</p>
<p>But could you give me examples of some of the more brutal hazings on campus? I'm pretty ignorant on the topic, but also pretty curious.</p>
<p>Fortunately, I never underwent any brutal hazing, so I'm afraid I can't offer any good stories... </p>
<p>People will tell you stuff if you ask around, but it's not always true... In fact, I once remember this girl telling me about this brutal ritual that one house put their pledge class through... I asked her what house it was, and she told me it was House X. What she didn't know was that I had just finished pledging House X! Needless to say, I had never undergone such a ritual...</p>
<p>Yeah, the hazings aren't that bad at all. The most that my friends have done are probably chores (cleaning up after parties, food runs at night, etc). You'll hear rumors about some dude having to put taco sauce on his "area," another dude putting needles in his big's pillow, and others, but most, if not all, of them are false.</p>
<p>Could anyone give me an idea of the time committment involved in pledging. I think I understand the rush process, but after that point if one gets a bid does it completely dominate one's life for a semester? I have a pretty tough courseload and I will be working about 15 hours a week, so I don't want to overdo it. Any input would be great.</p>
<p>bump anyone?</p>
<p>my son joined a frat fall term freshman year. It probably varies with the frat and your time management skills, but he found the time commitment to be huge and he had a hard time balancing academics with pledging. There was a fair amount of hazing as well, but I think the school has cracked down on that since then. His first term grades suffered as a result. So he would have been better off pledging in the spring after getting used to the college workload. But everyone is different...</p>
<p>There's two extremes of hazing. Theta Chi will basically let anyone in, while the Asian frat has sent pledges to the hospital for alcohol poisoning.</p>
<p>ironically, the asian and black frats "haze" the hardest and tend to be the most ignorant</p>
<p>^Have you ever met any of the Asian frat guys? They're hard core.</p>
<p>they're hardcore?</p>
<p>lol, how so?</p>
<p>Well, they sent someone to the hospital for alcohol poisoning.</p>
<p>You should expect pledging a non-IFC frat to be different than pledging a IFC frat.</p>