I think the point is that membership is what you make of it. It starts with the person him/herself.

OK. Now we're got the name of a school to work with. Lehigh is an old, private school with a distinguished fraternity system that dominates Greek life there. It's a high-prestige university with some old-line predominately northern fraternities (like Delta Psi and Psi U) that establish chapters only at old-line schools. There are a lot of fraternities for the size of the school; it's considered a desirable campus to have a chapter.

What this means is that your collegiate orientation now and as an alum is going to be heavily focused on Lehigh itself and your chapter. This is true for reasons not necessary to go into here.

Join wherever you're happiest because the fraternities there are very stable. The chapters there now have always been there and probably always will be (you mentioned Phi Delt - they first established a chapter at Lehigh in 1876 and probably haven't been gone long).

Don't worry about making the wrong decision here. On this campus, wherever you go will probably be fine.

So, here's another question. Is the national name recognition of a particular fraternity worth more to an individual member, long term, than the perceived tier of a given chapter on a particular campus?

[QUOTE=Sciencewoman;2199733]So, here's another question. Is the national name recognition of a particular fraternity worth more to an individual member, long term, than the perceived tier of a given chapter on a particular campus?[/QUOT

The answer is, it makes a difference where you went to college. Look at UVA for example. If you go to Virginia and you join Delta Psi (known simply as "Hall' there, after their alternate name, St. Anthony Hall) you will have joined one of the true, elite, old-line fraternities at Virginia. Delta Psi only has about a dozen chapters, all at elite schools.
If you are Delta Psi at UVA, that becomes your alumni world. The UVA alumni stick together - tremendous pride and identity - and everyone who was ever Greek at UVA knows 'Hall'. UVA Delta Psi alumni have an ongoing alumni organization that is all you'll ever need.

If you live in, say, Dallas, the chances of you running into other Delta Psi alumni from other chapters is negligible. The young man who posted is asking abouit Psi Upsilon, and Psi Upsilon is a slightly larger version of St A. Lehigh is like UVA in that Lehigh alumni have a strong iden tity with the school, and Psi Upsilon alumni tend to insulate themselves as memebrs of the Lehigh chapter. On a side note,. Psi Upsilon has some of the most marvelous hearaldry of any fraternity - each independent chapter adds it's own colors and design to the template.

No, let's say you go to a small school soemwhere in Georgia and you pledge SAE or Sigma Chi or Beta...or Phi Delt (the other fraternity the young man is considering). Those four fraternities especially (I am not a member of any of those) are among the most recognized and most popular names nationally. After graduation if you move to Dallas, you will be welcomed into an extensive alumni network of (SAE, Sigma Chi) fraternity Brothers from all over the country.

So yes, it does make a difference, but what difference it makes depends to en extent on the strength of your identity to your university. At Lehigh, it doesn't make a lot of difference unless the young man intends to go live in a major metropolitan area outside the northeast.