<p>What are sororities at MIT like? How much time does a student need to commit? Any comments on hazing? Do sororities and fraternities have a close relationship? Are there activities they are expected to work on together? I have heard a lot of pros about joining sororities. I want to hear the cons. Thanks.</p>
<p>From what I have gathered, MIT has everything from the more traditional style sororities (Alpha Phi...) to the more alternative styles (Alpha Chi Omega)... </p>
<p>I would suggest reading this</a> post and then possibly the individual sorority websites (linked to from that entry).</p>
<p>(Disclaimer: I was not in a sorority at MIT, but I was just about the only unaffiliated member of the cheerleading squad, so I know a little about sororities.)</p>
<p>The minimum time commitment at a sorority is that members must attend a weekly meeting at the sorority house. Members are also expected to contribute to various house projects and events -- every year, one of the sororities puts on an MIT-wide talent show, one puts on a school-wide Christmas party, one puts on a school-wide chocolate party -- that sort of thing. The sororities sometimes have mixers with specific fraternities, as I understand it, but I'm not sure if each sorority has a fraternity or two with which it is particularly close. </p>
<p>I've never heard of hazing at an MIT sorority, but I'll ask a friend of mine who was affiliated.</p>
<p>To be honest, I haven't heard too many cons to being in a sorority. The girls who go through recruitment and join seem to be very happy with their decisions (and everyone who goes through recruitment is guaranteed a bid). Sororities at MIT are not only for blonde, pearl-wearing rich girls -- they're more social centers where MIT women can live, hang out with their friends, and participate in service projects and parties.</p>
<p>I haven't heard a lot of cons about sororities at MIT, either. I think that if you go to a round or two of recruitment, you'll feel it pretty quickly if it's not for you.</p>
<p>Can't speak directly to the sororities, but I did live in an MIT fraternity, and I wager that many of the experiences are common.</p>
<p>There are a wide variety of living groups on campus, both the sororities and the dorms very definitely have quite distinctive characters. Just as choosing a University was all about match, choosing a living group is much the same.</p>
<p>A fraternity, sorority or independent living group is just that, independent. They are largely self-governing organisations that set their own house bills and rules. Most ILG's for example require some form of committment to cleaning the house. Whereas the dorms will have professional cleaners who clean the common spaces of the dorms, most (but not all) ILG's have decided to forego this. There are one or two who do this in order to keep the room and board bill very low, but most do it because they want to fund other things (like a larger social budget) and in order to do so, then they need to either raise the house bill to cover these costs, or make tradeoffs around their existing expenses. When I was on campus, one house had a very high house bill but had a chef prepare gourmet meals every night.</p>
<p>In my professional career, I have more commonly applied the lessons that I learned trying to assist in the running of my house, than those learned in classes.</p>
<p>As to hazing, it did occur at some houses, but in general was quite light. One house with which I was quite friendly, did some psychological hazing. The residents would speak obliquely about the rigourous hazing that might well take place on initiation night. There were offhand references to the years in which hospital visits were required and so on. Of course, no physical hazing took place at all, but by the time initiation rolled around, a number of the freshmen were very nervous indeed. That was roughly the level I saw on campus.</p>
<p>As to Fraternity/Sorority cooperation, there were some relationships between some houses for good and ill (nothing like a fierce rivalry to add spice to the intramural program). Almost all of the houses had similar problems and tended to work together on matters of joint concern.</p>
<p>Just my tuppence,
-Mikalye</p>
<p>At tEp, the peldges are encouraged to haze the upperclassmen.</p>
<p>This system works well. :)</p>
<p>Thanks all.</p>
<p>A tEp?? fffaakin-ayeee!!!</p>
<p>One of the things is that when you pedge you do it in the MOST possible unconvenient way for the rush chair. Eg: At 4:22am when he is taking a shower and ready to go to bed after 21 hours of rushing, he receives a call.</p>