[sfoc]

i just want to ditto the whole 'forget what everyone else says' --

my Lambda Chi chapter has had its fair share of people talking shit about us for various reasons including

1. we don't haze

2. we are pretty diverse. majority is still white but we are the only IFC fraternity that has as many hispanic, asian, and black brothers in the numbers that we have. we also are pretty diverse in terms other than race, we have -- conservatives, liberals, ultra fratty types, non fratty people, big city kids, small town kids etc, yet we are all really cool with each other. alot of the other fraternities here are devoted to that southern ultra fratty lifestyle, and the equate our diversity with 'trying to fill quotas'

3. we're the largest fraternity on campus which in trash talkers terms means 'we let in anyone'

even i bought into alot of those rumors and trash talk when i was nongreek which lead me to rushing 2 other fraternities which turned out to not really be what i was looking for even though they were the 'it' fraternities of the time.

well i finally decided to rush LCA bc i was a legacy and i had met a couple of them and they were pretty cool guys. i still had the trash talk in the back of my mind, but i was trying to forget it bc the guys that rushed me were so cool.

well i associated LCA about a month ago and its been one of the best decisions i've ever made. now that i'm on the inside of lambda chi i can defend my fraternity and clear up some of the rumours about us

1. we don't haze -- why would you want to alienate your pledges away from the rest of the fraternity, isn't it sposed to be all about brothehood? ok, yeah, you can hit me, now lets be friends. that just doesn't work for me

2. we are diverse -- anyone that thinks minorities don't belong in IFC fraternities is racist. period, end of sentence. brotherhood transcends race, economic status, political views etc.

3. we're the largest chapter on campus -- yes, it's true we have big pledge classes, and we have the largest fraternity on campus. but thats because we're so badass and everyone wants to be in LCA because our brotherhood is so tight. also, keep in mind that 100% of our pledges initiate at the end of the pledge period, and the frats that talk shit about us usually get half to 3/4 of their pledge classes to initiate. we are probably the most expensive fraternity on campus too in terms of dues, so the fact that guys STILL want to stay in, says alot about our brotherhood. we are #2 in grades, have the biggest house (and its on sorority row), and the hot sororities always hitup our parties. i don't think that constitutes 'we let anyone in'. i think its pure jealousy

so the moral of the story is to ignore what everyone says and go where you feel the most comfortable. things should just feel right. for me the biggest signals were the fact that i didn't feel like i was trying to impress everyone or had to pretend to be some one else. it wasn't stressful at all when i went to the LCA rush events and i wasn't nervous. it felt like it was the missing piece to the puzzle.

keep these things in mind, and have an awesome rush!