I've said this before, but literally everyone I knew who went to college was in a fraternity or a sorority. I honestly thought that anyone who wasn't in one had tried to get a bid and failed. I also had the influence of my mother, who wasn't in a sorority herself but her mother was. She did her level best to groom me for my late grandmother's sorority, showing me her pin with the reference of the Holy Grail, painting my room two shades of blue, starting me on a collection of keys. My daddy's aunts were greek, too, but I'm still not sure which one(s). He equated "campus success" with being a greek, also. My high school graduation present was a trip to Portugal - and an upgraded sorority pin, when I pledged.

I sometimes wonder how freaked out my parents would have been had I not gone greek!

Most of my immediate and extended family are in fraternities and sororities. I also grew up in a college town and the fraternities and sororities were looked on favorably both by the college and in the local community. While growing up, my Mother was active in various alumnae and chapter events - some of which were held in our home. I have brothers who pledged Sigma Chi by the time I was in high school. I use to quiz one for his pledge tests so I was already reading The Norman Shield (Sigma Chi pledge book) at an early age. As a result, I learned a lot. But not just about Sigma Chi but about the history of fraternities in general. And most of my high school peers ended up pledging various fraternities and sororities at different campuses. And I heard about their experiences as well. So by the time I got to college I had a good understanding as what to expect.

That's our new member manual's title, too :)

My cousin, who is 10 years older, was in a sorority at a very small college during the 70s. Not the best time to be Greek. I didn't really pay much attention to it since I was still pretty removed from college.

When I was a senior in high school, my friend pledged DG at a very competitive Greek school -- Large chapters and a very high percent of the student population. I spent one weekend there and thought it was really cool sleeping in the dormer and having tons of friends around. I also liked the set up of the meals (that you could go down in your jammies for breakfast), the social calendar and the emphasis on studying and grades.

It wasn't until that time that I realized my dad was Greek. He deactivated when he switched colleges, but he had still experienced it.

As it turned out, I pledged the same sorority as my cousin, but at a much larger university. Even though I wasn't a legacy, it made me feel like it when she attended my initiation and sat with me during the Feast of Roses.

I learned in several phases:

Pre-college: I was first exposed to Greek life back in 1985 when I was one of many middle school scholars sponsored by the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. At about the same time, I saw Revenge of the Nerds for the first time and between the Pi Delta Pis and the AKA, they obviously were different as night and day. I was an AKA scholar again in 1986 which was a repeat of the prior year--I still have the original certificate to this very day--and presented it to the membership when I spoke at their Founders Day earlier this year. But I digress.

My next exposure was in 1990 as a high school student visiting OSU and some of my now frat brothers put on a brief exhibition step show for us. Funny thing was, I didn't know them by name, I just remembered the canes being used.

My final pre-college exposure was in the spring of 1991 when I was invited to a Delta Sigma Theta Scholarship Reception where we had to write an essay on why we was best qualified to get a scholarship--and we were given only 24 hours to complete and hand deliver it to the scholarship coordinator's house. Quite an experience.

Oh, and the summer before I went off to college, I got a pamphlet mailed to me inviting me to rush one of the fraternitites from the campus' IFC. I promptly discarded the pamphlet; I had a very jaded view of Greeks--my attitude was that I wasn't about to be running around some frat house with bing cherries jammed in my butt trying to drop it in a martini glass or some mess like that.

College: My first exposure at college was seeing the Black Greeks stroll
at the Alpha Phi Alpha icebreaker at the local skating rink, which all I remember was that it took over an hour before they let anybody in the place, and that the bathrooms smelled like yesterday's piss.

But as the first semester pressed on, I found out that the Black Greeks had gotten a lot of clout, in that they sponsored a lot of black student oriented events, and they strolled at parties. Now anyone who knew me in college (and even now) knows that I LOVE a good party!!

So I decided to research Greek life, and I went to the source. Yup, Baird's manual and read it virtually cover to cover. And because this was pre-internet, I researched the old fashioned way--using books, magazine articles and newspaper articles. I have archived in my Alpha Phi Omega pledge book clippings and copies of numerous Greek oriented articles and commentaries from a variety of sources. My other book I hold in high regard as far as research was From Here To Fraternity by Robert Egan. Great book, lots of stuff I learned about (like one-handed boilermakers and how to megachug a beer).

Of course, I also learned about Greek life by talking and inquiring to others as well. Lotsa good discussions.

Then in 1995, I lost my internet virginity and began researching electronically. It changed my horizon of Greek (and other) research from wide screen to VistaVision. Even then though, the internet was still in its relative infancy (who remembers when sites were in gopher format)?

Then the Greek message board system came about with sites such as stepshow.com and meetgreeks.com and even the original version of this site: Greeksource.com. But in my 15 years of Greekdom, I have learned a lot and still learning more each and every day.

One of my h.s. teachers I remember being a Delta....and she let everyone know (Crimson and Creme suits every other day, Car with loads of DST insignia, the works!), she would show us clips of her org's step shows, them doing their call and whatnot.

I didn't pay much attention especially to the stepping since we had a step team at our school, I just thought they were college step teams. When I got into college I was exposed to Latino Greeks (which I didn't even know existed), a couple of my friends who are sisters of Gamma Phi Omega, introduced me to Greek Life more intensely...I did my research and found LUL :cool:

When I arrived at UF, got a newsletter about it, saw all the lovely Greek houses, and saw classmates wearing Greek letter t-shirts.

i had many family members and family friends who were members of greek organizations as i was growing up. i also spent many happy fall saturdays growing up in tallahassee attending fl. state football games and we would drive by many of the greek houses on our way to the staduim. at the time most of the greek orgs. would paint signs in support of the teams(but that included their org. name)and hang them on the stadium fences. good times, good times.

I don't even remember how I first learned about Greek Life. My dad is a Phi Tau, and I just knew it was something I wanted to do when I went to college. I didn't rush my freshman year because I honestly didn't hear anything about rush, and I didn't know any Greeks. I really didn't even think I was the "type". In the spring, I heard about some COBs, and I went to a couple, but they weren't the group for me.

You hit it right on the head. It is a generational thing that is present in everything from eating (fast food) to entertainment (downloaded movies and music) to education (get your degree in just 12-18 months!). Instant gratification is the name of game....

I guess that I also one of the few people who liked the show...

I learned about Greek life from my older brother. Before he went off to school, my dad sat him down and told him about the Greek affiliations in our family. He went on and on about how great the benefits were, but finished his little speech by saying, essentially, that you could get similar benefits in other organizations that didn't have dues and other costs associated with them. Dad told my brother that he'd definitely be supportive of Greek life, but that he wouldn't be financially responsible. He then gave me the same talk before I went to school (I just knew to expect it).

The welcome packet from my school included a brochure about Greek life. It indicated that those who were interested in rush needed to complete an application, and would move in a week earlier than the rest of the students. At that point, I didn't have to think twice.

Like many other here have said, a lot of what I know now about Greek life has been from GC. My school wasn't heavily Greek, but there was definitely a Greek presence. Here, I've learned a lot about chapters that weren't on my campus. (For instance, there wasn't a Sigma Kappa chapter on my campus, so I never realized how my username would make people look twice!)

I totally think so. :) :p

I first learned about greek life from a neighbor when I was about 14. She gave me "A Southern Belle Primer, or Why Princess Margaret Will Never Be a Kappa Kappa Gamma" to read. Not the best initial experience and I got pretty turned off of greek life!

So I didn't think about it again until senior year when my best friend was gearing up for UGA recruitment. She somehow knew so much about sororities and ended up joining the same chapter as the neighbor - ADPi. I spent a lot of time at the house freshman & sophomore year and heard her stories. So when I graduated from my junior college and went into Emory, I knew I wanted to see if it was for me.

I think it's just a bit ironic that I joined Kappa Kappa Gamma. :rolleyes:

I Learned about Greek Life from a friend of mine while I was attending junior college before I transfer to CSU.