This doesn't even get into having a chapter essentially promising a non-attending graduate student a bid. Outside of a setup for a movie, when does that happen? But no, it's important so he should totally do it!

Nor does it get into the fact that the one member of the fraternity he's interested who has posted in this thread has said it's his understanding that only undergraduates can join.

Now I've got "Poor Unfortunate Souls" stuck in my head!

If it helps that's the "Body Language" bit ;)

I didn't see a statement about only undergrads for any particular org. Obviously that's the norm. There's not a lot of grad students joining anywhere as far as I know. However, I was not under the impression he was interested in ONLY that org.

I really don't get how this guy got through an undergrad degree and some way into grad school before he figured out he wanted to be in a fraternity. It is probably too late at that point, but I can't tell someone not to pursue the things important to them when there is some possibility.

My fraternity was/is extremely important to me. Much more important than my degree. And in fact I've had more employment opportunities from my fraternity association than based on where my degree is from. But, I wouldn't necessarily say that's the norm, and the fact I have a fairly worthless history degree might have a little to do with that as well. But, my fraternity made me who I am. It shaped my beliefs and world view as much as my parents did, much more than any academic experience or training. I know that is not everyone's experience, but if someone wants that for themselves I can't tell them not to go for it. They have to decide for themselves if it's worth whatever the costs may be.

I probably wouldn't transfer from Rice to Sul Ross (didn't even know they had a Greek system) either. But, I would transfer from Rice to SMU, TCU, Tulane, LSU, A&M, or several other schools. I could find another school that's good for the degree I want to get and also has a Greek system I have some chance of getting in to. If I decided I wanted to do that, I would call a few of the chapters there to ask about the grad student thing, and I would then go visit them a bunch of times - effectively rushing. At some point in there both sides will be certain about giving or not giving a bid, and then I would go ahead and transfer.

I can't say that such a thing is going to work out or not. It is a lower probability for sure than if we were talking about a 19yo kid talking about starting his Soph year somewhere else. Yeah, the easy answer is too late and make the best of your current situation. But, I can't tell someone to just give up and deal with it. There is a way to get this done, and if this person wants it bad enough, I'm not going to tell them not to try.

*face palm*

The key part of this sentence is "good for the degree." If Greek Life is the ONLY reason you transfer, that's pathetic.

The first post in the thread:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cesky (Post 2040735) Hi guys! I just joined here, so sorry if this is the wrong forum. I just had a question. My father was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, and I'm really interested in becoming a legacy. Problem is, my university doesn't have a Greek system. I'm thinking about going to a different university for Grad school. I was just wondering if most fraternities allow people to pledge as grad students? If anyone here is from SigEp, that would be very helpful.

The tenth post in the thread:

Quote:

Originally Posted by elicampbell (Post 2040849) I am a SigEp. It is my understanding that only undergraduates my join SigEp. I may be wrong. If you attend a school that has a chapter of SigEp, you might want to volunteer to help the chapter. I did that in grad school.

And from Post 21:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cesky (Post 2040958) Guys, thanks for your help! I think the best course of action here would be to give a call to the chapter I'm thinking about joining, and see if they accept grads.

So, while he does ask about "most organizations," he also makes it clear, I think, that his interest is in Sig Ep, and apparently a specific chapter of Sig Ep, as a grad student.

That's a matter of opinion. I would value a good greek experience higher than the school name on my diploma, but I understand others have a different opinion about the importance of their greek experience or of the prominence of their university. There is almost nothing you have only one option for though.

Yeah got it. I wasn't denying it was there, just didn't notice it. I don't personally know what SigEps policy is. Honestly on something this specialized though I would talk to nationals about that. I'd bet most chapters of any org think their policy is undergrads only & quite a few would be surprised to learn they are allowed to take grad students if they want, they just never have. The only way I know ATO's policy on the subject was we had a prominent guy in our history that toured around several universities during WWII starting chapters as he went, and I couldn't even tell you if that's really our policy any more or not. I'd have to actually sit here and read our entire policies and procedures to know for sure.

It's graduate school. If you're going for a useless degree, then you're just wasting your money. Even though you 'acknowledge' others have different opinions, I don't think you realize how much your view is skewed by your own experience. Those non-Greeks must have wasted their entire education, neh?

Amen @ the bold.

My whole point is that the "college experience" doesn't begin or end with Greek life. As much as I love my fraternity and what it's taught me, I would have been OK had I not joined. The skills that I picked up are not exclusive to Greek life and the bonds could have been made in other ways. Greek life just had everything centralized.

I think dnall is playing black sheep on this one. I refuse to believe that someone would transfer to Podunk State University from University of Top Tier JUST because the former has Greek life.

IE - he's not in grad school considering transferring. He's presumably in the back end of his undergrad considering various grad schools.

I don't know if someone else did, but I never said Top U to Podunk U. I said Podunk U to Podunk U or Top U to Top U. There is very little that in way of degrees or universities that you can't find another equivalent alternative to, in this case an alternative that would offer the greek opportunity he's looking for.

Education in general though is what you make of it. The vast majority of people I know are not working in the field of their undergrad degree, or they have a grad degree in the area. Maybe only a handful of my friends I can think of, and they're engineers & GIS type folks where there it's a requirement in the door but not necessarily a huge need to get a grad degree cause it's mostly on the job development.

In terms of where someone goes to school, just like your GPA, that matters maybe to get your first job out of school. After that it's work experience. And either way it's interviewing skills. There's no way I would go into massive debt for an ivy league name a piece of paper that doesn't matter all that much. Maybe there's some industries where that's not the case, but to me, the person is more important than the paper. Networking, being able to rapidly connect with people, having real leadership skills with peers/superiors/subordinate. Selling an employer on that stuff is bigger than how prestigious your education was.

Then what was the point of:

Quote:

Originally Posted by dnall (Post 2040874) At this point, if you're serious about this, you should transfer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dnall (Post 2041170) If he's so serious about joining a fraternity, then he should transfer ..... If it's key to this guy, then he should transfer.

I didn't notice it at first either.

OK, maybe that's where our disconnect was.

If Greek life is part of the total package for (general) you, then by all means go after schools with GLOs. It's silly,though, to transfer when your only motivation is to try to get into XYZ Fraternity. That's not what college is for.

I mean it's not, but ultimately in your life I think a positive meaningful fraternity experience is more important than where your degree came from - you still have a degree either way, and presumably from an equally prestigious school.