[lifesaver]

Give the dude from down under a break....

He's probably only going from the stereotypes he sees on TV (ahem, MTV Sorority life...now do yall fools understand what were all bitching about on the MTV and sorority thread? thanks for the timely example..couldnt have illustrated it better myself), so if hes uninformed of the system, lets not get so snippy ladies, K?

Many of my brothers initially (myself included) only joined for the parties, but were fortunate to find out that there is a lot more to the system than booze, and I think I have made a positive contribution to the greek system and my org. How many of you cant say social was a consideration in membership? All of us can claim we wanted "brotherhood" in retrospect, but we had no concept of what it was, so we cant claim that was our motivating factor, please.

Mr Aussie,

Welcome to the US. Many party schools also have good academic programs, so you can have both. I understand that you may be wanting the quenticential "American College Experience" thats fine, but yaoull need to understand a few things. 1) Academics will have to be important. Most all groups will have a GPA requirement for new members. 2) We dont haze. Its not even polite to talk about it, really. 3) I cant speak for other groups, but we have accepted several members who we knew were only here for a year or so. We arent selfish about it on the chapter level and refuse to take soemone because it would only benefit us fr a set period of time. Our opinion is that were Lambda Chi's FIRST and Phi-Upsilons (Chapter designation) SECOND. We do whats good for the brotherhood. If we see a potential new member who coulkd make a lifetime contribution to the org, he is absolutely considered.

As for the rush thing. Most all fraternitys recruit in both fall and spring semesters. Traditionally, fall is when the biggest new member classes come in (unless the university only allows freshman to rush after a semester, called deffered rush). As for living situations.. they are completely different at each university. GENERALLY at the bigger schools, the situation is often that you move into a dorm, but can transfer to a house after you affilliate. Check the school websites you are interested in, look for the greek life pages or IFC (Interfraternity Council - the governing body mfor fraternities, and a clearing house for information, and the ones who organize and schedule the rush process) section in student life / student affairs part of the schools web pages for further information. Hope this helps. Good luck.