okay ya'll. round two. last night was still a rotation round, so he actually got to visit all five houses. However, it was only for 30 minutes this time.
Fraternity #1 - This is the house he didn't get to visit monday night. Here, he had some subs/hoagies and played some ping-pong with the brothers. He said they had a great house, but the guys were pretty young (my fiance is 24 now) and that they really reminded him of his youngest brother.
He also said that they had a lot of members and that it felt kinda like an assembly line when he was meeting all of them. He said he thought that he'd like a smaller chapter where he could get to know all of the guys really well.
Fraternity #2 - This is the house that caused the pizza fire last time. He said that this house was just okay. They had a couple of alums from '69 and '71 over there who made short little speeches. My fiance is former military and he didn't like the idea of "draft dodgers" speaking to everybody. I tried to explain to him that all fraternities had members during the Vietnam years, but he said "those guys aren't my hero's and I don't respect them, so I didn't really want to hear them speak". Other than that, no fires tonight and the guys, overall, weren't bad.
Fraternity #3 - Still in his top two! He had some more great conversations. These guys remind him of his best friend in high school. Would feel at home here even though most of their majors are Ag science and Ag business. Wonders if he can get a bid if he's a bio major and chem minor? Other than that, he helped one of the brothers with his chemistry homework and had a great time. After all of the rounds were over, he went back to this house (to get his car) but ended up talking and hanging out for 'bout a half-hour.
Fraternity #4 - I wish that I could find something nice to say 'bout this house, but he hated it. Apparently, two of the guys in the house were badmouthing other houses on the first night (he didn't tell me that originally). So he spent a lot of time avoiding those guys, cause he thought it was really rude. They also had an alum speaker who spoke about how great the chapter is, how they're building a new house, how great their GPA is, and how they NEVER talk bad 'bout other fraternities. Well, being the outspoken individual that my fiance is (kinda like me actually), he went up to the alum after the speech and told him that his boys DO speak bad 'bout other fraternities, pointed out the guys, and said he really didn't think it was appropriate for them to make the alum look like a liar. Those guys apologized after the alum got done speaking to him but all my fiance could say was - "last year 'bout this time, one of your brothers invited my fiance to a party. when she told him that she wanted to bring me, her fiance, that guy told her that it was 'invitation only' and that he was sorry". Apparently the brother that he was talking to could only be like "man i'm sorry, sometimes you get a couple of bad apples". Well, my fiance told him that he didn't want to associate with bad apples and that his fiance prolly didn't either. He doesn't think he'll get invited back to this house. Ah well. He didn't like them, but he said he felt better once he left the house.
Fraternity #5 - Still a top also. Tonight they had some subs and played poker at the house. These guys are "pretty cool" and he thinks he'd fit in here. One of the guys gave him his cell number to get in touch with him. He really hit it off with this guy. He said it's kinda weird going through a house where you already know a a lot of people. Cause the conversations are a little different and it's a little relaxed but a little tense too. Fun fun.
So - he narrowed it down to number 3 and number 5. Tomorrow is open night and number three is going to a putt putt/batting cages/go cart place. Number 5 is having a bbq and bowling thingy. He's checking 'bout if he can go to both, cause he really likes 'em both. I told him to go with his heart and be happy. And pick a group that you would be proud to call your brothers. Soooooooo...we'll see how tonight goes and hopefully I'll have some more information for ya'll. Sorry that was so long. Gawd, I can't imagine if I'd known 'bout this place when I went through rush.
edited to answer these questions -
[Is the Pref dinner invite only? Can he only attend one Pref dinner or a couple of them? Is the entire week no girls no alcohol or just the opening night? How does he like the process so far? ]
Pref dinner is invite only - he can get more than one invite, but it would be difficult to do more than one. However, I think that it IS possible to do two. The entire week is girl and alcohol free. I thought that was nice. And - so far he doesn't mind the process. In his own words - "there's only five of em and this way I'm really sure about the ones I DON'T like." Lovely huh? Also, had they not had to visit all five houses - " I never would have met the _______ house (fraternity number 3), so that's cool".
marissa