<p>I'm looking at colleges and I'm trying to decide if I want one with a big greek scene or not, so far my top 2 choices are very greek (Cornell and Vanderbilt). I want to be able to go parties and stuff like that but I'm not sure if I want to be in a fraternity or not, or if I want to be around Frat boys, seeing as I don't know very much what they're like.</p>
<ol>
<li>If I don't go to a school with a big greek scene will there still be a lot of parties?</li>
<li>If I'm not in a frat, but there are a lot of parties will I still be able to get in?</li>
<li>I've only seen the stereotypical Frat boy who get drunk in the middle of the day and do stupid things and are basically ******bags. I'm not a super athletic lacrosse bro type guy but that's how guys in Fraternities are portrayed in movies and on the college visits I've been on that's how they seemed. While I know not all people are like this, are most Fraternities in general like that?</li>
<li>I'm gay, but not many people know and I don't know who I would tell, but if I was in a Fraternity I'm worried they would talk about girls all the time and pressure me to do things since they might not know I'm gay.</li>
<li>How much do grades suffer from being in a frat?</li>
</ol>
<p>To preface, I’m a non-greek girl at a school that has a greek scene that isn’t overbearing for non-greeks.</p>
<p>1) This is all dependent on the schools - I wouldn’t say that my school (WashU) has a big greek scene, but there are still a lot of parties.</p>
<p>2) This is very different for guys vs. girls, and again dependent on your school. As a girl (I know this doesn’t apply to you, but may answer someone else’s question), I can go to nearly any frat party I want, assuming it’s not a mixer specific to one or two sororities.</p>
<p>3) No. There are idiots in all of the fraternities at my school, but it’s not the norm.</p>
<p>4) At my school, I know someone who is gay in nearly every fraternity. I believe in most cases their brothers know (they’re out in their fraternity, but not out in general), and really don’t care. There is, however, generally a “brothers don’t date brothers” code for most fraternities.</p>
<p>5) A lot of fraternities/sororities have average gpa’s higher than the school-wide average gpa. So it’s actually the opposite.</p>
<p>I’m not sure frats are the ideal place for you, but go through rush and find out.</p>
<p>All schools will have a variety of parties, regardless of greek scene. From bars, to off campus parties, you are talking about college kids that like to kick back and have a good time.</p>
<p>While being gay should not deter you from rushing, I’d have to say it might not be the ideal place for a gay man. Frats are traditionally full of testosterone driven males seeking out random hookups with sorority associated females. You might feel a bit out of place during a “mixer”, which is a party between a single frat and usually a single sorority.</p>
<p>Gay guys have been in frats, but probably not out of the closet while they were in one. A gay friend of mine was the president of his frat while in college, but he didn’t appear gay and might have even had a girlfriend at the time.</p>
<p>I was good friends with a guy in my frat that (most) assumed to be gay. Nobody brought it up (at least in front of him). He as extremely well liked. </p>
<p>I personally have no issues with gays. However, there are probably plenty of guys in frats that could potentially have difficulties with one of their brothers being gay.</p>
<p>Also, many frat houses have “open” showers. That could cause a problem if you decide to live in a frat house.</p>
<p>you’re going to have to talk to kids at the schools you’re interested in. Greek scenes and even individual fraternities and sororities vary WIDELY from school to school.</p>
<p>To add to the anecdotal stories, 10% of my fraternity brothers were open homosexuals. At mixers, they would just spend most of their time with th girls who had BFs that weren’t in our house or playing wingman to other brothers. One of our past chapter presidents came out during a fraternity meeting (and was elected during a LATER semester, thus becoming our first openly gay president). One of the fraternities on my campus was about 50% gay and very proud of it.</p>
<p>The biggest parties were frat parties at my school, but there were plenty of non-frat parties. Guys who knew us easily got in, and we still let our fair share of indie guys in since you never know who you’ll be able to rush next time around!</p>
<p>Many frats have mandatory study halls and the nationwide average GPA for greek students is higher than the nationwide average GPA for college students.</p>
<p>I advise you to choose a school based on the academics, opportunities, and environment instead of focusing on the presence of Greek Life. It may be an enhancement, but as you said, you don’t know if a fraternity might be the right thing for you.</p>
<p>Figure a solution that lets you make the decision about fraternities after you get into college.</p>
<p>
I’ve been doing that, and I found two schools that I really like, Cornell and Vanderbilt. The only thing is after looking at them the both have fairly large Greek populations, 1/3 and 1/2, respectively. Due to this I know that they will most likely affect me in some way and I just want to see how it would be because as of now I’ve heard a lot of bad things about Frats which may be rumors but may not be.</p>
<p>I go to a school with a pretty big greek system (almost half of students are involved), and in my experience, most fraternities aren’t at all like how they are portrayed in the media. I’m some random scrawny ass socially awkward math nerd who ended up joining the football fraternity, and it’s been the best decision I’ve ever made in my entire life. You get to meet all these great people who you’d otherwise never talk to, and there are great networking opportunities - last year, the upperclassmen got bussed to NYC to go to a Yankees game with a bunch of alumni, all paid for by the alums.</p>
<p>If anything, at least go to rush to meet all the different people and see if there are any groups that you particularly get along with. Not all fraternities are based off of drinking and partying - there are several academic/professional fraternities.</p>
<p>It’s not that difficult to get into frat parties (mixers/formals excluded) if you have friends who are in one. At Cornell, everyone can get into frat parties during the first semester - most of them are competing to meet and attract potential new members for the next class. Second semester parties are more closed once the fraternities have their pledge classes and there tends to be more mixers as opposed to open parties.</p>
<p>The average GPA of students involved with Greek Life is higher than the school’s average GPA, though I’m not sure what it could be attributed to. Some frats care a lot about their average GPA and have mandatory study hours as a part of their pledging/“new member education”. Or it could just be because of the fact that there are minimum GPA requirements to join a fraternity.</p>