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Originally Posted by ugain08
I am in your same boat. Most of the fraternities at UGA that are likely to decline someone based off of not being a freshman are likely to not give you a chance anyways unless you are well connected (just from what I have been told). Though being a senior and rushing may be a different story regardless of situation...
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Solid advice.
Rnead- while naturally it varies from chapter to chapter, it also varies from campus to campus whether non-freshmen generally have a good shot at rushing a fraternity.
At a school with a very competitive Greek system, like Georgia, top and mid tier houses will have lots of rushees competing for a small number of pledge class spots. And a great many of those rushees will come to Georgia as freshman already knowing they want to go Greek and already having many friends from their pre-college days who are at Georgia and in fraternities.
If a chapter can fill its pledge class with freshman who are legacies and/or are already know to the chapter as solid potential members- then it does not make sense to not take a person like that so that a sophomore new to Greek life can take that spot. And the top tier houses will fall into this category. Does not mean it is impossible for a sophomore, but the odds are against you unless you know several people in that chapter who really want you to join.
This has nothing to do with you personally- it is just a matter of choosing between a freshman who is already known to the chapter and who will be there to pay dues for 4 years versus a sophomore who is an unknown entity and who will only be there to pay dues for 3 years.
One good thing about Georgia compared to many other top southern Greek systems is that there is a very broad range of solid mid-tier houses with good sized chapters that have good social schedules with sororities. And many of those houses regularly rush and recruit sophomores. So you should have some good choices- more than you might at other campuses.
As for juniors and seniors, that really is just about impossible at a school like Georgia. It happens, but it is rare. By the time I was a junior in college, I was still living in the house but I was getting a little past my time to really be living it up and going to every party etc. And that same thing applied to most of my other friends. Junior and senior year are still times to have fun, but they are also times to be thinking about getting through upper division courses, grad school or getting a job- certainly not pledging a fraternity.
Do you have friends in fraternities at Georgia? That is who I would suggest you talk to next. Also any ladies you are friends with who are in sororities. If you can come into fall rush with members of the Greek community to vouch for you and support you, that will go a long way to putting you in a position to have good choices. Going into formal rush without having done that will be very risky indeed.