So many good fraternities, which one to join?

[Lucky SC]

Alright i'm in an interesting situation and i need a little advice from the people here, i have been reading posts for the past few weeks looking for some information and i finally decided to register here and post my question.

I'm a freshman at the University of South Carolina (GO COCKS!), and i am going to be pledging this spring to a fraternity.

I have narrowed it down to Sigma Nu, Sigma Chi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Kappa Sigma, or Kappa Alpha Order. All of them are pretty solid here, but i wish it was that easy.

I am originally from Georgia, and i wanted to go to UGA but couldn't get in, so i might try and transfer back there Freshman year. I'm also considering transferring to UVA, Duke, or Wake Forest.

So the question is, has anyone heard good things about these fraternties at any of these schools. I don't know where i want to go, so i want to be sure if i join a fraternity here i like and transfer, that i'll still be with a good group of guys i like, because i am not sure about my future plans.



I know thats an off the wall question, but if anyone has insight at any of these schools, please fill me in.

[KSUViolet06]

I'm not a guy so I don't know what SEC rush is like for upperclassmen/transfers, but (if possible) maybe you should hold off on rush until you actually are at the school you want to be at.

[Kevin]

Join the house where you feel you fit the best. I'm sure those are all great houses. You'll have a great experience in any of them. Good luck with your choice.

I do believe Sigma Nu's current Grand Regent is from the South Carolina chapter -- Jay Pitts. Hell of a guy. Other than him, I've never really had much to do with any of their actives. I'm sure they're good people though.

[Lucky SC]

Originally Posted by Kevin

Join the house where you feel you fit the best. I'm sure those are all great houses. You'll have a great experience in any of them. Good luck with your choice.

I do believe Sigma Nu's current Grand Regent is from the South Carolina chapter -- Jay Pitts. Hell of a guy. Other than him, I've never really had much to do with any of their actives. I'm sure they're good people though.

ya they are, i know guys in all of them, mostly pledges from the freshman class. i think jay is actually from my hometown, marietta, GA. Assuming that the Grand Regent is the president, my friend who just went through in Sigma Nu told me that

[banditone]

Greek life is strong at SC, I have a hard time believing you will leave after a year. Most likely the school will grab you and you'll have too much fun and too many friends to leave behind.

Anyways, I can't speak on any but SN. Very strong at SC, Georgia used to be tops then lost their house (fire) and had tough years - but back and growing, UVA is our oldest chapter - so tons of tradition, don't know much more about them. Wake is a large chapter. Not sure about Duke.

[Tom Earp]

lucky SC,

you need to check out the different GLOs and find the best fit for yo. All that you mentioned are great national organizations.

One thing else to keep in mind, if you do join one of them, you may find you really like S C and just stay there!


Good Luck!

[Lucky SC]

very good info guys, thankyou.

yea i actually did the fraternity Chi Psi the first part of the year there and they got put on probation and i ended up really not liking my pledge brothers, they were all from very different backgrounds and i didn't really relate to them. second half of the semester was really boring without the fraternity.

thats probably whats got me thinking about transfer, i guess first step is to find a fraternity i like in the spring, and then at the end of the semester i can think about transferring.

[LaneSig]

Originally Posted by Lucky SC

thats probably whats got me thinking about transfer, i guess first step is to find a fraternity i like in the spring, and then at the end of the semester i can think about transferring.

Problem: Just because you like, get along, and "have something in common" with the members of the chapter of your current campus doesn't mean you will like, get along, and "have something in common" with the members of another chapter of the same fraternity.

When I was an undergrad, my chapter was known for being laid-back and fairly low-key. Most of the members worked jobs because we had to, not because we wanted to. The other chapter in our state was known for being full of wealthy, well connected members. Although we got along and had a common goal through our fraternity, our chapters could not have been more dissimilar in personality.

Food for thought.

[Lucky SC]

Originally Posted by LaneSig

Problem: Just because you like, get along, and "have something in common" with the members of the chapter of your current campus doesn't mean you will like, get along, and "have something in common" with the members of another chapter of the same fraternity.

When I was an undergrad, my chapter was known for being laid-back and fairly low-key. Most of the members worked jobs because we had to, not because we wanted to. The other chapter in our state was known for being full of wealthy, well connected members. Although we got along and had a common goal through our fraternity, our chapters could not have been more dissimilar in personality.

Food for thought.

yea i know. i'm actually leaning heavily on Sigma Chi . Most of the fraternities here are guys from southern backgrounds that are from south carolina or a neighboring state. I'm pretty confident though that i can make friends at any school i did transfer to, even if i don't connect to the chapter as a whole theres gotta be a few good guys in it.

i just wanted to get a general conception out of the ones i like at USC if they were good guys at the other schools.

all the info is very helpful guys.

[dukedg]

Originally Posted by Lucky SC

I have narrowed it down to Sigma Nu, Sigma Chi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Kappa Sigma, or Kappa Alpha Order. All of them are pretty solid here, but i wish it was that easy.

I am originally from Georgia, and i wanted to go to UGA but couldn't get in, so i might try and transfer back there Freshman year. I'm also considering transferring to UVA, Duke, or Wake Forest.

Duke info: Sigma Nu, Sigma Chi and Kappa Alpha Order are all on-campus fraternities that are recognized by IFC and have housing on campus. Kappa Sigma and Sigma Alpha Epsilon are no longer affiliated with their national organizations, in fact "SAE" is now affiliated with a different national fraternity. (Everyone at Duke still calls them "Kappa Sig" and "SAE", though.) They are both off-campus and, thus, do not have on-campus housing. I'm pretty sure "Kappa Sig" is also not associated with the national organization because they tried to go by a different name for a while. Anyway, if you were a Kappa Sig or SAE at USC and then transferred you would not be a member of either of these groups.

[tallgreekalum]

Originally Posted by dukedg

Duke info: Sigma Nu, Sigma Chi and Kappa Alpha Order are all on-campus fraternities that are recognized by IFC and have housing on campus. Kappa Sigma and Sigma Alpha Epsilon are no longer affiliated with their national organizations, in fact "SAE" is now affiliated with a different national fraternity. (Everyone at Duke still calls them "Kappa Sig" and "SAE", though.) They are both off-campus and, thus, do not have on-campus housing. I'm pretty sure "Kappa Sig" is also not associated with the national organization because they tried to go by a different name for a while. Anyway, if you were a Kappa Sig or SAE at USC and then transferred you would not be a member of either of these groups.

The other national is Alpha Delta Phi. They haven't been SAE for over six years. I believe that SAE is recruiting next year

[dukedg]

Originally Posted by tallgreekalum

The other national is Alpha Delta Phi. They haven't been SAE for over six years. I believe that SAE is recruiting next year

SAE is starting a new chapter at Duke next year? That should be interesting and confusing considering everyone still calls the old SAE/Alpha Delta Phi guys "SAE"!

[CamiloDU]

Heh, well there IS a Delta Upsilon chapter at SoCar and then you can transfer to my chapter at UF, I know how you dawgs love the Gators and all

[Lucky SC]

Originally Posted by CamiloDU

Heh, well there IS a Delta Upsilon chapter at SoCar and then you can transfer to my chapter at UF, I know how you dawgs love the Gators and all

haha i'm even more bitter towards them being a dawg my whole life. poor mcfadden

[southernfrat]

if you are going to transfer and still pledge next semester than KA is a good choice if you are going to stay in the South as generally they are top-tier. SAE is also very strong and Sigma Chi has good chapters too