pledging as a senior
 

i'm a junior at the college of charleston and haven't really considered joining a fraternity seriously but recently thought i might want to rush next year and give it a shot. not sure which frat but i was wondering if trying to pledge as a senior would be a waste of time because my chances of getting a bid would be slim. any feedback?

There were 4 seniors in my pledge class, althought it was a colonization. The time you may have left as an undergraduate is short, however there is a lifelong aspect to brotherhood that you may look forward to. Go for it!

Pledging as a senior to an established fraternity would probably be quite different from doing so in a colony. I cannot imagine going through pledgeship at 21,22 years old.

Pledging is for your first, or at the very latest, second year of college.

Why not try? Remember you are an alumnus/i a LOT longer than an undergraduate so you reap the benefits the rest of your life if your group has strong graduate assns.

Yup because no one in the freshman or sophmore years is that age. I dont know what college you are going to but here we have people who are 21+ and a freshman and 20 year olds who are in thier senior year.

Anyway... I would only do it if you would be around next year. Its hard to be active when your halfway across the country

I just pledged, and I'm a 20 year old junior. I don't agree with frathole at all...pledging should be done whenever it feels right to YOU! And, don't let fear of not getting a bid stop you...you never know til you try!

You also go to Lyon College...

I don't think it matters.

Talk to some fraternity brothers at your campus and get their opinion. They would be your best source to get advice.

People like to blow sunshine up the butt here on GreekChat. As I say with "non-traditional" (upperclassman, not 18-19 years old)PNMs going through sorority rush, unless you're from that campus (in this case, C of C), then you really don't know how Greek Life is like over there or if upperclassmen successfully join organizations.

What might work on your campus might not necessarily work on his.

Pledging as a Sr.
 

I don't see anything wrong with pledging as a Sr., President Calvin Coolidge pledged Phi Gamma Delta as second semester Sr. at Amherst College and was a very loyal alumnus always going to the Fiji pig dinners etc. I think having an older member in a pledge class is a good thing.
Being greek doesn't end the day you walk across the stage.

Re: pledging as a senior
 

I guess that depends on your campus. At Tech, upperclassmen have a good chance with quite a few of the fraternities (my fiance just pledged as a fourth year), but the NPC sororities will rarely even take sophomores.

Still, even if you didn't get a bid, you'd probably meet lots of new people, which is good.

I agree that it's different on every campus. I'm just saying what happened to me personally. Of course, you should talk to some brothers on your campus. Greek life varies everywhere...

It does and happen. But a lot depends on the Campus and Greek Community.

Is it normal, NO.

Why?

When Accepting a New Assotiate, Greeks want someone who will be there to keep the Machinery working.

But, If You dont try, then, You will never know!:)

Well, at my school, there are older freshmen and sophomores, however, they rarely ever pledge. Keep in mind that pledging means different things at different places. Joining a sorority is completely different obviously. The major role of pledgeship here is to transistion you from high school kid to college man. This means working quite hard, sometimes doing things that are far from pleasant. They all have rationale behind them, but if I was 22, I don't think i'd see the point, as you've probably developed on your own.

Re: Pledging as a Sr.
 

Absolutely loved that!!!

I agree that you should go for it. Membership is for a lifetime and as an older student you have so much to offer a chapter - you are most likely academically sound (since you have not failed out), at this point you have acquired time management skills and maturity that freshmen rarely have. i joined as a junior, and while i regret not having joined sooner so i could have held certain positions, it was so worth it. who i was a freshman would have done my sorority no good. but as an experienced student leader, i cam eright in and made a difference in the chapter. also, older students know more people on campus, usually, and can be a benefit when it comes to recruiting. also, many older new members tend to be very involved as alumni because they did not burn out over 4 years of membership. they graduate still wanting more and wanting to do more for the organization.

if you approach it from this perspective and you are a decent guy in it for more than partying, i can't think of why a chapter wouldnt want you. but id say ask around the chapters and good luck!!!!

Re: Pledging as a Sr.
 

When Calvin Coolidge joined a fraternity, it was before WWII. Pre versus post 1945 mean a lot in the scheme of things, he joined nothing like what anyone in a fraternity today is a member of.

I would think it would be a waste of time, and personally would ball a fourth year rushee the minute I found out they went 4 years without being in a house.

I not sure why you think a Sr. couldn't contribute, I guess the more interesting question Mr. Frathole is what you think the real purpose of greek life is, I bet that would start a very interesting thread.

i just joined my sorority -- im 4 months shy of graduation. wasnt a big deal, but you do negotiate a lot of your life re: being a senior. if you want it, youll do it. im glad i took the time to see what i wanted before rushing into it (no pun intended :D)

then again, like mentioned above, it really depends on school culture. but dont let that stop you!

true, the real greek fun is after graduation!

GO FOR IT!
 

Ignore the noise on this thread and go for it- I see no reason a junior or senior can't rush a fraternity, become a great brother, and make a contribution to the chapter as an undergrad. Upperclassmen join my chapter all the time, and have been excellent additions to the group.

Good Luck!

we regularly bid jr./sr. women and the fraternities regularly bid and welcome openly jr/sr men. They want brothers, and they don't really care how old they are.

It depends on the campus, as others have mentioned. Find out your campus culture-- if upperclassmen typically come out to fraternity rush and pledge, it would be the norm. If it's not, the chances of getting a bid will probably not be as great.

Either way, do give Rush a try. And visit all the available houses so you can maximize your options.

At the very least, you won't be left wondering "What if?" and you may receive an invitation to membership. And if you don't receive an invitation to membership, you can walk away knowing you met some interesting people and gave it a shot.

Good luck.

Go for it. If you have friends in the fraternities and want to join, then by all means, go for it.

Don't listen to frathole, shinerbock or ilikehazing, they're all the same person who posts under many names. And, they're fratty lurkers who pretty much suck anyway.

The "real purpose?"

I don't know if theres much of a real purpose to doing much of anything while we're on this groovy spinning marble that I like to call planet earth, but I can guarentee that I joined my fraternity for a reason beyond the fact that I like being surrounded by drunk assholes all of the time, though that certainly played a big part. I definatley didn't join to compete with other houses or hang out with clowns from nationals.

I'm not the same guy ace. I only have one login.

I concur, I don't even know who frathole is. I assume we're both from the south, and at good greek life schools. The point is, bonding takes time. I don't know how it is at your school, but here we're more than just a group of random people who get handed bids and start hanging out. During pledgeship you go through a lot of tough times together, which builds strong friendships. Sorry if I like my fraternity actually having similar bonds. If I just wanted to hang out with a bunch of random guys all the time, I'd go to Georgia Tech.

if there is already a fraternity you have in mind start getting to know them this semester. informal rush is probably still taking place at your school so it might not even be too late to take a look at a few of the houses. if there is no particular chapter that you already have in mind and are going to wait until the spring to go through rush, more than likely there will at least be one chapter that would be open to bidding you. regardless, approach the men yourself

list of fraternities at CofC:
Alpha Sig, AEPi, Kappa Alpha Order, Kappa Sig, Pike, PiKapp, SAE, SigEp, Sigma Chi, Sigma Nu

My personal view on the situation is that it would be a waste of your time.

Mainly, I'm looking at it from the perspective of what you're really going to get from the experience.

Yes, it varies from campus to campus. Yes, being Greek is a lifetime thing. Yes, you could end up having a lot happen...but let's look at somethings realistically here.

1) There must have been some reason why you didn't pledge earlier. What suddenly changed?

2) You have 1 year, maybe 2, as an undergrad, during which you're going to be worrying about the next stage of your life, and dealing with job interviews/grad school applications/other time consuming things that freshmen and sophs don't.

3) You have already developed this whole other set of people during your time campus, along with a routine and everything that you've worked on for 3 years. (Examples: the place you go out to on thursday night, that monday night poker game, the research you do for a professor, the volunteer projects you've worked on since freshman year, your job, girlfriend, etc.).


Those are three assumptions that I can pretty safely make.

Now how are those things going to interact when you pledge and have to be at study hours Tuesday night for 3 hours. How are you going to get to know your pledge brothers who are 3 or 4 years younger than you? How are you going to relate to them? I know someone is going to ask how did I relate to the guys who pledged last year before I graduated and difference is that I wasn't trying to be their pledge brother. My role was very different, and those guys didn't expect me necessarily to be there at the drop of a hat for them. If they thought I could help, then they would come to me. I didn't have to fulfill that expectation of a pledge brother. How are your current friends going to handle you ditching out on them for an intramural game or some party they aren't invited to?

Further, while being an alumnus is a life time deal, it's hard to develop that life time commitment in one year, to something that you're likely not going to have teh same sort of attachment to as someone who has had 4 years to develop.

Let's everyone be honest here, and acknowledge that when you think of your organization (and I'm speaking explicitly about NIC/NPC organizations. The NPHC groups do a far, far better job of keeping alums active - partly due to the difference in their recruitment methods and also their structure of focusing more often on city wide chapters), you think of the great times you had with that group of people. The late nights around the chapter house or wing, or the spring break trip you took sophomore year. You think of those people who were with you when you went through a tough break up, the guys or girls who you took all your classes with. That's why you are so fond of your organization. As important as ritual and symbolism and all that sort of stuff is, it's not what makes us love our organizations.

Someone brought up the idea that you can contribute a lot as an alum. That someone could be a good "brother". That's true, but with one year I don't see how this couldn't be accomplished by taking part in Big Brothers/Big Sisters or the United Way if that's the way you're justifying this decision. Brotherhood and Sisterhood is not something that just comes up because we find out what some esoteric symbols mean. Brother/Sisterhood is developed through shared experiences.

Nationwide, ritual serves as a starting point for that shared experience, but even when you GC'ers have been to conventions and conferences do you really feel those people are your "sister" or your SISTER, your "brother" or your BROTHER. I met some really awesome, awesome Betas at UIFI in 2004 and the convention I went to in 2002, but the experiences were a different sort of bond. It was awesome because they were complete strangers, but we had the same handshake, we sang the same songs and knew the same stories. But did I love those guys as true brothers? No. And there's nothing wrong with that, because we haven't had the chance really get to know each other.


I guess what my point is in all this is that this is not going to be easy. And in my analysis through my experiences and feelings about Greek Life, it doesn't add up. The sort of conflicts that are inevitable to arise between the obligations of the fraternity and the life you've had at college so far arent' worth it. Nevermind worrying about the odds of you getting a bid, it's all about are you really going to get as much out of it as you can? Are you going to end up happier because you joined? Are you ready to sacrifice yourself for people that you are only going to be invested in for one year? Is one year enough for you to become a dedicated alumnus, even though a lot of people join for four years and do nothing once they graduate?

If you can honestly say that you've looked long and hard at what it is going to be like, then go for it.

Wow, for the most part, a very wise post.

here's my gripe with this (argument).

1. you make it seem like greeks are to exclusively do all these things you listed with their chapter/other greeks.
2. i am very adamant about my opinion of (traditional) freshmen joining greek life (ie. i dont approve). there is SUCH a big transition in becoming a college student (and a bigger transition in who you are as a person) that year. i know i cant speak on this cause im not in the position, but i feel like going greek so early leaves you out of the loop of finding your own thing to do. which is not a bad thing at all. i was always told if your social life becomes based on your sorority life, its time to GET a life. all about BALANCE
3. you make it seem like if this person rushed as a senior it will be an inconvience. which, i wont lie, it can be, but as ive been saying, if you want it, it wont be too bad.
4. sure, greek life is a big commitment, but the upside with being a junior/senior would be (assumingly) that you have found your comfort of time management. and youre right, freshmen typically have more time on their hands cause theyre not doing job/gradschool apps, etc. but juniors/seniors (ones i know) take on new activities all the time and make it work. why is this any different?


i think it's unfair to asj these questions, especially since he hasnt even made the decision to do it. even then its unfair. how is a PNM supposed to know that being greek will make them happier, and that theyll get "as much out of it as [he] can?"

similarly, as you, very leadingly ask "Is one year enough for you to become a dedicated alumnus, even though a lot of people join for four years and do nothing once they graduate?" it's easy and reasonable to say that yes, he may get all that he's looking for out of that one year, maybe even more than someone who joined for 4 years, who may get next to nothing out of it.

i would rather have a chapter member say "i only was a member of XYZ for one year in undergrad, but it was AMAZING" vs. "yeah i was XYZ all through undergrad and it was MEH"

and guess what? people waste time ALL THE TIME. sure you wont get it back, but life is about experience, good, bad and in-between.

My problem with this, is that if you're joining a half decent fraternity, half of your last year will be pledging. Pledging is a character building experience, so if you want to do that, go for it. Being in a fraternity, I can't imagine someone coming in for one semester, not really being close with anyone, and making a big difference. Sorry, just don't think it is feasible.

Geez, some of the posters here sound like they would't dare pledge and upperclassman because they wouldn't be able to haze the crap out of them. Better to get the young, naive ones, right?

Bottom line here is you will never know if you fit in unless you give rush a try. If a house wants you, you will know. If you get blackballed for one of the silly ass reasons that are posted in this thread, then you should feel fortunate, because you probably wouldn't want to be a member of such a shallow group anyway.

Again, best of luck to you. I hope you find what you are looking for.

Come on. Older pledges can bring something to a generally younger pledge class.

We are always getting pissy on here because people generalize the greek experience and consider it something that is only for college. Fact of the matter is that your experience is what you make of it.

I pledged Alpha Phi Omega National Service Fraternity as a Junior, and my senior year I was a program chair (Girl Scouting).

I've been an Alumni Volunteer for over 10 years, so I've definitely been able to make a difference and be close to many Brothers over the years.

My fiance is a fourth year who is pledging now (granted, he won't graduate until May '07 because of the program he's in, so he's not your standard fourth year), and he seems to be enjoying himself. He's the oldest pledge, but I think he likes being able to help the other guys with their homework :) Besides, they've had fourth years pledge the past few pledge classes, so they're used to it.

I'm really proud of him for doing this - it's something different that he never thought he'd do :D

I wonder if the OP has been back at all since he posted this...

Haha no, my problem is that we wouldnt get to "haze" them. They would get treated like all the others. There are no free passes.

While pledging a senior may not be the norm, it certainly isn't unheard of. The usual scenario is that he is either a transfer student (maybe transferred in as a junior and waited a year to get acclimated to the campus etc.) or he is friends with members of a specific chapter or chapters. But there are also men who come to realize that they would like to be part of a fraternity and decide to seek membership.

Most fraternity chapters do not have to worry about being over quota or over total. So pledging a senior (upperclassman), who is a good fit with the chapter and worthy of membership, should not be an issue.

I think we've taken a couple of guys who just got to school at an older age. I think you're right though, there are several factors. One of my buddies worked a couple years before college, so he was older when he got here. I just don't like the idea of someone being here for only a year. Basically, it would be the same idea as having someone switch from a mediocre school to a prominant one, at the very end, just for the diploma. Not saying their motives are bad, but I think thats the impression many others would get. On another note, we don't take anyone who has ever pledged anywhere else, so that would be another thing to consider.

my roommate (and my former RA) pledged my sorority as a Junior. While it was difficult at times for her to bond with the pledge class, they learned a TON from her. We put her in charge of scholarship because she allready knew the ropes, knew the contacts, and was kick-ass at organization because she had allready experienced all the pitfalls that come with college life. I think too much emphasis can be placed on the freshman to upperclassman interaction, and not enough on the upperclassman to freshman connection. Don't know if that made sense, but the basic thing is that the upperclassmen bring a completely new set of skills to the underclass pledges, and this can be EXTREMELY helpful in the hectic pledging schedule.