<p>My oos son will be a freshman this fall and of course fears if he doesn’t join a frat he won’t meet anyone. I do know when my daughter joined a sorority as an oos student it was an instant group of friends so I do see the benefit. However I think college will be a big adjustment for my son so I’m concerned about him juggling the academics and the fun. </p>
<p>So what are the “demands” put on them during that 8 week initiation period?<br>
Did your son really benefit from joining one, or regret not joining one?</p>
<p>Any thoughts are really appreciated, Thanks!</p>
<p>No experience with fraternities, but I will say that UA has more than 250 different student organizations. Joining a fraternity is not the only way to meet people.</p>
<p>Since 71% of the student population is NOT Greek, I’m pretty sure he won’t have any trouble as long as he doesn’t stay in his room all day 
“Week of Welcome” will give him many good options! If he is a STEM major, no worries at all…I get the impression that not a ton of male STEM students join frats. If he’s doing Honors Action the week before school starts (or Camp 1831), he will make many “instant” friends there. Best wishes to your son as he starts at UA!</p>
<p>My older son, a 2013 Bama grad, is his fraternity’s former president. It is a unique fraternity as there is no pledging or hazing (and when one fool in the fraternity tried to haze, he was quickly shut down by my son). Did he benefit from being in his fraternity? Yes, although he had lots of friends before he joined in his sophomore year. He not only was president of the fraternity but also sat on its national board as a student director. Got to fly all over the country for meetings – still gets calls from the national office to fly to certain gatherings (all expenses paid). His fraternity brothers, for the most part, are excellent students and very involved on campus. One of his best friends is attending law school this fall in Texas, and he plans to fly down and see his friend in early August. Another is working for the fraternity’s national office and travels the southeast. Another works in KC as an engineer … and my son plans to fly out next year for his wedding. </p>
<p>If your son decides to go the fraternity route, he should research each one, including the costs, and see what each offers.</p>
<p>Pledging is a significant time commitment. While fraternities have mandatory study hours for pledges, I would be cautious about recommending a student who might have difficultly balancing academics and a social life their first semester of college. Spring rush and sophomore rush are both possible options which might work better for your son.</p>
<p>I agree with SEA_tide, it is a big commitment and not all students do well. I was worried about my son as he was not the most organized. He took 16 1/2 hours that semester and ended up with the highest semester GPA he’s had so far. I think the study hours helped him get organized and forced him into good study habits. He is now a senior and is continuing to stay organized. He may be an anomaly, he tells me every fall about the new boys coming in that are supposed to be pretty good students but do poorly.</p>
<p>My son has not joined a fraternity (rising Junior) - never had any interest in it, and never regrets not doing it. He has found sufficient social life through Bama Bound, Alabama Action, classes, roommates, and his many activities on campus. If you are at all worried about the adjustment to college life, do as many here suggest and wait to see how things go. Unlike sororities, fraternities offer more lenient ways/time to pledge, rather than do it all upfront. Just my $.02…</p>
<p>I’m very conflicted on rushing/pledging due to financial and time constraints. Is there any problem with waiting until sophomore year to rush/pledge?</p>
<p>Thank you all for your thoughts. They pretty much validated my own suggestion to him which was to wait until either spring semester or sophomore year. Since he really enjoys playing sports and want to sign up for some intramural teams I told him that would be an easy way to meet people. Can’t believe only 6 more weeks before we make that long drive down to Alabama and my youngest is off! </p>
<p>Waiting until sophomore year - for guys, this is no problem at all. For girls, the great majority pledged are freshmen. Only a small percentage of upperclassmen were pledged last year - 7% of the new members were upperclassmen, I believe. I will check this tonight at home. While only 7% of new members were upperclassmen, a much higher percentage of upperclassmen were pledged! Again, I’ll check then when I get home tonight. If grades are really good, usually it is not a problem.</p>
<p>The other issue is that if you are just now asking yourself (or your son is asking himself) it is probably already too late. Perhaps somewhat intentionally, the traditional fall “rush” takes place largely by word-of-mouth social events over the summer and this makes it incredibly difficult for an OOS male to network and learn more about the houses. Maybe it has changed some since, but that was our experience 2 years ago with our rising junior and as a legacy myself from a national fraternity who also has a house at UA. We did not know about this at the time, and when he arrived in August he did not appreciate the lack of info (many of the fraternities did not even represent themselves at a so-called Fraternity Info session) because they had already (before school started) given out all of their bids.</p>
<p>@rolltide90, aren’t those fraternities concerned at all that they’re potentially missing out on some stellar OOS students (I’m thinking of the kids coming for the big scholarships) who might be interested in joining a fraternity if anybody cared to “court” them a tad?</p>
<p>Have heard more than once recently that SOME of the fraternities take only students from AL and/or the southeastern US…and some take mostly students from certain AL high schools. I don’t know how many of the frats are like this, but I understand that at least some of them are. </p>
<p>Some OOS students coming into Tuscaloosa for orientation over the summer make arrangements in advance to meet with some of the fraternities while they are in town. But it wouldn’t be like they are within a couple of hours and could come back for several functions throughout the summer.</p>
<p>As an incoming freshmen at UA, I too am considering joining, although not very strongly. It seems like a great way to meet people and make good future connections, but also like a time drain, not to mention I don’t want to have to eat dirt during initiation. </p>
<p>First things first. Never, ever, ever use that derogatory term for fraternity.</p>
<p>There is no one-size-fits-all answer. Most will develop lifelong friendships or contacts, but some will not. All fraternities have their own culture and will tend to take brothers who fit that culture. </p>
<p>@LucieTheLakie I would hope they would be, but it doesn’t appear to be the case. This isn’t to say that a male student cannot find a good fit from another house that doesn’t have a position like this, but I think the thing they miss the most is that many students heading to UA are a perfect fit for the already established culture they have. Some, such as my son, chose UA mostly because the social climate and belief system we know is there aligns very closely with our own personal values despite the fact we are from the midwest. I understand that this isn’t universally the case, but I do think the fraternities miss out on some very high quality candidates because of this notion. So, to some of the more traditionally “southern” fraternities, I say embrace it rather than exclude it. You really are missing some top-notch potential additions to your house.</p>
<p>@rolltide90, I suppose it’s entirely possible the more “traditionally Southern” fraternities feel they have more than enough desirable candidates to choose from and therefore have no need to try to attract a wider pool of applicants to fill their ranks. </p>
<p>In the future, however, as the university becomes represented by more and more out-of-state students, these same groups may determine that they need to become more expansive and accommodating in their recruiting efforts, or they could end up marginalized and displaced in their “positions” by newer, more welcoming houses.</p>
<p>Had to ask: what is considered the equivalent derogatory term for a sorority?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Um, there are plenty, but no need to get into that.</p>
<p>There are a LOT of fraternities on the UA campus - 29 IFC groups, as opposed to the NPC sororities, and don’t forget the NPHC Greeks, and a few others, including the co-ed engineering fraternity (can’t remember the name, sorry!) that functions more as a social group. Many of the fraternities are housed, but a handful are not. There’s a group for anybody interested. It may not be at the so-called “prestigious” houses, but remember that what’s prestigious at Alabama may not be elsewhere and vice versa. Guys are a LOT more laid back about it all than the girls.</p>
<p>And for guys, it’s fine to rush as a sophomore…often even during the spring.</p>
<p>We all know plenty of blatant derogatory words. I meant if there is a term that we unKNOWingly use for sororities that is derogatory (like many people unknowingly/unintentionally use frat for fraternity). I don’t mean any offense whatsoever - just wanted to know if there was a shortened term people shouldn’t use, which IS commonly used for sororities. Whenever I say this stuff is all Greek to me - it really is.</p>