I know I sound like a newb but I really don’t know much about greek life other than the overally dramitisized stuff I see in movies and in shows. My question is if Im not part of the greek life in the university I decide to go to will I miss out on all the fun stuff that goes on on campus. I’ve heard from some of my friends who have already gone of to university that being part of greek life can be distracting to your studies. How true is this?
Greek life can honestly be a hassle for people who are serious about their education.
In particular, I know some fraternities have members put the fraternity first and school second. Moreover, let’s say you have an exam coming up and you want to study. You also have a sorority party coming up soon too. You’ll be expected to attend to the sorority party too or else you could get fined REAL money, and the fines are typically not cheap.
Some frats here will fine you for not showing up to meetings even if you’re sick and unable to come.
Greek like can be exactly what some people need, but make sure you’re willing to commit to the group and the financial consequences that will be expected of you.
Some groups are like that. Others are completely not.
Generally parties are not required attendance. Other things can be. Managing your time is VERY important. You CAN do it all, but when you’ve allotted time to study, you have to get down and really study, not just goof off. Belonging to a fraternity or sorority will also not mean you’ll have instant friends. It still takes an investment of time and attendance to get to know members individually. We often suggest that new members spend as much time as they can hanging out at the house, or at least in the company of other group members, watching TV as well as studying.
If someone is claiming that they are doing poorly in classes because of “all the parties the frat/sorority requires me to attend,” it’s usually because they’re not studying when they’re supposed to!
At a few schools (e.g. Dartmouth, Bucknell, DePauw), the fraternity and sorority presence is very large, so the social scenes are likely to be dominated by them. But at other schools, the fraternities and sororities make up only a small percentage of students, so many students engage in social activities that are not related to fraternities and sororities. Still other schools have no fraternities or sororities.
Joining a greek org can be just as distracting as joining any other club on campus. It all depends on how involved you are in the org and how well you can time manage. There are orgs out there who dont force you to put them before your academics. Look into other orgs. Guess what im trying to say is dont believe the stereotypes, there are different types of greek orgs just gotta find the one right for you!