If once a pledge @ one fraternity, am I still able to join another after transfer?
 

Hi - I'm currently a freshman and have always been interested in joining a fraternity... but I didn't go through formal rush this year because I'm pretty 50/50 as to where I'll be NEXT year - either transferring to another school or staying where I'm at, and I know many fraternities don't allow someone to leave a fraternity and join another, and naturally I'd rather be a part of a fraternity I like for 3 years of college instead of 1.

However I talked to a good friend of mine at the fraternity I'd like to join, and he suggested I try to become a spring pledge with them this year - then if I decide to stay I can be initiated, and if I decide to leave and join another somewhere else it will be fine because I was only a pledge. I was just curious if most fraternity organizations would be cool w/ me doing this?

Once you are initiated it's done, your in that fraternity for life. I was a pledge at a school and tranfered, as long as you don't get initiated don't worry.

Most fraternities don't care if you pledged another group first, as long as you did not become an initiated member. Many guys have pledged groups, de-pledged and then pledged another group the next semester. I can think of 3 guys in my chapter that pledged somewhere else first and then pledged Sigma Chi. And one of our most famous members, David Letterman, pledged another fraternity first, de-pledged, and then pledged Sigma Chi.

Like a lot of other guys and like the situation you indicated, I pledged a fraternity, then de-pledged because I transferred to another school, where I joined a different fraternity.

So as long as you don't initiate, you're fine.

I'm just getting the point that "depledge" refers to disassociating after accepting a bid but BEFORE becoming initiated. I thought it was a post-initiation disaffiliation so I was going to ask why any chapter would accept a de-pledger.

:o

Because another GLO can, as they were not initiated but only recruited to be a possible Full member.

Finding out what happens after pleding is probally why you can pledge one but as long as your not initiated join another. It is once your initiated you learn all the secrets of the said fraternity. Where as a pledge you are only learning what you need to know to be initiated such as the history of the fraternity and some minor details.

I'd highly suggest waiting until you find out for sure where you're going to be.

As everyone else has said if you pledge fraternity X, your a brother of X & no other fraternity can accept you (well social anyway - you could join an honors or service fraternity (such as Phi Sigma Pi or Alpha Phi Omega, some are as active as social fraternities).

If your new school doesn't have a chapter of X your kind of stuck (of course you could always work on starting one).

Another reason to wait, is it'd be better to be pledged & inducted into the chapter that you'll be spending most of your time with. You'll be learning about the tradition, history, etc of a chapter your not going to be part of. Plus some fraternities may have requirements that you need to be a brother for y semesters after your inducted or you cant pledge.

gruber,

sorry to disagree with you on this.

There is a big difference in Association(Pledgeing) and being Initiated in to a Greek Organization.

You can leave anytime during association and still be recruited by another NIC Organization. But upon Initiation, while there have been a very few, normally you are a member of that Organization period.

Hey man... Yeah, sorry my bad. Mind must have been some place else. Pledging and being initiated are two totally different things. I was going with completing the pledge period & becoming a brother (which are of course two different events).

I dont know how to answer the question, if other GLO's would be cool with you pledging another, droping out before you became a brother & joined another. I'd assume given your situation there's not much they could do. Plus you'd have a small leg up - you'd already know the greek alphabet, etc (things that are "generic" to any fraternity)...

I def' wouldnt do it too often, as brothers might begin to question if you are really committed to the idea of joining a fraternity or if you just plan on keep bouncing around.

But we have accepted a couple ex-pledges from another fraternity into our group this semester, so it is possible to do...

Hey, this happens all of the time in all Greek Organizations. Some New Associates find something that they were turned off by and drop out and join other GLOs.

Now, the question is why were they turned off and by what?

im a little confused, if you check out a fraternity and it is absolutely the one you were meant to be in you should be in it. If you are not so sure then why try to pledge. I was an interest for my sorority for almost a year before i went to the next "process". I think maybe you should wait a little bit and look around at what you got. I don't really agree with rushing (because my sorority doesnt do that, sisters and interests take their time in deciding) , rushing seems like too fast to decide which organization you want to be a member of for the rest of your life. If you want to participate and be involved with the fraternity (for a very looooong time and not just you undergraduate career) you want to join then fine. But...if you don't then reconsider....just hold out, instead of rushing and then backing out and then rushing for someone else...

i know that in multicultural greeks, for example in my sorority, we def do not take any girls that have pledged another sorority, and that means pledging and then dropping or pledging and being initiated..

i guess its different than mainstream, its a little confusing.

That's very similar to the NPHC process, but NIC/IFC fraternities are different when it comes to pledging vs. initiation.

Pointedly, there is a difference within NIC or some other GLOs.

You can Pledge or Associate with. Once You Initiate/Ritual with, You know the rules, principles, and regulations from that Organization.

If one got that far, I wonder why anyone would even ask?

No one did. Your comment is pointless.

/Like that's new

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Why the hell would you pledge a fraternity if you didn't want to be in it? Go through a semester long pledge program and then decide to join another org? No.

Macallan25, from what ProZach said, he sounds interested in this fraternity. However, he is uncertain if he will be transferring, so he's unsure of whether he should begin pledging and depledge if he decides to transfer.

ProZach, I don't know where you go to school, and I don't know where you're thinking of transferring, so I couldn't make judgements based on the campus culture. I don't think a fraternity would look down on someone who depledged at another school because he decided to transfer. In some (but definitely not all) schools, if you pledge XYZ at State U, depledge, and then rush ABC at the same school, ABC could be skeptical of you. They might wonder if you didn't "make" it, or if you are not willing to commit to a fraternity, etc. Transferring is something that shouldn't stir up controversy about your character. Then again, I am from the North, and maybe transferring is controversial elsewhere.

I think that you should definitely wait until you know where you will be going next year. Obviously you don't want to pledge XYZ, and transfer only to find out that you don't fit in with the XYZs at your new school, or that your new school does not have a chapter of XYZ. Even if you end up staying, you could wait a semester later to begin pledging (again, this depends on the campus; some campuses only take freshmen).

Ask if the organization goes along with the 30 day retraction period. Some fraternal organizations make you a brother just as soon as you sign the bid card with no pledging what so ever and give you 30 days to retract that bid. I know of one on my campus that practices this. So if that happens then you would be in the fraternity's HQ system as being a member even if you didn't learn all of the secrets and therefore you can not join anyone else. Maybe some of you guys know what I'm talking about if not I can explain furthur.

Typical, thank you for being you.:cool:

How drunk are you that you felt the urge to reply to a comment that is over a year old?

Oh wait your comment is STILL pointless.

Too bad you offended so many people at the site you helped "create." Guess sexism, racism, and other prejudices aren't so popular over there either.