What makes a great pledge?
 

Well? What does a great pledge do to distinguish himself? What qualities
do brothers want to see in pledges? What happens if you're not a great pledge? Other than just being dropped.

Um, if you're not a great pledge more brothers are going to make you do bitch work for them, you're going to get yelled at and singled out to be asked shit more, if you have to meet brothers/get signatures/whatever the brothers are going to make it harder for you to meet them, stuff like that.

And a great pledge knows the stuff he's been assigned to memorize for the week at the first meal of the week (or the first of whenever it is you question your pledges), meets all the brothers quickly (not just his quota every week), and cleans up/drives/does whatever task is assigned to him without bitching. That is all the shit you have to do, but unless you're also sociable and fun and go out at night the brothers will just think you're kind of a suckup. You do everything you're supposed to and are still fun, then you're a great pledge.

Personally I think a great pledge is somebody with alot of heart. All they need is to care for the fraternity. Of course hard work is also a good thing.

Well said. I actually liked pledgeship (well most of the time...) I was President of my pledge class which comes with some extra fun, but I also was at the house a lot- even when not required. At first you pay for that, but over time you get messed with very little. But it does have to be sincere. If you come off as a suckup then that is almost worse than not being around at all.

In my pledge class, the guys who got messed with the most were the ones who did not come around except when they had to and were kind of intimidated by the actives. Over time, some of them got the message and came around more- and a couple just quit because even though they were good guys, this was just not the place for them.

The best way to be a great pledge is to take your time during rush and go where you really feel like you are in the right place. When you are rushing, the place where you go and kind of fit in almost right away is usually the place you want to end up. The general structure and principles of the various IFC fraternities are quite similar, so it is really all about where you just naturally get along with the guys and the ladies they associate with. Find that and have a good time, and you will naturally be a good pledge.

This is such a simple question, but a good one. I am a bit shocked it hasn't received more responses.

Spend time with the brothers. It may be a little tougher as a pledge but you'll have close relationships, more respect from the older brothers, and a more rewarding fraternal experience.

You literally took the words outta my mouth.

Be humble in certain ways and confident in others, if you get too cocky, you will be taken down a level.

In my eyes a good pledge is one that has his priorities straight, has a good attitude, stays on top of school, and does what he's asked in a timely manner. Those are things I look for when recruiting so I expect that from our pledges throughout the semester. I think EE BO mentioned a great point that pledges will be good ones if they choose the right fraternity for them.

In addition to many of the things others have said, a good pledge is the same person during pledgeship that he was during rush, and that he will be as a brother. Being a good pledge is good, being both a good pledge and a good brother is better.

I'm not sure I agree with that. Sometimes you want your pledge to grow during the pledge process. Thats the whole reason of having a process instead of initiation right away.

Well, that's true. I meant in the sense of being at least of consistent character and commitment, or better if possible.