Regret not rushing?
 

Well I'm in my senior of college and I've been thinking to myself, should I have rushed?

I had a blast Freshman year all the parties, friends, everything. I did rush and pledge a fraternity but it wasn't for me. I found my own crowd and never really attended anything. I didn't really connect well with the brothers and was probably not going to initiate. I didn't really get the whole concept of a fraternity at first. Long story short they did the hard work and balled me.

My roommate was part of another fraternity, I got along well with his pledge class and some of the brothers. I partied with them a few times, but didn't attend everything, after all I wasn't in the fraternity. I was invited to rush them but never did. I felt it would be awkward and I had a negative experience with my previous fraternity. I thought it would have been "weird" to rush as a sophmore. What if I got balled and not accepted by the other brothers? I was a little scared of getting close to new people and didn't like the thought of my "brothers" grilling me about my past. Plus I really don't like commitment and think back to my past decisions as you can tell by the demeanor of this post.

I had the money for college and even a fraternity but I didnt want to waste it all so I worked. Long story short is my friends drop out, move, join the military, graduate. It's now me and my girlfriend and a small group of friends. I'm ready for my career but now that I look back I kind of wish I didn't spend my whole college life working. A fraternity would have been fun and I would have met many of good people.

There are a lot of fraternity douchebags, but I also met a lot of smart genuine people. I kind of regret not rushing, but I'm too old now :(. Maybe I should get involved on campus but I don't know, after all I got one semester left. I feel like I've made my bed and hit the point of no return. I don't mind being a GDI but just wish I hadn't cut away my options.

My advice is don't worry about what the people think and have fun! Rush, try it and meet new people. Don't worry about the money! Even if you have to take a loan what's the additional $500 a semester. That's $4000, not much to have a great experience and meet many good people. There's power in networking and you will make that money back!

Just thought i'de sign up here and get that out. I've been dwelling on the thought for a while.

Cool story, but I'm not sure I would ever advise someone to take out a loan for an extracurricular. Dues may be $X per semester, but there are often other fees that are associated with Greek life.

I do agree that Greek life has been great and would encourage folks to check it out.

Some schools have semester-loans (a few hundred dollars) that are meant to be used for whatever the students wants them to be used for. You have to repay the loan by the end of the semester. When I was in school, GLOers used those loans all of the time for applicant fees.

I disagree. Student loans are probably the worst type of loan. I'd never recommend anyone taking one out just to join Greek Life.

In chapters with large houses, members sometimes pay less to live in than they would for other campus housing, so with social dues, it's a wash.

Money that would otherwise be used towards socializing with friends and having fun should be the same money that's used to pay dues.

Believe it or not, money is still an important issue when rushing. Rushees should know full well what the dues are and where they are allocated to. This is so that they don't waste their time pledging when they cannot pay it, and get dropped subsequently.

There is always the option to just enjoy rush weeks and not accept bids if money is a big issue. Or try talking to the treasurer about it, payment plans are most likely available.

Is anyone else completely confused by this?

Your question should be whether you should have RE-rushed.

You let your hangups about whether re-rushing would be "weird" (even when the fraternity members explicitly invited you, and depending on campus culture, that might have really involved them sticking their necks out) stop you from enjoying brotherhood. That was a bad mistake, but there's nothing you can do about it now. Just consider that the lesson learned and don't let what other people think deter you from taking a risk.

@ The author,

You stopped yourself from becoming involved. I'm a third year and over this past summer I had the same thought as you whether or not I am too old to rush...but it is really never too late, my pledge class for fall 2011 had a senior. It is really all in your head, if you feel it is okay then go for it.