I have applied for UFE at Bama and if I get in (fingers crossed), I will go to Alabama next year.
My concern is that I might not be able to do a fraternity and the UFE at the same time.
Does anyone have any experience/firsthand knowledge of somebody who was in the same situation as me?
I know tons of friends that pledged this year that said they slept thru all of their classes/skipped some classes because they got 3/4 hours of sleep a night. I know that I couldn’t do well in school if I had to spend a large portion of my time doing fraternity related things during the day and then getting no sleep at night.
Anything helps!
A couple of thoughts: 1. Maybe wait till sophomore year to join a fraternity 2. Find a fraternity that doesn’t impact your time as much - e.g. If you are in engineering (and computer science) you may want to look at Theta Tau Fraternity. My son really enjoys it and it seemed to not affect his grades at all. Hope this helps.
^^^
I agree with the above. The reason why many STEM and premed students don’t join the “more demanding” fraternities. Pledging demands can be particulary harsh timewise.
This may not be a PC thing to say, but many in those demanding fraternities are in less-demanding majors.
There is an eng’g fraternity and at least another one (I’ll get the name) that is more academically minded and the demands should not impact school.
I’m reminded of a friend’s two premed sons who went to Bama and wanted to pledge. When the older son went, his parents made him wait until soph year to pledge. When the younger one went they let him pledge as a frosh. The one who pledged as a soph had better grades than the younger one. The older one did get into an MD med school. The younger one did not.
edit… Sigma Phi Epsilon is one of the less-demanding, more academically-minded fraternities, as well as the co-ed engineering fraternity.
Pledging a fraternity as a sophomore is no big deal at UA; whereas pledging a sorority as a sophomore is a little bit more difficult. Theta Tau is a good alternative - they have a house, are very social and even mix with other Greeks, although it is a co-ed organization.
And if you look around, you’ll find a number of fraternities that do not have the harsh pledging demands of the more traditional “old row” groups, where hazing is considered important for bonding to your brothers. ATO and (possibly) DTD, the Christian fraternities, and others consider hazing and unreasonable time demands to be unacceptable.
I’d recommend that you visit fraternities this spring and summer. Talk to the members and find out whatever you need to know…talk to other students. You’ll need to contact fraternity rush chairs to get invitations to visit. There IS a formal rush process, but 98% of bids are given out earlier.
I applied for the same program do you know when emails come out stating whether or not you made it to the phone interview round
In recent years, there have been many UFE students who are fraternity men as well. These include members of smaller houses as well as larger houses that are thought of as perhaps more representative of the “typical” fraternity experience at Alabama. The majority of male UFE students will not pledge, but this is true of the university as a whole. Your decision whether or not to rush should be made independently of your involvement with UFE.
Also, the advice to wait until you are a sophomore to pledge at UA is not credited. Every year, UA fraternities have enormous amounts of rising sophomores who decide they want to pledge after being on campus for a year. They meet guys in dorms, classes, etc. and become interested. Sometimes, fraternities have nearly the number of rising sophomores on their “contact lists” as they do rising freshmen. The problem is that depending on the house, the vast majority (think 80%-90%+) of spots in their incoming classes will be reserved for freshmen. There are several reasons for this, but the primary one is financial. Chapters see more reward in extending a bid to someone who will be around for 4 years than one who has only 3. You’re essentially competing with an equally large pool of potential new members for a far more limited number of spots because you’re one year older. It sounds unfair, and in some ways it is, but this is the reality.
As for maintaining academic performance while pledging - it can be done, and this is in no way uncommon. I’d encourage you to check out the “Reports” page of the UA Greek Affairs’ website for GPA information on all the Greek chapters. Look for the All Men’s Average - the avg GPA of all undergraduate males at UA for a given semester. This is a bit of a generalization, but typically the chapters that consistently post overall GPAs above that figure will be more academically oriented than the ones who consistently fall below it. That said, I have known multiple fraternity members who belong to chapters not typically recognized for their scholastic achievement that do very well - including members of UFE and CBH.
If you’re selected for UFE, there are fraternities who will recognize that as a big achievement if you tell them. You can absolutely pledge freshman year and thrive academically.
I know UFE isn’t horribly draining on time, probably about the same as a competitive intramural sport. Pledging can be more or less demanding depending on the individual fraternity and their plans for the individual semester.
What’s Bama Greek life really like? Can a non drinker who is a scholar fit in? I’m a big fan of the Greek experience I had but realize experiences differ by campus and by chapter. I was an IFC President and chapter President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Rush Chair and wouldn’t trade my experience for anything but we didn’t have hazing and while our chapter had it’s share of alcohol abuse, it wasn’t by requirement and happened more by youth. My son doesn’t drink, hasn’t ever seen alcohol in our home and says it won’t be a part of his life. He also is a person of conscience for sure and stronger than average faith and won’t be a part of demeaning hazing activities. Will he fit in the Greek culture at Bama? I’m a Sigma Chi by the way and would love him to be a Sigma Chi but am more concerned he find a place that respects him and has the type of membership he will respect. I’d love nominations of high character fraternities at Alabama who have tradition, but not hazing, do their share of partying but welcome a kid who isn’t a drinker and who will have the experiences that a Parent longs their kid to have while mitigating the risk that too often is written about in the media.
UFE and Greek are doable. Frankly, if you qualify for UFE, you have the basic skill set to balance what will most likely be a rigorous course curriculum with whatever else you choose to pursue–clubs, organizations, leadership positions and Greek life. There are many Greeks who are UFE.