I have lived in Tyler since I was around 3. That isn't even close to true. Surrounding areas being redneck? Yeah, very much so. Tyler? No. Unless you really know Tyler, it's hard to get a sense of what it is really like. Very Southern, very conservative, very wealthy, old money type city. The history behind it, especially the social scene and the things that have gone on there are mind blowing.......stuff you make movies about.

Eh, not so much. Real estate, investments, banking, finances, oil, etc. etc.........pretty good mix.

...and yes, FIJI down here is a very solid house. Excellent guys.

Are you from Tyler? Definitely haven't seen the Rose Fest spoken of on here before.

I was an escort in 2004. You do it your sophomore year of college. Absolute blast.

As far as the queen......that wasn't always true. For a long time she was always chosen from families who have had long histories in Tyler. Not so much anymore. It really is getting to be about who can afford it.......and the prices are astronomical for the girls. Us guys need a few suits and a tux.....no big deal. I believe the queen's total our year was upwards of 400,000-500,000$ including ball gowns, dresses, the queen's dress, parties, etc. etc.

Have to get back on track a bit... I think the whole point about going into Texan cities and so forth is that there are still some holdout cities which are great places for fraternity men because of the size of Texas. I forgot to mention places like Midland, which is/was loaded with oil money. In the book Friday Night Lights they say it had more square feet of office space than New York at one time. In Georgia it's getting sparser with the growth of Atlanta. Florida gets a bit screwed. There's a couple of great places but it seems like the panhandle guys go elsewhere and the giant South Florida isn't always the most exceptional place.

It doesn't really matter anymore though because so many kids are coming from out of state now. #5 public school in the country has a pull of its own when recrutiing people, not to mention the stafford effect and the football team's new promise it holds.

You're undoubtedly right, but I don't think guys like Stafford (football ability aside) are the kind many traditional fraternities are looking for.

Unfortunately, improvement of a school's national reputation and growth doesn't always (perhaps often) coincide with sustainment of a great greek system.

very true.

i think throughout this whole conversation we have forgotten that it isn't necessarily going to result in quality or quantity. It almost seems to me that this whole conversation in a way has made the point that the more intelligent people are the less likely they are "cool" are a "fraternity man".

i dunno bout the rest of yall but i would like to be considered intelligent lol. i think we forget the difference between a nerd and a intelligent, worldly man.

Well, yeah the GPAs of most Greeks on campuses everywhere is higher than the general student body, so we are smart! It sucks that the "Animal House" stereotypes of Greek Life turn off some smart, talented men and women who would make excellent members of our organizations.:(

I would love if someone can chime in and answer some questions for me. I have been out of the actual Greek Life loop for some time when it comes to recruitment. I am also not afraid to admit I know very little when it comes to recruitment regarding fraternities vs. sororities. After reading this thread, I would love to ask some questions, since I am in the SEC area and I have two sons that may very well be a part of Greek Life.

How much value is put on the city in which you reside for recruitment to a fraternity?
It seems to be spoken about quite alot in conjunction with monetary status. Is family income very important as well?
Does an upstanding young man coming into the system from a decent area with a fair amount of community service and such, solid grades, and recs stand a chance to pledge a solid fraternity? What is some advice you can give to a young man to make him more appealing compared to the next candidate? Is there anything that would make him stand out?

I really appreciate some advice/ideas/thoughts on this. Thank you for your time and input.

It's good to ask these questions...here's my opinion (and people will contradict me, I'm sure..I'd like everyone to answer this.)

First, I go to the University of Arkansas so these answers apply to the SEC, but more specifically the general idea of the tiers (lower 2nd, in my opinion). Places like Miss St., Florida, FSU, etc.

1. Value of the City: I think the value of the city is sort of differently spoken about on the board then what it's worth. Yes, there are great cities who breed Fraternity men, but it's all about the connections your son has before hand. He could live in the middle of nowhere, where no ones heard his name before, but if he has a friend or two from the fraternity he may be better off than when people do know his name. Often the town is important because people from the same town want other people from that town. If it's a particularly wealthy town, he may be better off. My own town, nearly 1/5th of my graduating (Public school) class went Greek. Talk about connections, the grade under us could go to any University and be in any fraternity/sorority they wanted.
2.Family Income: Not nearly as important. It's a nice extra thing to have, but someone from a middle class background with the right friends/connections could have no problem getting into a very good fraternity.
3. Recs/Grades/Etc - I hate to say this, but at least in my fraternity we don't look to hard at Grades or Community Service. I do remember specifically pledging a guy because he was an Eagle Scout, but other than that, pretty sparse. We get Recs every year, but Recs aren't very important. In my school and others like it, few Recs are turned in (to my knowledge at least)
4. I guess if I would have to give advice it'd be:
Make as many friends/connections as you can before Rush. Don't act like a fool when school starts (but don't before hand either...we had a rushee get drunk and break a bottle at another house...we heard about it, he was cut everywhere to my knowledge). Go to as many Rush parties throughout the summer as you get invited to. Don't get too drunk at them. Make sure you're making the right friends at the Rush parties instead of bugging girls or being too drunk. Bring a girl along if it's appropriate. Be genuine. Don't curse if you can help it. Don't brag or be boastful. Honestly just general ettiquette that every person should know. That alone will put him far ahead of alot of people.

Thank you for the quick response. It is appreciated SECdomination.^^

As of right now, I guess they have one mark against them. We are in South Florida- yikes! (not in Miami, but a bit further north)

I feel our family will relocate before they enter the university system, so I probably don't need to worry about that. I have lived here my entire life and I am finding it is time for us to move for various reasons. My husband has an early retirement shortly and I feel that is when we will make the move.

Thank you for your honest answer.

Elephant Walk, I am filing away everything you took the time to post in response to my questions. You answers are quite valuable to me and they give me a small amount of insight that I did not have prior. I appreciate your time very much!

Like I said, there are nice parts (basically most of the Lee High School area) and not so nice parts.

The Rose Festival is a pretty big money thing, but not any more so than, say, debuting at Idlewild.

It is not so much that if you are from south florida that you are going to get slammed. But that if they personify that southern florida stereotype of looking and acting like a complete outsider. And even if you move to Mississippi that isn't going to change much other than where they put their hometown on rush paperwork, theyll be able to tell your sons have lived a significant amount of time in south florida by the way they talk and dress.

well yea i understand that but it seems that if you want to be in a fraternity and have that image, then it seems that you should deter away from the schools like Duke, Wake Forest, Cornell, Stanford, UPenn, etc. The ideally thought of really smart schools