I know nothing about them and the more I try to know about them it gets more confusing. Is it a good or bad thing? Is it like a club?
Yes, they are very organized, private clubs and you join by invitation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_fraternities_and_sororities
Some think they are good, some people don’t like them at all. Some schools have a lot of houses and a large presence on campus with a lot of activities and some schools have none at all.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
The question asked is: “What is fraternity/sorority?” not "Discuss university policies on banning fraternities/sororities. "
So I deleted several posts, not because the information provided was categorically wrong (which it was), but because it was off-topic and moving into debate territory, which violates forum rules.
I think Greek life, in general, is like a lot of things. There can be great versions and horrible ones. When you enroll at a particular college you can investigate their sororities to see if any is a fit for you. As an international student, your first hurdle is getting in, so I wouldn’t worry about it until you get accepted to an affordable school.
If they’re not all bad, why is there a check box for “I won’t join any fraternities/sororities unless it’s related to honors” in UC application? That’s what got me confused.
I think that the best way to discover whether they are right for you is to google fraternities and see what you find. You will probably find a mix of websites that belong to fraternities and they will tell you the positive things about Greek Life. You will probably also find many news articles that describe positive and negative things about Greek life. That will help you figure out what they are. It may not be clear that entering Greek life means getting chosen, and some sort of trial period that may include some bonding and initiation activities. There is a term called “hazing’ that you may see and that activity, not the word, has largely been banned. The news articles will explain more about that. Most also require dues that you pay, and you would need to possibly figure out if that would add costs to your experience or, if it’s cheaper than college-provided housing, whether it would lower your expenses. There are also movies about Greek life, accurate or inaccurate. I think one was called 'Animal House”. Other people who comment can possibly provide names of other movies that show this unique culture.
A fraternity is an exclusive club for boys, and a sorority is the equivalent for girls.
People who want to join them do a sort of application process, known as “rush.” Depending on the personality of the club, new members may or may not be asked to do all sorts of weird activities as a new initiate to the group. But what all the groups have in common is that they choose their own membership. Unlike many other groups at college, it is not a group that is open to all interested students, but rather to only the chosen ones.
Traditionally, frats/sororities throw parties, often but not always exclusive to their members and their guests. For many, consumption of alcohol is a traditional part of the partying. Sometimes parties can be raucous, and there have been a number of publicized incidents of sexual assault and alcohol poisoning and similar problems, although of course there are many Greek organizations that never experience these things.
Sometimes the organizations engage in service activities that benefit their communities. Often members of these groups point to the service activities as evidence of the benign and pro-social nature of their groups.
People who join them may form strong lifelong bonds with their “brothers” and “sisters” in the group.
I am an outsider, who has never been in, and would never want to be in, a sorority. So I am sure there there are people on this site who can improve upon the definitions and descriptions I provided.
If a student thought all frats/sororities were bad, why would they bother to join one related to honors? It sounds like UC has some Greek houses that are related to honors and some that aren’t.
Is UC a CA public university? I thought you needed financial aid. If you’re applying to a CA public, I’d expect to pay $60k/year. @“aunt bea” can tell if international students can get aid at CA public universities. If they do, I don’t think it would be much.
^Well, Phi Beta Kappa “sounds” like it is a fraternity but it is really an honor, like National Honor Society is for high school kids. Phi Beta Kappa does not exclude people for social reasons (just GPA!) and does not throw alcohol-laden parties!
So, I think that sentence is there for that reason. Some colleges officially ban or forbid Greek social organizations, and it appears that OP’s school does not want its honors students to be part of such a social organization… but they want to make it clear they are not talking about Phi Beta Kappa or equivalent honor societies in particular fields of study.
OP, good vs. bad is a value judgement, and different people will have different opinions. It is hard to expand on that, because the moderator has made it clear we should stick to definitions (like I gave in post #6) and not debate the merits of these organizations or the choices of many colleges to ban them from their campuses.
Almost all fraternities & sororities are single sex membership by invitation social organizations. Most do some philanthropic work each school year.
Frats often attract similar types as existing members. For extreme examples, one LAC had a frat almost exclusively comprised of male athletes, while another attracted guys with an affinity for smoking pot & recreational drug use–even though illegal.
Some may be comprised mostly of business majors while others seem to attract people of wealth.
But there are many normal “I just wanna have fun” type frats & sororities as well.
These are dues paying organizations which typically require members to reside in the same house.
One of my family members was invited to join a few different fraternities & made his ultimate decision based on which had the best chef/cook as all meals are taken at the fraternity house at this particular university.
There are many variations, although most fraternities & sororities have chapters nationwide. Often helpful for getting internships & for post graduation connections–especially when moving to a new city.
Some schools do not have separate houses for fraternities & sororities. Each group is assigned a floor in university dorms in many of these cases.
For a typical what to expect if one joins a fraternity, please see the movie Animal House. 