<p>I will be going to UVA next year and I am conflicted on whether or not I should join a frat. I partied hard in high school, and I would like to do the same next year but I really hate frat bros. Is there a vibrant enough house party scene for me to thrive off without hanging out with/joining a frat?</p>
<p>While lots of people join Greek orgs, the majority do not.</p>
<p>Try to go into college with an open mind about meeting new people. Hating people you don’t know yet doesn’t make any sense.</p>
<p>Yes, there definitely is! I didn’t join a frat and I partied like every weekend. I sometimes think that some of my friends in frats are very limited in the amount of people they get to know as they almost always hang out together.</p>
<p>Not saying that all frat bros are obnoxious, but I’d definitely say most are very rude and you kind of have to fit a dress/behavior code to be allowed into the frat, unless you know the brothers.</p>
<p>There have also been times here I would be allowed to go into a frat but my friend wouldn’t be allowed to because he was the “wrong shade.” This is strange as I’m South Asian and I’m pretty dark, but my friend is a light skinned black person. We obviously knew what they meant by wrong shade.</p>
<p>Try and join some clubs. These tend to have more diverse, open-minded and more welcoming people. Plus, clubs usually have better alcohol compared to the crappy frat beer lol.</p>
<p>I’ve been a long time reader of CC UVA and I just had to make an account just to tell people that frats aren’t the only place to have fun. You wouldn’t believe how many first years think they have to be in Greek life to have fun.</p>
<p>“There have also been times here I would be allowed to go into a frat but my friend wouldn’t be allowed to because he was the “wrong shade.””</p>
<p>I’m having trouble believing this happened. I wasn’t in a frat and agree that there are a lot of ******bags in the frat scene, but I could not fathom this occurring. Where was it?</p>
<p>There are some fraternities full of arrogant spoiled alcoholics and some full of good guys. Unfortunately, some people start visiting a few fraternities in the most prominent locations, get turned off, and never see the other fraternities where they could be happy.</p>
<p>@MXMXMX agreed. that is what turns me off about greek life. and the website total frat move definitely perpetuates the negative stereotypes of fraternities. Undeniably a lot of bad things happen on Greek row and I wouldn’t want to be no part of supporting that life style. Also I feel like you’re just buying you’re way into a group of friends. And of course all of these things don’t apply to all fraternities/sororities, but it’s pretty true.</p>
<p>Bumpin, Why dont you just try RUSH when you get there which doesn’t happen until the spring and decide for yourself. Make sure you go to Frat houses during rush that are both North and South of Beta Bridge. The two sides have different personalities. There is no commitment you just participate in Rush and see if there are frats that suit you. Jeez and anyone going to a party at a frat house (which are all free at UVA) and expecting to be invited in automatically even if they don’t know any of the brothers is obnoxious. If frats did that (some of the houses are not enormous) every party would get out of control. I don’t believe the post about the “shade” comment. Absolutely would not happen at my son’s frat.</p>
<p>Greek life is at roughly 30% at UVa. Lots of different houses to choose from if you want to participate. If Greek life isn’t your thing there are over 10k other undergrads who feel the same. They are involved in hundreds of organizations that help define and enrich their time at UVa. There are service related groups, groups that are associated with your major, political groups, local religious and faith based organizations, intramural sports, groups that watch movies, just about anything you can think of. Many student are involved in Greek life and many other clubs and organizations as well. If you want to be out, involved, and meeting people there’s no excuse not to be.</p>
<p>Doesn’t surprise me not letting in certain shades of people, they won’t admit them to the frat itself as a brother either. Many of the secret societies are white males only - the entire purpose of the purple shadows was to keep women out of UVA. I went to one of the morning Jefferson birthday walks and there were a bunch of people protesting them there… Just keep in mind these people are a minority of the students at UVA… You can involve yourself with who you like. The engineering frats are not like this, and there is at least one black frat.</p>
<p>Historically, there are nine black fraternities at UVa (some inactive right now): [Fraternity</a> and Sorority Life | National Pan-Hellenic Council](<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/fsl/nphc.html]Fraternity”>http://www.virginia.edu/fsl/nphc.html)
There are other Greek orgs that are represented by the Multicultural Greek Council: [Fraternity</a> and Sorority Life | Multicultural Greek Council](<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/fsl/mgc.html]Fraternity”>http://www.virginia.edu/fsl/mgc.html)</p>
<p>If you’ve ever read CC UVA, you know that Hazel is one of the few people that give unbiased advice for the posters here.</p>
<p>If her comment doesn’t verify what I said earlier, then you’re just kidding yourself. It’s like when people are more likely to defend their friends just because they know them, whether the friends are right or wrong. In this case, friends being frats. </p>
<p>If you really want to be disgusted by Greek life, just look at Greekrank.com for the UVA chapters. [University</a> of Virginia - UVA - Greek Life - GreekRank.com](<a href=“http://www.greekrank.com/uni/35/greek-life/]University”>University of Virginia - UVA - Greek Life Overview - Greekrank)</p>
<p>You’ll see how immature and obnoxious people get. Try to have an open mind. I can admit that not all frats are bad and some are really great like Fiji, but to tell the OP that racism and close-mindedness doesn’t exist throughout most frats is just a lie.</p>
<p>@Mamalumper, how can you be so sure it doesn’t happen at your sons frat? Were you are the entrance when they were letting people in or are you just assuming that because your son is a good guy, his frat is automatically a good frat.</p>
<p>I spoke with my son about it this morning before I posted. He said he could only think of one frat that he would even believe that might happen. He could have easily said it does happen just not at his frat plus we have a very open family so he doesn’t hide a lot from us. We have also visited quite a bit and know most if not all the boys in the frat and my sons description of them fits what we see. My advice to the Op was to participate in rush to decide for himself not to just believe me or any other poster. Really just saying most frat guys are racist is sort of hypocritical don’t you think?visit</p>
<p>I agree with the above. I would say most fraternities would never do something like that although I believe that I know the one that her son is alluding to. Anyway, don’t let one rotten experience ruin the bunch. I’m not involved in Greek life, but there’s a lot to be said for it if you can find a group of like minded individuals in my opinion. You’ll just have to decide on your own during rush.</p>