<p>Hey everyone. I'm a freshman right now at a community college in the Bay Area, looking to transfer to UC Irvine after my sophomore year. I want to join a Frat when I get to UCI, but since I'm only going to be there for 2 years i'm wondering if the whole process will be worth it (since I know the first year is being a pledge). Anyone have some insight about being a transfer student who joined a Frat. Is the process easy or more difficult? Just looking for some stories about other people who have done it (or tried). Thanks alot!</p>
<p>bump, I'd like to hear about this too.</p>
<p>The greek scene differs by school. At some, the whole fraternity process is extremely time consuming. At others, it's more manageable. My H & I were greek in college, and we still had tons of time for other friends, our own interests, and academics (engineering, so classes required a lot of work). OTOH, my D attends a school where greek life is more traditional. It demands more time than she is interested in giving. You'll have to assess the scene at your school. That's what rush is all about.</p>
<p>I pledges my fraternity fall semester freshman year. That being said, I've seen the inter-workings of my fraternity for a little over a year, and I think you'd be surprised with how old our pledge classes are on average. My pledge class was the first in 10+ that didn't have at least 1 person that was 21+. We've had people pledge their last semester as an undergrad only to graduate right before being initiated----After that they come back for a few days to get officially initiated and immediately become "graduate brothers". Although this is the exception, it's not THAT rare...so don't let the fact that you're a sophomore hold you back from making a potentially life-changing decision such as whether or not you want to join a fraternity. </p>
<p>Pledging a fraternity was one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life, and I can't imagine where I'd be without my brothers and my fraternity. Seriously consider it because there's a hell of a lot to gain and very little to lose.</p>
<p>Also, pledging is usually one semester - sometimes it runs a few weeks into the next semester, but even then we're always sure to initiate before rush because we can't "mix" pledge classes...</p>