why join? (sure already asked)
 

why join a frat?

i know freindship obv

connections w.work, etc...

obv the goood parties im guessing, as without being greek....

socials/mixers cool?

easy to meet girls get laid?


what im trying to get at is it worth the lower GPA when you pledge, as everyone i know who pledged is sub 2.5.......so ?:rolleyes:

Although your post is somewhat insulting, I'll point out one thing to you: on most campuses, greeks have higher GPAs than the non-greeks. Look into it.

If you have to rationalize joining a fraternity, then doing so might not be in your best interest.

if youre sure the question has been asked, then why werent you sure enough to look for the answer?

maybe you shouldnt join a fraternity - dont want your GPA going down anymore than it appears to be and all...

no no
 

i just dont know whayt frats do besides mixers, etc..

check out a national website or two. or find a fraternity member and ask.

I didn't even know that (just curious if you have a source? I'd like to show that to some of my high school friends and relatives that I'm trying to convince to go greek :D)


In any case, Hockeydude, I don't think you can generalize that much and say that pledging lowers GPA just because of some friends/ppl you know. Is *each* one of them from a different fraternity and representative of that fraternity? Greek organizations aren't all the same, and if they're all from one or two of the same frats, it could be just those frats in particular that have issues that you're concerned about (and even that isn't necessarily true because it is doubtful that a handful of people can represent a whole organization)

You also already said in your first post what frats do besides mixers.

IMO, the long lasting friendships and alumni connections alone make it worthwhile to join a fraternity. I also think being Greek in general (and someone correct me if I'm wrong) can improve your resume and help you with getting a job in future especially if you take on leadership positions.

If you do not have enough gumption to check out what Greeks stand for and do, they may not be right for you?:confused:

Since most of the posts in response you to you are borderline asshole-ish, I figured I'd reply.

To be honest, you named off quite a few of the things that come with joining a solid, good fraternity. I don't find your post insulting at all, and frankly, I don't know why anyone would, maybe the part about getting laid, but who cares.

I don't know where you are in school, but joining a fraternity can open up many doors for you. Good chapters are going to have quite a few powerful alumni, which translates into damn good connections for your post grad years. Everything else, in my opinion, is an added bonus. Again, it all depends on where you are and who you decide to pledge....but the right fraternity will have great parties, good trips, great relationships with good sororities, and lot s of good guys who will be your friends for life. I think the friendships that you make is probably the best part. And with these friends comes even more oppurtunities in the way of entertainment, going places, etc. etc. Trips and getaways with a handful of your fraternity brothers are always a hell of a good time.

As for grades.....most chapters I know of have grade point averages that you have to make in order to get initiated. Usually something in the 2.5-3.0 range. Our pledge class average my freshman year was well above a 3.0.......I had a 3.8........so I wouldn't be too worried about it. Obviously though, if you screw around and don't get your work done, you will have crappy grades.

As for what fraternities do besides mixers and parties.........rush trips, chapter retreats, philanthropy events, golf tournaments, sorority functions......lot of different things, depends where you are, who you join.

ok if you pledged your freshman and you had a 3.8, then either youre talking about your HS GPA (which clearly doesnt count cause umm... we're in college now) or you're using your GPA from your FIRST SEMESTER. which means you what got 3 A's and maybe like a B+?

well by all means then, applause all around!!!![/sarcasm]

don't forget formals, greek week, intramurals, sorority formals.

many times when ushers, hosts or hostesses are needed for school functions, the administration looks to the greek organizations to supply the needed man(or woman) power. you are then rubbing elbows with many of the area's movers and shakers, not to mention board of trustees, elected officials, and other influential people.

as to looking up gpas, i would say go to some of the larger university websites, go to greek life and see if they post any statistics-several post #of rushees who signed up for recruitment and continue the data thru those that received bids. i am not sure if they track on the fraternity side. BUT, in addition to the rush statistics, often the fraternity and sorority overall gpas
are posted and compared with the all campus mens and womens gpa. usually the fraternity overall gpa is higher than the all campus mens and the sorority overall gpa is higher than the all campus womens.

i saw one recently, but cannot remember which university it was-try auburn, u of alabama, u of illinois, u of maryland, u of georgia or just come up with one on your own.

yoa
 

thanks for all the recent posts not bein a lil to brash.......


but yeah i shuld be good im transferin so i figured it'd be good way to meet people and i had a 3.57 and as long as I dont drop below 3 i shuld be set.

If you're transferring then rushing is a great way to meet people. I rushed the first day of classes and met all kinds of people I'd otherwise not know (I'd just be another lonely commuter). Considering you're Hockeydude I'll assume you've been on sports teams....

The best way I think you could relate to us would be to think of a Fraternity as a sports team only:

1) they live together...almost all of them
2) they swear loyalty to each other, usually on a Bible
3) they get in huge trouble if they backstab each other
4) they do much more work than just physical training....expect having to work to set up, organize, and execute: socials, philanthropies, chapter meetings, etc etc
5) they pay dues....not to have friends but to keep the house functional (where do you think the money for those formals, socials, t-shirts, and great parties comes from?)
6) they get more negative press than the Duke Laccrosse team!

I had a 3.8 my first semester and a 3.8 my second semester. I mean, that's what my transcript says......mabye they are playing a joke on me. As far as I know 4 As and a B, 15 hour course load...........is a 3.8.

Furthermore, I wasn't trying to brag. Didn't realize it was "let's be a tremendous dick head" day.

I'm glad you know how to be sarcastic though. [/sarcasm]

Example from UGA as of Fall 2006 (It's on the Panhel website):
All Men's Average: 3.01
All Fraternity Average: 3.10 (Fraternity men are .09 higher than other guys)

All Women's Average: 3.23
All Sorority Average: 3.29 (Sorority women are .06 higher than other girls)

All Undergraduate Average: 3.12
All Greek Average: 3.23 (Greeks are .11 higher than other undergrads)

Some other statistics from the IFC's Spring 2006 Report:
All Men's Average: 3.04
All Fraternity Average: 3.17 (Fraternity men are .13 higher than other guys)
Fraternity New Member Average: 3.00 (Yes, this is certainly lower than the 3.04 men's average... but this certainly doesn't indicate a massive number of guys with below a 2.5 as the OP suggested)

A lot of schools have similar reports available.

To the OP: If you have several friends who pledged, why not ask them why they think you should join?

Honestly, even it it was just during your pledge semester, it's still a good result. I'm not sure why you got the attitude from other posters on that.

Although it may not be typical for NPHC groups, NPC and IFC groups do appeal directly to folks straight out of high school, and I'd say that the OP's list was probably what most guy PNMs are looking for. You're probably kidding yourself if you deny it.

sorry to hijack the thread, jus wanna be clear...
 

my bad - maybe that did come off like im a total jerkface! all i was saying was that rushing with a 3.8 as a freshman just means you did really well first semester. which is applaudable, i guess, but at the same time i know LOTS of folks who aced their first semester. depends on your courseload and your standards i guess.

partially my bad cause you DID say you had a 3.8 both semesters - and during your pledge time - great! now if you were MAINTAINING a 3.8 and you were like a sophomore/junior rushing, then i'd be REALLY impressed. (not that you need to be impressing me... you know? im jus saying)

and that's JMO outside of it being an NPHC vs. NPC/IFC issue - wasnt making it out to be that at all.

(sorry for the hijack!)

Whenever someone asks me "why join" I like to spin them around and pin their arm behind their back. Now who's asking the questions?

Ok - Great friends, great parties, great sex...totally worth the small ding against your GPA for that one semester.

I'd check the Greek Affairs website for the school that they are planning to attend - there may be data specific to that school available.

BGSU has reports on their website - the fraternity men's GPA is higher than the all men's GPA, and the All Greek GPA is higher than the non-Greek GPA.

http://www.bgsu.edu/offices/sa/greek...page15839.html

You can search other school websites for similar info.

Do you wanna join?

I don't quite get all of these "Well if you're contemplating it so much, are you ready to join a frat? Do you really wanna join one?" etc etc etc CRAP.

I don't know about yall, but here at UCSD we've never been known as a big social campus. We lack a frat row and a football team, two big things that many "party" schools have and so yea. But honestly asking tons of guys from my chapter of SigEp, and other guys from other fraternities on campus, there are a ton of people, me included that end up saying "Wow frats get such a bad rap, it's totally different than what is being portrayed"

Bottom line is yes, there are the social functions, the sorority exchanges, formals, greek week, intramural sports, philanthropies, crazy parties, but bottom line is just rush a few frats, see if you click with some of the guys and if you feel comfortable with it, then I'm pretty sure you'll feel that it is for you. Don't let preconceptions stop you from going Greek! :]

No problem....and, again, I wasn't trying to brag....just trying to let the guy know that it's pretty easy to have a good GPA when you pledge.....especially if you have mandatory pledge study halls and a set GPA that you must meet for initiation.

last bust not least
 

does it matter if im asian as i saw the bible thing.......


"It's not my fault. Somebody had to be the best - we just happened to be it." - Rorion Gracie


AMEN GO GRACIES!! ROyce>sakuraba

Bible thing? :confused:

No, it does not matter if you are Asian. What does matter is simply finding a group that you click with.

If you seriously look into rushing, you'll find that each chapter of each fraternity has a different personality. Although all groups should have at least some focus on academics, some chapters may be more studious than others. Some groups may be really into athletics. Etc. (I'd recommend not necessarily listening to stereotypes of chapters, which can be wrong or exaggerated - form your own impressons too.)

^

exactly
--

and yea im confused about this whole "bible thing" too ???

I'm sorry, but both of you are being just a little naive. There are plenty of chapters at many schools where, absolutely, it would matter if you were Asian, or any non-white race.

macallan25,

Would you have them answer, "oh, you're Asian; forget it" ?

Yeah, some chapters do discriminate, contrary to the non-discrimination clause of their national organizations, but I suspect that they're covered by Susan's "click with" comment.

Non-whites aren't likely to click with racist chapters, right?

No, nor did I say anything like that, I was just being honest.

Furthermore, I think it is mighty unfair for you to label chapters as discriminatory, and I think you would make quite a few people extremely upset if this is what you believe goes down in many of our selection processes. Just because you have an all white chapter, in no way, means that you routinely discriminate during the rush process.

Doesn't that somewhat contradict with what you said here:

:confused:



Anyhow, you were looking at the comments about being Asian not mattering from an individual chapter perspective - I was making the comment from the system as a whole perspective. Being Asian would not make a difference for him approaching the rush process - are there some individual chapters which might discriminate against him? Sure. (unfortunately) But would those really be the chapters he felt that he fit in at and wanted to join anyhow? Probably not.

Macallan25,

This discussion just seems goofy since you were the guy who brought it up. If you want him to know that it might matter to certain chapters that he's Asian, it doesn't seem to me to make much sense for you to turn around and say that it's wrong to assume that groups discriminate on the basis of ethnicity.

Either they do or they don't. Either it will or it won't.

But you can't really say in advance of rush: many chapters will specifically consider your being Asian, but do not assume because they are all white that they discriminate on this basis.

well
 

i went to tke rush at my old school and they were nice so iguess ill just check em out at my new schoool since iheard their the biggest or something and gegt more info there thanks.

I don't think it is contradictory to say that just because a chapter is all-white they are not necessarily racist when also saying that there are plenty of groups where it would matter.

Example: UGA has what, 23 IFC fraternities? A lot of them are all-white. Does that mean they are all racist? Of course not. Does that mean that a non-white PNM could have a chance with some of the more deeply rooted "South-will-rise-again" chapters? No. The point is that a non-white PNM would probably not be interested in a chapter that would discriminate against him because of his race.

To the OP: It is totally possible to join an IFC fraternity if you are Asian. Also totally possible to join a fraternity that was founded with Christian beliefs if you are not Christian (this is what I assume you mean by "the bible thing"). However, depending on your campus you may find that your options are more limited.

Wait... what?

It seems like you're saying it's on the PNM of color to go where they feel comfortable, but it's not the fault of the all-white (discriminatory and non-discriminatory) chapters.

Help me out, here.

Absolutely not. Here's what I said again: "The point is that a non-white PNM would probably not be interested in a chapter that would discriminate against him because of his race."

It's disgusting to me that a fraternity or sorority or any group for that matter would not be able to look past someone's color. What I am saying is that a non-white PNM would probably not be interested in a fraternity that would not be interested in him because of color. For instance, if ABC is known for being racist, he wouldn't want to join them anyway and wouldn't care that they didn't want him. It doesn't mean it's okay for a fraternity to operate that way; it just means that the PNM's not going to want to join there anyway.

DGdramadawg,

I think some chapters are all white because very few people who are anything other than white come through formal rush; the chapters make quota, stay over total and never do COB or COR (which probably covers about ten or twelve of the 18 sororities at UGA which actually are fairly diverse in every other respect other than African-American members).

Other sororities might do COB or COR or if they're fraternities do informal rush but don't end up
with much diversity in the group of people who attend their events and want to join.

It's not that I think that having all-white membership necessarily means the group discriminated against again non-whites. Non-whites may never have been interested in joining and put themselves in the running to join.

(No one would fault a NPHC group for being all Black if no one who wasn't Black showed up at the interest meeting. You've got to put yourself in the running.)

However, if you're going to jump in a thread and say, yes it will matter at some chapters that you are Asian, but it's not that those chapters discriminate by race or ethnicity, I'm going to find a that little suspicious. And it seems to me that's what happened here.

And, honestly, I do think that, particularly with fraternities and I'm not sure why it seems that way, there are some chapters that are pretty much all white because they've got a critical mass of racist members who keep anyone who is non-white from every getting a bid.

Macallan25 and I have argued about this before, and I really don't want to get that cranked up again, which is why I was sort of surprised to see him post his comment.

By the way, I think his comment was correct; there are actually chapters that will regard the OP differently as an Asian than if he had all the same credentials but was White. But I'd actually call them on having prejudiced members, and Macallan will let them off the hook.

What I've been trying to say is that some chapters discriminate, and to those chapters it will matter. To the ones who don't discriminate, it won't. I thought that was what Macallan was saying, but maybe I misread him?

And I totally agree with what you're saying about how the racist chapters stay racist. It's disgusting, isn't it?

No, that is what I was trying to say.

Fabulous. Now I think we all understand each other.

This is what I thought you were trying to say........that all-white chapters should be labeled as discriminatory.........which is not fair in the least.

Other than that, I don't know why my comments would surprise you. It is a fact that there are many chapters whose membership is reserved for a very specific demographic. If you don't fit it, chances are you aren't getting a bid.