<p>I'm a high school senior who intends to major in engineering. I intend to join a fraternity at whichever school I attend (Ohio State or Alabama), as I believe I would benefit from being in a Greek organization. I will enter both schools with substantial AP/Dual enrollment credits, so I will be able to take a lighter course load during the semester that I rush. Would joining a fraternity have a detrimental effect on my GPA, or would it not affect my GPA, provided I stay on task with studying and don't use being in a fraternity as an excuse to get drunk and party every night?</p>
<p>I think you answered your own question in a sense: don’t use a fraternity as an excuse to completely goof off and put school on the back burner. If you remain diligent in your studies, then there is no reason why you should not be able to have your social life as well.</p>
<p>I was in a fraternity while a student at a top engineering school (so most of us were engineers) many moons ago. There can be a lot of social pressure to participate in the house activities. It isn’t the parties that can take up the time, it is all the rest of the stuff; intramural sports, games (card and video), random bull sessions, house volunteer work, etc. </p>
<p>You can certainly do both, the fraternity and engineering. You just have to learn good time management skills and the ability to say “no” and stick to it.</p>
<p>I firmly believe that being a member of a fraternity helped me develop good social skills (I was quite introverted in high school) that benefited me greatly throughout my career and my life (don’t confuse the two).</p>