<p>Depends on the house. Nothing infuriates me more than people who broadly apply Animal House stereotypes or crossapply a negative experience at a handful of fraternities to all fraternities. As a pledge, I was never hazed or forced to do anything demeaning or degrading or dangerous. Drinking was always an option after pledge events, but never required. I'd say my house is much more chill than most, we definetely aren't the stereotypical crowd, and in terms of rituals, etc don't take ourselves too seriously.</p>
<p>The benefits are many. At least on my campus, housing is insanely cheap. A double on campus is nearly $2,000 more expensive per year than a single in my fraternity house. About 10 homecooked meals by the cook hired by the house per week, far cheaper than dining hall food. Of course, chapter/national/social dues combined maybe be around $1000, but this is still cheaper than on campus meal plans and housing. And unless you get a 4+ bedroom apartment (assuming it's in a desirable part of town close to campus), there's no chance your housing rate will average ~$450 dollars per month plus utilities. And the contracts are by semester-study abroad is easy, and you don't have to worry about subletting over the summer.</p>
<p>Some of the more intangibles are: guaranteed network of friends (make sure you get along well with your pledge class, they'll be there long after the seniors you get along with so well graduate), a party floor (even though we have pretty low-key parties), food from the freezer anytime, plenty of people around usually if you ever want to play pong, a nice TV and sofas to watch the game. </p>
<p>You put as much work into it as you want. If you just want the stable social network, and want a cheap housing solution, it works, and you can come to dinner and hang out and live with your friends-this I wouldn't put on a resume. But officerships are just like any other organization- a Treasurer needs to organize and plan a budget and collect money (tens of thousands of dollars-more money than any treasurer of all but the largest non-Greek clubs and committees. Unless you work for a concert commission or student government, as a treasurer you won't handle as much money as a Greek organization). House Managers to make sure everyone does their part around the house, social chairs to organize all the fun things you do, philanthropy chairs to take the stigma off the Greek system. Officerships in Fraternities are just as legit as other clubs, and tons of fun.</p>
<p>"I was the little sister in a fraternity when I was in college and my son joined a fraternity at his frist school before he transferred. </p>
<p>I am not a fan of fraternities. I don't like the how cliquey they can be within the fraternity, I don't like the drinking, the social pressure, the expectations of meetings and dress codes, don't like the lowly pledge thing, don't like the jockeying for alpha dog positions within the frat. The whole thing rubs me the wrong way. "</p>
<p>Comments like this rub me the wrong way. You cannot, CANNOT cross-apply your experience with one fraternity to every fraternity in the country. Fraternities on campus vary. Hell, any brother who visits multiple chapters of his fraternity will tell you that the atmosphere differs TREMENDOUSLY in different chapters of the same exact fraternity. You have to be smart about it and find one appropriate for you. Yes, there are rich fraternities filled with spoiled brats who do nothing but party and extremely unethical things with women and haze.</p>
<p>However, my fraternity is completely bro-free. No popped collars, or elitist **<strong><em>bags. I was never hazed at any point during my pledging. My fraternity also has no dress code. House meetings are informal, and we approach everything with a focused, yet laid back attitude. There is something to be said about ironic detachment. No one "jockeyed" for "alpha-male positions." Our president made significant sacrifices to improve our fraternity-he was so dedicated he ran unopposed. There is very little *</em></strong>*bag, competitive spirit, and I've found that the positions almost always go to the most qualified brother. No pressure, either-brothers are as involved as they have to be. So there. Obviously, many fraternities haze. But not all are miserable and macho. There are sports teams on campus and other silly clubs that have worse initiations than our "miserable fraternity."</p>
<p>I'm a kind of introverted senior going to NC State next year. Thing is, I was interested in joining a fraternity but I have heard a lot about hazing and it only being for people that were already extroverted in high school. However, I do want to find out about fraternities and also about how to go about joining one.</p>
<p>Vicon there will most likely be information available about rush when you go to school.
As for being introverted, I was introverted as heck when I went to college, rush wasn't very much fun as it is a lot of small talk, but there is free food.
But I ended up as the VP and Pres. two and three years later, I still keep in contact with many guys from my fraternity days, and am wrapping up four years serving as a photojournalist in the Marine Corps. In a few months I will be heading to grad school at my alma mater and look forward to seeing some of my old friends again at football games and such.
I won't say the House completely changed my personality to extrovert, but it did teach me some valuable social skills which have served me well and will continue to do so in the future.
When I was overseeing rush as an officer, I would always keep my eye out for people who were slightly introverted but seemed really cool when you could tease a conversation out of them. It was a pleasure to watch the introvert break out of his shell throughout his time in the house.
On the flipside I hated talking to blowhards who thought they were just the coolest dude in the world and had a million stories about how much they drank that one time or how many girls they bagged when they were a senior. I, for one, did not care.<br>
If you want to, check out rush, see if any houses pique your interests and seem like a good fit, and go from there.
You can always just walk away if you want, you are an adult by the time you get to college and capable of making your own decisions.</p>
<p>I’m a freshman who is rushing and received a bid from a fraternity. They seem ok and I felt comfortable with them. The thing I’m worried about is whether I’ll really have time to hang out with my non fraternity friends. Does anyone have experience with this? Once you join a fraternity is it the fraternity or nothing? any advice would be great</p>
<p>Whats wrong with a little hazing?..From what I’ve experienced from sports teams, if done within reason, its kinda fun and brings the team together. </p>
<p>Anyway I’ll be starting school in a couple weeks and I’m also wondering about fraternities. I’ll have a pretty rigorous class schedule, will a fraternity take up a lot of my time? So much that it might hurt my grades? Also, how does the “rush” process work? Do you have to be picked? Is it very competitive? </p>
<p>Few questions there, like Mystery said, any advice would be great.</p>
<p>I have three close groups of friends at my school, those people that lived on my floor freshman year, my fraternity brothers, and my teammates in my varsity sport. I hang out with them equally.</p>
<p>Rushing varies from fraternity to fraternity. Mine had the “easiest” pledging on campus, which helped out a lot. It was 2-3 nights/week for pledging activities and another day or night after that for a social activity. You were also expected to eat with pledge brothers, hang out at the house, etc. during pledging. I also took a ridiculous schedule that semester and participated in a varsity sport and other clubs, so if you’re taking a normal schedule you can balance just about any of it. You will not be sleeping 7-8 hours a lot, but you can maintain your GPA easily. I came out of that semester with a 3.8 including an A in organic chemistry. I also drank 5-6 nights/week. </p>
<p>There will be a rush week at your school that you go to the different houses, meet the brothers, see what each fraternity is about, etc. You want to be outgoing and friendly as they do pick who they like the best to give bids. Still be yourself, but don’t be nervous about talking to the brothers, they were on the other side when they rushed too. Ask them questions, talk about your interest, etc. and you’ll get a bid(s) at the end of the week and you decide whether or not to accept them. Then you begin pledging, which is the hard part and may last 8-10 weeks. Good luck!</p>
<p>Yeah I think I found the frat I like, and got a bid from them and i have til tmw to accept or decline. I just don’t want to join them and like almost never see my non greek friends again, or barely see them.</p>
<p>I am a similar position to you^. I got a bid which I informally agreed to. I am debating what to do now. They all seem like cool people and I know it would be a lot of fun, but it’s just that I had never considered being in a frat before. Ever.</p>
<p>They’re basically considering me a pledge now, although nothing is really official. It’s not the biggest one on campus, but the cost isn’t that bad either. It’s like 50/50 good/bad in my head right now, but I keep leaning to one side or the other depending on the time of day.</p>
<p>I’m about to start my freshman year at college and I’m definitely going to attend rush and check out the fraternity system at my school. While not actively involved in the system yet, I have heard a lot about it.</p>
<p>As stated before, it all depends on the school. For the most part, the houses are looking for people who would make interesting brothers/sisters and place bids on them. What most people don’t know is that houses WANT you to join, they aren’t going to be elitist jerks and be ass holes to you at rush. They want to get to know you and have you come up and say hi. If you are interested in a house, ask to stop by the house and connect on a more meaningful level. This way, they are more likely to remember who you are, and you get to see the house.</p>
<p>At my school, the fraternities have active leadership opportunities within the house, and the interfraternal system. Greek life is what you make it, you can join and do very little or get active and reap the benefits. Fraternities, as far as I know, look great on resumes, especially if you are involved with leadership and community service. I have heard of many networking possibilities, especially considering some fraternities are nationally recognized, and have great alumni networks.</p>
<p>I was worried about not having time for other activities outside of the frat as well. From what I have heard, you will have PLENTY of time to do what you want to do. Pledging is a commitment, so make sure it is something you REALLY want. I wouldn’t go in still ‘thinking’ about joining. If you were to pledge, make sure you will stick it to the end, as it can be time consuming, but once you are in you are in.</p>
<p>Good luck and I hope you enjoy your college years!</p>