G'day!
 

Hi everyone,

I'm an Australian looking to study in American next year. In particular I want to join a fraternity, but I have a few questions about the whole concept and American universities in general, so I was wondering if you guys could help out.

Firstly and most importantly, do Frats take international students? Cause if you don't, you should. Quite frankly us Aussies could teach you a thing or two about beer. :D

Secondly, I was planning on coming over in the middle of the year, at the start of your academic year. Now, I'm only able to stay for two semesters, and I'm a little confused about this whole rush/pledging thing. When do you do that? It seems like you do it in the first semester of the year (ie, before your summer) which would mean I would miss out. I really want to do the whole initiation, hazing, pledging deal, I don't want to be like "the Australian kid" or whatever. So, would it be better to come in the first semester of the year so I can pledge with everyone else?

Thirdly, what should I do about accommodation? I take it I won't know if I get into a Fraternity before a few weeks into the semester, so should I sign up to stay in a dorm? What if I do get into one, can I cancel the dorm? Would the uni place me in a normal dorm, or would I be in some freak international dorm? That would be bad.

Perhaps I could stay in a dorm for the first semester, pledge, and move into a Frat house in second semester? Does that happen much?

Finally, which of the following universities do you guys recommend? I'm looking for a party school, I couldn't give a shit about academics. Pennsylvania State University, University of Florida, University of Illinois at Urbana Champ, University of Maryland at College Park, University of North Carolina Greensboro, West Virginia University. Which of those has the best social life?

Thanks heaps for your help. If you've got any questions about university in Australia, especially if you're thinking of studying abroad for a semester or something, feel free to ask me. I live in a college at university that has 50% internationals, and we get a lot of Americans here who have no clue :D I'd be more than happy clear any queries you have up about our great country. Prior warning - No we don't drink Fosters!!!

Cheers,

Aussie.

PS - Any other Aussies here? Especially ones who're in Fraternities / Sororities?

Re: G'day!
 

Aussie, quite frankly your post is insulting and shows your lack of knowledge about the American greek system. Fraternities and sororities are about brotherhood and sisterhood, not drinking and partying. That is just a tramping. Joining a fraternity is a lifetime commitment, not something you can just do for a couple of semesters. The pledge period is the time where you prove your loyalty and devotion to the organization. A lot of people hold their membership to their GLO sacred so you'd better rethink joining a fraternity if you think that it's just about getting drunk and having a good time.

Do GLOs take international students? Yes, but if your only going to be there a year, unlikely. At my school int'l students were usually there a MINIMUM of two years.

When Rush happens will depend on the school. Some do it before fall, some during the first weeks of fall, some over winter break and some during the first weeks of spring.

I have no idea which of those schools would be a good party school for you. Maybe you should give a damn about your academics instead.

Sounds to me like you should find a school with a good Rugby team. That should fulfill all your partying needs!

Easy Kids...
 

Give the dude from down under a break....

He's probably only going from the stereotypes he sees on TV (ahem, MTV Sorority life...now do yall fools understand what were all bitching about on the MTV and sorority thread? thanks for the timely example..couldnt have illustrated it better myself), so if hes uninformed of the system, lets not get so snippy ladies, K?

Many of my brothers initially (myself included) only joined for the parties, but were fortunate to find out that there is a lot more to the system than booze, and I think I have made a positive contribution to the greek system and my org. How many of you cant say social was a consideration in membership? All of us can claim we wanted "brotherhood" in retrospect, but we had no concept of what it was, so we cant claim that was our motivating factor, please.

Mr Aussie,

Welcome to the US. Many party schools also have good academic programs, so you can have both. I understand that you may be wanting the quenticential "American College Experience" thats fine, but yaoull need to understand a few things. 1) Academics will have to be important. Most all groups will have a GPA requirement for new members. 2) We dont haze. Its not even polite to talk about it, really. 3) I cant speak for other groups, but we have accepted several members who we knew were only here for a year or so. We arent selfish about it on the chapter level and refuse to take soemone because it would only benefit us fr a set period of time. Our opinion is that were Lambda Chi's FIRST and Phi-Upsilons (Chapter designation) SECOND. We do whats good for the brotherhood. If we see a potential new member who coulkd make a lifetime contribution to the org, he is absolutely considered.

As for the rush thing. Most all fraternitys recruit in both fall and spring semesters. Traditionally, fall is when the biggest new member classes come in (unless the university only allows freshman to rush after a semester, called deffered rush). As for living situations.. they are completely different at each university. GENERALLY at the bigger schools, the situation is often that you move into a dorm, but can transfer to a house after you affilliate. Check the school websites you are interested in, look for the greek life pages or IFC (Interfraternity Council - the governing body mfor fraternities, and a clearing house for information, and the ones who organize and schedule the rush process) section in student life / student affairs part of the schools web pages for further information. Hope this helps. Good luck.

I'm a Canadian who was in Melbourne for a few months and I met a guy there who had been initiated into Kappa Sigma Fraternity. (He was technically English not Aussie, but he lives in Melbourne now).

Yes, fraternities do take international students, but you should know that there is more to fraternities than drinking and partying. You will be expected to maintain a decent GPA level, pay dues and participate in philanthropic activities.

If you want to look into this website...here is a good spot to start, the homepage for the National Interfraternity Conference:
http://www.nicindy.org/joining.htm

Good Luck!

Actually, there was an International student from Australia a couple of years ago and he wanted to join a particular fraternity but he found out that his program prohibited it :(

I second what life said, cut the kid some slack, his intentions are honourable.

Mr. Aussie, if you're looking for the north american experience may I suggest a Canadian university?

I'm at the University of Ottawa, great school: beautiful downtown location, wide-open curriculum, many int'l students, just to name a few. In fact, last year one of the fraternities had a couple aussie kids join. Obviously the fraternities would prefer their new members be active within the chapter for more than one year, but in most cases you will still be given a chance regardless.

Good luck in your decision.

Hi everyone, thanks for the replies.

I feel perhaps I should clear some things up. Firstly, I meant no disrespect in my previous post. I am certainly looking for more than a place to party in a Fraternity, one of the main reasons I want to join one is for the brotherhood and personal development. Indeed, a lot of the Americans here at my residential college her in Melbourne reckon I should just live in a dorm and go to college parties but I can't help but feel that if I went to America and didn't join a Fraternity I would be missing a vital part of the college experience. One of my worries is that if I joined a Frat I would miss out on one of the other highly touted college aspects of having a room mate, something we don't do here... I hear that you form life long bonds with your room mate, they become like a brother, that's something that seems really cool to me. I figure though that joining a Frat would be like getting 100 roomates, you have that close a bond. Yeah?

The reason I mentioned that the academics of the school are not important to me is more complicated. Here in Australia university is virtually free. The government pays half your fees and the rest you owe on a deferred loan that is paid off through tax once you earn over A$22, 000 per year. University costs us about US$2000 per year, which we generally never notice paying off. Also, potential employers do not have access to your grades as I believe they do in the US, so getting high marks is not such a priority. As long as you pass you're right. So, because of this there is a lot more relaxed attitude towards university, the hardest years of your study life are the last two of high school, as your marks are the sole factor of what course you get into at university. It's not always the case, but I and most people I know tend to take the attitude that university is more about tasting the fruits of life than getting killer grades. It's our last chance to take like not so seriously I guess. Couple this with the fact that my grades from America would only transfer as pass / fail credits anyway, and my trip is less about more academics and more about absorbing the American culture.

Thanks for all the information about when Frats rush. When you say they rush in the fall, that's the first semester of the academic year, right? ie, around August? How long after rush do Frats accept their new members? Would you say a good idea would be do move into a dorm for the first semester I'm there, with an eye to move into a Frat house the second semester?

I'm leaning towards the University of Florida at the moment. Anyone have opinions on it?

To CutiePie2000, were you studying in Melbourne? If so, what university? Whereabouts did you stay when you were here, in a college or a house? I only ask because I live at International House at Melbourne Uni and we get a lot of Americans / Canadians coming through for one or two semesters.

Lil_G, thanks for the heads up, I had no idea they used a similar Greek system to the US in Canada. For some reason I just presumed you had a tertiary system similar to the Australian and English one. I'll certainly consider a college in Canada, any opinions on Nova Scotia Community College, Uni of Alberta, or Uni of British Columbia?

Re: G'day!
 

Most kids who go to the University of Florida do care about academics. We have a lot of fun, but we are not STRICTLY a party school. We take our coursework seriously. That said, since you are interested in becoming Greek (which is a lifetime commitment), I'll tell you that we have a large and competitive Greek system and I'm sure you would find your place here somewhere. Good luck with your decision...and if you want an easy year here, I'm sure you could get anyone to cough up which classes are the jokes and you could cruise. (Every school has one or two joke classes).

Anyway, I love UF and bet you would, too. :D Beautiful campus, interesting kids, awesome fraternities and sororities, tons to do around town, Gainesville is cute, good academics! It's a very normal college and is so all-American.

PM me if you have any questions.

Dyan

Uni. of MD
 

Aussie,

I gotta say, University of Maryland is an awesome school (i don't go there but we hang out with some frats there). There are many frats to choose from! All the houses are along frat row-- basically a long semi circle of houses next to each other.

I have a question for you....after you transfer back to Australia, what do you plan to make of your brotherhood if you are initiated? Like everyone else has drilled in, being a part of the GO is a lifetime committment, not just a spur of the moment-want to party and meet girls type deal. Are there any fraternities at your universities back home? If so, consider joining a frat that you know you can pick up with back home. Good Luck, and remember to keep UM in mind!!

~Rebecca~

"It's a PHI SIG thing!"

"I'd rather laugh with the sinners then cry with the saints...the sinners have MUCH more fun"

Of course I care somewhat about academics, perhaps 'don't give a shit' was the wrong phrase. From what I've learnt from Americans who come out here (and I could be wrong), some universities have reputations as being academic schools, some sport schools, some party schools, etc. Of course, I'm sure there's a healthy mix at all schools, but from what I hear it would be a fair comment to say some lean more one direction than another. What I'm saying is that I wouldn't pick a university based on the fact that it is reknowned for its academic achievements, that is not my top criteria. Whether or not a university has good class sizes, lecture sizes, 90% of graduates in Fortune 500 companies, whatever, is not realyl a consideration... what I learn in the class room isn't as important as what I learn out of it, in a sense. Of course, I'd be pissed off if I failed, but I'm not aiming for A+ by any stretch.

PhiSigGabs, what can you tell me about College Park campus at Maryland? Is it that main campus? I really want to live on the main campus of a big university, I want to get right in the thick of it. Whereabouts in the US is Maryland? I have a feeling the South? The only reason I'm thinking about Florida over Maryland is that I know more about it, that it's warm I guess. That frat row sounds cool, just like 90210 :D

Oh, that's another question, how many people are normally in a Fraternity? I take it not all live in the house? Are brothers who don't live in the house as close knit as those who do?

As for joining a Frat here, unfortunately we have nothing like the Greek system here. Our tertiary structure in a social sense is fundamentally different to yours I believe. We tend not to move away from home to go to university, as all our uni's are government owned and of roughly the same quality. You don't really feel any allegiance to your university as they're so big (around 50 - 60, 000 people) and don't play sports or anything really against each other. They're more of just a place to go to class and meet up with mates before heading down to the pub. The closest thing we have are residential colleges, which are dorms that are affiliated with the university of about 100 - 200 people each. We play sport (not rugby, thankyou very much SoCalGirl, it's all Aussie Rules in Melbourne :D ) against each other and compete in all sorts of things, although it's generally more supervised (I presume) than the Greek system. I live at International House in Melbourne, if anyone's interested.

Aussie, I'm really glad that you cleared somethings up. And I'm sorry that I was a little harsh. You have to understand that being a part of a sorority means a lot to me. My sisters are my best friends in the world! But from what you've been saying I think that you'd like my school, the University Of Arizona. It's a really well-rounded school. Great classes, great sports teams (especially Basketball, we're preseason #1...GO CATS!), great parties, and a great Greek system. And we have excelent weather, it's warm without the humidity you'll get in Florida. I love it here as do all of my friends and we're all from different places. You should definately consider the UA. If you have any question feel free to PM me.

Aussie,

I have to laugh everytime says Maryland is in the south. Ok i guess to someone living in Massachusettes we are in the south, but to me, Georgia and Florida are the south.

I can tell you that UM is a biiiig campus! If ya like that in a university....it is very close to Washington DC so you can do a lot of sight seeing. Also not far from Baltimore City (also a tourist attraction). The climate in MD is the basic four seasons, unlike Florida where it is always soooo hot. The campus is set up like the main building surrounded by lots of other class buildings and so forth. I hope you're in good shape, cuz sometimes with big colleges you have classes on total opposite sides of the school. I go to a small private college, there are only about 7-800 people. Its nice not to have to migrate 3 miles everytime i have a class.

If you want to check out University of MD, here is their web site.... www.umd.edu

You can look up their campus and check out the Frats that reside there. Go to the directory section and simply type in Fraternities and it will give you listings.

~Rebecca

"It's a PHI SIG thing"

"I'd rather laugh with the sinners then cry with the saints... the sinners have MUCH more fun"

Aussie,

I'm glad that you're considering Greek Life. There's really no better way to get aquainted with the US. We currently have an international member from Japan in our chapter. He was with us 2 semesters, won this prestigious award thing and got to go away on some diplomatic mission for Japan until next Spring. I remember driving him to a party during Rush and he kept telling me how he liked beer:D

While beer is in plentiful supply there is so much more as I think he and probably you will find out.

Good luck!

Amin, brother.
I am an International Student, and I really know what exactly the phrase means. So far, I've been enjoying my Greek experiences, and you should totally try that.
As far as the academics, I'm sure no matter which GLO (Greek Letter Organization) you're joining, they will emphasis academics. After all, academic is the fital thing for university. We all aware of that, so keep that in mind. As far as the "party school", depends on which school, Greeks usually dominates the party. I mean, if you are in big cities, most likely Greeks don't dominate the party, but if you're in a college town (such as Iowa State, or Nebraska), Greeks usually are famous for having fun parties.

PM me if you need some more info on how much the culture shocks involved or anything. Good luck, Mr. Aussie-man :)

Actually, I am interested to hear about it...from a non-american perspective. What's really different about our society form yours, besides obvious things (i.e., all the americans, lol.) Like what suprised you, what didnt, what did you expect, not expect, if you dont mind sharing with the group... ) :D So you would reccomend greek life to get a feel for american culture? Cool.

Well boss, i can't say much about nova scotia community college. Never heard of it, must be very small. The last two however are good sized - 35,000 + and maintain well-developed greek systems. There are members from UBC that post here frequently that can help you much better that I can. UBC is located in Vancouver that doesn't really get summer nor winter. It has a strong greek system for a Canadian school. One thing i must mention now is that fraternities in Canada do not have anywhere near the size in #s that their american counterparts maintain. To be in a fraternity in Canada is a considerable different experience than if you were in the United States.

Here's a link for more info:

http://www.canadiangreeks.com/

Lifesaver-
I was actually trying to not come off snotty/bitchy. I was honestly trying to help! :)

Aussie,

I know ya'll play Aussie Rules football instead of Rugby. :p The reason why I mentioned it is a) it's similar enough that I'm sure it would not be hard for you to master, b) sports teams generally are very tight and brotherly, c) Rugby teams usually throw badass parties. I thought a rugby team would be a good alternative to a fraternity. ;)

If you want to join a fraternity then I wish you good luck. The problem is that a lot of the questions your asking will depend greatly on the school.

I agree that you should try to join a group that has an alumni group in Australia. That way you can continue to contribute to the brotherhood after your year in America.

My chapter had an international student. She was a marvelous member and I could only pray that all members were as great as her. She gave two great years as and undergrad member and a year as an alumnae chapter member. But after 9-11 she couldn't get any employer to continue sponsorship of her visa so she had to return to Singapore. :(

Since you'll be a transfer student I'll assume you'll be a Junior. For a fraternity, that won't be such a huge concern. But to be honest, it's not a plus.

life (and the rest of the group, esp. Mr. Aussie man),

I can write a book to answer all of these, but I will share some of the most important things comes out of my mind now. I will add later, and feel free to ask me later if you guys have questions :D

Well, first time I arrived in the U.S., I had no idea what is Greeks and what not. The goal I set for my self that time was to get a degree from my university. That's all.
I had to admit, the tendency of us was to hang out and live with people that share the most similarities with you, and my tendency was to talk in my native language and maintain my own culture. That was a normal behavior, I guess, like imagine yourself to be in Beijing to study and live and found a single American there. Would you talk with the person? Or would you just don't care ... So I did hang out with people from my hometown, and in my opinion, that closed my interactions with Americans. WTH you expected to go to school to different place and not to experience the live?
After settled down for couple months, I heard stories about Greeks from my fellow dorm people, on all the stereotypes (you know what they are! Both bad and good). Hell I was curious!
Because we have a strong Greek System, eventhough only 13% Greeks in my school, Greeks are dominant and everywhere, it seems. They're active, they're enjoying their lives, they're alcoholic, they're partying like no other, they're smart and focus, they're good looking, they're cool. It seems that they achieve a lot, and I HAVE to taste it. I like being active, so I thought that it would be good for me to feel what the Greeks is all about. So for short, I joined my beloved Theta Delta Chi fraternity. The finest moment of my live has began ...

Yeah, the biggest thing that differs the American culture with my culture is the openess and mass-living. Quite a shock for me to share a whole house with 40+ strangers. I used not to take shower "in public", or to knock on my own door to find out that my roommate needs some "privacy" with his girlfriend (yeah, what do you expect with Eastern cultures), or joining a organization with several surprises waiting in every corner. I love our histories and rituals, that is something I had NO slightest idea would happened to me, eventhough I pledged my fraternity already. I was not used to have this rich brotherhood with others, as well as our bonded alumni that comes to party with us for Homecoming. Or the 80 year old man that was so happy to see us, and insisted to be called a "brother" (in most of Eastern cultures, we avoid to be "unrespectful" to old people, like putting them down to our generation, if you know what I mean. So we NEVER use first name for someone older, eventhough the person only older couple years from you). Suddenly, my network opened and everywhere you go (US and the rest of the world), my own brothers would always be ready to provide you with anything they can help and would like to back you up for almost anything. I wasn't aware that when I joined my fraternity, I changed my whole life for good. I just though that simply I would live with Americans and improve my English. Or just partying. That wasn't it.

Oh yeah, you bet, so many awkward things have been happening since the first time I moved in couple years ago. First of all, this was the first time for all of us here to have an International student, so they had no idea how to treat me. It was a growing pain, try to adapt the pattern, on how you have to have Western manners, how to answer questions they have about my hometown (such as, how big is your village? do you have skycrappers in your country? do you eat dogs there? say something in your language!). I know they didn't really mean it, they curious on me, as well as I curious about them. Of course they made fun of me, as maybe it was weird for Iowans not to know what "poon" or "poudonk" mean. The strong friendship has formed. I always learned new things everyday, and also on the other hand, they learned new stuff about the rest of the world. Surely I opened their eyes to see new stuff as well, because they though that US was the best and the only good country in the world. Americans usually didn't care with the rest of the world, because hey, America such a big and strong country, why should us care about Malawi? Or who cares about the rebels in Phillipines that wants to be independent? Or how the East Timor as a country struggled with their independence from Indonesia or Portugal? Nonetheless, they slightly see the world, and I wasn't aware that I had a role to change perceptions of Americans here.

Now I am used to the, I can call it, "American cultures": one night stand, loss virginity before marriage, binge drinking, capitalism, working out, football, Abercrombie and Fitch, sorority girls, fraternity jocks, Greek Weeks, Homecomings ... and list would go on and on, and I wouldn't have learned them if I didn't join a fraternity. Nonetheless, I became "Americanized" as my fellow friends call me, and depends on which view you're looking at, that could be either good or bad.

Bad, maybe because most of the world doesn't like Americans. Several prototypes occured there, and I would not go farther. Good, because for myself, I loved America, and I could be "myself" in here.

So of course I would suggest my fellow international students to go Greek (esp. from the Western cultures), simply because it opens one's eyes and taste what college is all about. Greeks is not all about drinking. Or partying. Or getting laid everynight. Greeks is about brotherhood/sisterhood. Having fun. Enjoying your college experiences. Academics. ;)

I think that sums up why I love being an American-I can just be myself :)

Wow, I can't believe it is that inexpensive for college there! I wish I had those student loans. College in America is more focused on academics. I knew that if I wanted to become a veterinarian or human doctor I had better have the grades-no pass/fail unfortunately.

BTW, University of Texas at Austin has about 50,000 students, great party school with a good academic reputation (OMG my grandfather is probable turning over in his grave rt. now-I said something nice about UT). I live 10 minutes away and Austin is an awesome city!!!!

Side note to Aussie: many guys find the nickname "frat" offensive, so make sure you say "fraternity"

Aussi, first off, welcome to greek chat!

Yes, there are schools designated as certain schools as opposed to others.

My suggestion, is to find a smaller school of around 6,500 where you are a name instead of a number. I know we have members while not from international areas, but do have from many walks of life. That is just my Chapter but I know there are other Chapters who have members from all over the world.

I would love to have a Brother From Australia and be a Gorilla, our Mascot ( the Schools, Pittsburg State U. Kansas ).

But check out many, and see what fits! I have been involved in my Fraternity since 1965 so that tells you something. Lifersaver also said it very well.

Try greekpages.com and check out the site to see about Greeks and follow the Threads to see about schools.

The best of luck to you Mate!

Keep up on this site and updated!:D

G'day to you mate
 

Send me an email so I can connect you with my cousin who lives in Melbourne and works for the ANZ Bank. He is a recent grad from a UK Uni but is American and very knowledgable of the US Greek system. To get the best of the US system and also accomplish what I think you want out of your exchange year or years I suggest you consider Louisiana State University or Tulane University. Both are great schools and both have awesome Greek systems. Louisiana is a very laid back state and both of those schools have lots of international students. Also, think Mardi Gras (US, not OZ version!!!!!)
Have a VB for me mate,
<dekeguy@hotmail.com>