Regrets being in a Fraternity

<p>Did you ever regret being in a Fraternity? I feel like whenever I ask about the Greek system, people just tell me the good stuff, and leave out the negative aspects in being in one.</p>

<p>I think people who regret it end up dropping.</p>

<p>Mhm. I’m dropping my sorority. I don’t really need it. You move on and it’s no big deal. You’re never stuck in it.</p>

<p>Well, RoxSox, may I ask why you’re dropping your sorority? Did something initiate this decision?</p>

<p>I’m thinking about rushing (well I’ve already paid for it and am signed up for it), but it conflicts with the School Job Fair, and I desperately need a job. (My dad will yell at me lots if I don’t get one and if I don’t go to the Job Fair. <em>sigh</em>) So I may not be rushing after all…</p>

<p>I made one close friend in my sorority, and everyone else was really different from me. I kind of realized as the course of rush went on that the sororities at my school weren’t really for me, but I did want to give it a shot, as I always wanted to be in a sorority. So I joined one and made one close friend (she’s pretty much my best friend now) but didn’t really click with anyone else. I finished out the year mostly just due to inertia and hope that things might improve, but they didn’t. I just realized I don’t need to pay ridiculous amounts in order to have one friend, we’re living together anyway. So both my friend and I are dropping.</p>

<p>I strongly encourage everyone who can to rush however, you have nothing to lose, you may drop out of rush if you want (I just decided not to) and at many schools sororities aren’t very expensive (they just happen to be at my school). I don’t regret being in my sorority because I met my best friend that way, but it’s not something I personally need to continue with. None of my other friends are Greek anyways.</p>

<p>AUGirl, if I were you, I’d just rush and find a job independently of the job fair. Those are often not that helpful anyways and you’ll be sorry if you missed rush for the job fair if it doesn’t help you find a job. Your dad doesn’t need to know about the job fair. :)</p>

<p>My dad already knows about the job fair. A Career Center guy came and talked to us and my dad basically about yelled at me for not telling him about the Job Fair (even though I had mentioned it before. -_-) and saying how I was definitely going to go to it. I try to live by my morals that say lying is bad… so I’ll be going unless I can be hired before then.</p>

<p>I’m going to try and call up a whole bunch of places tomorrow and see if I can align a job before Rush happens. Maybe I can get hired in the next three days. xD</p>

<p>But thanks so much on your input. It’s helpful to see all angles.</p>

<p>Wow, RoxSox, I’d never imagine that you’d be dropping; that’s a surprise! Hope you’ve talked about it with your sisters before making the decision.</p>

<p>One of the things about the Greek system is that as magical as it may seem for those people that it works out well for, like anything in life, it’s not magic and it’s not perfection. Recruitment processes generally work, but once in a while, there may be a mistake and someone gets into a group that they don’t really fit in. Typical retention rates are ~90%, even though some organizations have close to 100% while others have much much lower.</p>

<p>The idea of Greek Life is that you basically commit your life to your organization, and as a result, you get lots of benefits from it. However, in order to get those benefits, you need to be a good fit. When the fit is not good, you’ll be losing the huge amount of investment you put into your organization, and the same applies to your organization’s investment in you.</p>

<p>But yeah, AUGirl, you should definitely participate in recruitment. Job fairs are just one of many ways to get a job, but formal recruitment is, by far, the primary way of getting in a sorority.</p>

<p>So rushing is during the job fair? Great way to weed out all those undesirable low and middle income students from getting into Greek life… One of the reasons my kids stayed away from elite things like sorrorities.</p>

<p>Or career services scheduled it during rush, or the university didn’t bother to alert either side that there was a time conflict. I know this is CC so it’s impossible for people to keep any thread on Greek life positive but let’s try to stick to the op’s point.</p>

<p>FWIW, a lot of my friends got jobs through other people in the house.</p>

<p>I really like what was said above about fit. My regret is that the pledge class above me bid several guys who did not fit and they worked very hard to change the house to fit them. When I was president, and especially after, I wish I had been tougher against them and possibly prevented the house’s downward spiral which led to my graduating with essentially no emotional connection to the house that I left. In the long run, I have some of my best friends and best memories because of it going Greek. Many say that is enough but I strived for more.</p>

<p>KKmama: Nice sarcasm! Let me try…</p>

<p>“Hey KKmama, nice post! That wasn’t rude or unnecessarily judgmental at all!”</p>

<p>How’d I do?</p>

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<p>My guess would be that that’s the Career Center’s fault, at least at my university. Rush has been on the schedule since at least May. I didn’t see anything about the Job Fair until after I had already registered for Rush.</p>

<p>But that was incredibly rude, judgmental, and uncalled for.</p>