<p>A high percentage of people from my high school go on to pledge to sororities/fraternities, and as I near my college days, I'm starting to consider it.</p>
<p>I was wondering why people rush for a sorority or fraternity? It obviously can be a personal reason, but the way my parents always describe it (both went to colelge out of the country, didn't have sororities/fraternities at all) is just a way to make friends and party.</p>
<p>This forum has a negative view on Greek life so be forewarned. I’m going to be rushing this coming fall to see what it’s all about.</p>
<p>Your parents are pretty much right on. People do it mostly to make friends and party. It really depends on the school though–each one has a different scene.</p>
<p>reality its like a club. I’m in one and I enjoy it a lot. There are a lot of benefits joining a fraternity</p>
<ol>
<li><p>networking, its a great tool to help you progress your career and will be constantly meeting new people</p></li>
<li><p>i dont understand how socializing is negative over here, we have socials with other sororities about every week (and they are non alcohol functions majority of the time, so no we dont roofie them as you think) we also join up with other fraternities and do philanthropy work.</p></li>
<li><p>a lot of leadership positions can be held. It looks great on your resume</p></li>
<li><p>i’ve met some of the coolest people i would have ultimately never have known if it werent for joining my fraternity.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>people think that joining a fraternity is like paying for your friends. Its really not, its just like joining any other club that you have to pay for dues. All the things you will be doing is not free. If your not social before, your not going to be social then.</p>
<p>now if i had the chance to do it all again would i? definitely, but maybe a different fraternity just to have different experiences (i like trying new things)</p>
<p>its a wide notion over here that all fraternity people do is party and drink. Reality, greek life does a lot more volunteer/charity work than the average person, and they are required to do a certain amount of hours of volunteer work and maintain a gpa. </p>
<p>Personally, fraternity life helped me realize that there are things outside of just myself to get good grades and make money, I think it made me a better person because of it</p>
<p>im going to rush as well. just cause you meet a ton of people and party a lot, which is a deffinite plus for me. if you join the right one it will definitely help with grades. im going to rush SigEp, which has a 3.0 GPA national average. the main reason though is to meet life long friends, and party.</p>
<p>Personally, I did it because it made me feel more ‘at home’ while at school. I come from a large family and going to a large school where I didn’t know anyone made me feel pretty stranded. I hated fraternities and I had no intention of rushing until I met several cool guys who were all part of the same fraternity. After getting to know all the brothers they just became my close knit group of friends. Joining made my college experience much better.</p>
<p>I would recommend rushing but only joining a place where you feel like everyone could be your best friend. Those people are going to be very close to you for the next 4 years.</p>
<p>Try and research the frats at your school. A lot of frats and fraternity brothers are chill people, but there are also a lot of knuckledraggers in greek life that tarnish the image of it. Some chapters are great, some really do live up to every stereotype.</p>