Does being a sophomore or above matter when looking to join a fraternity?

goldtiger1 · #1 02-11-2007, 07:39 AM

I was just wondering if your school class correlates with your acceptance rate into a fraternity. I realize that some fraternities do not mind, but I was more or less interested in hearing about what southern fraternities think about it, esp. at LSU.

BigRedBeta · #2 02-11-2007, 12:29 PM

It really depends on the school and the chapter. Some places being a junior won't matter, but at a lot of places it raises a lot of red flags.

If I had to guess (given the culture of Southern Fraternity life, and even just at other big greek schools like my own) @ LSU, it probably matters. Being a sophomore is likely not an automatic deal breaker, but being a junior is.

In my chapter at a more northerly school, we routinely rushed sophomores, if they were an excellent fit, but didn't give them quite the benefit of the doubt we gave freshmen. We had one junior go through rush while I was in the chapter, and he really didn't have a chance. There were plenty of questions: why now? how is he going to mesh with his pledge brothers? how is going to handle having to do study hours and the other things required during pledge semester, when he's already had 2 years on his own? what about his other friends, are we essentially a free party for them? What happens when he turns 21, is he just going to ditch his pledge class? What is he really going to bring to the house and his pledge class in only 2 years?

Those were the types of things we looked at. In the end, the guy was a jackass so we didn't have to worry about it, but the experience and going through those types of questions pretty much made everyone's minds up not to rush juniors in the future.

If you're a sophomore, then certainly rush, but if you're a junior, then you better have some good reasons and be able to answer some of the questions posed above.

Robh88 · #3 02-12-2007, 06:22 PM

I go to LSU and being a sophmore is not a huge deal when you are going through rush. Just be sure to have some kind of reason like your parents wouldn't let you due to grades or you transfered. While it is more traditional to rush as a freshmen, you should already know some people since you are a sophmore, so that might actually help your chances. Will you be rushing next fall or this spring. Waiting until junior year is pretty rare and unless you are good friends with some people, it would be pretty tough to get into a top house, but some of the smaller fraternities would still be interested. Send me a message if you have any other questions.

goldtiger1 · #4 02-12-2007, 08:52 PM

Being concerned with my grades was kind of the case with me not going through rush at the beginning. Once I'm dedicated to something, I want to put everything I have in it, and I was anxious I would hurt my grades. I'm a sophomore right now, but I'm switching my major this semester, which is definitely going to push me back a year, and not to mention I had to resign last semester because of reasons. So I probably still have a bit of time left in college hah. If I were to go through rush it would probably be in the fall semester this year. I definitely understand where you were coming from with questioning that one guy bigredbeta, I'm just hoping it isn't like that with me if I decide to go through with it because I definitely don't want to do it because of the free rides into parties.

Elephant Walk · #5 02-12-2007, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robh88

I go to LSU and being a sophmore is not a huge deal when you are going through rush. Just be sure to have some kind of reason like your parents wouldn't let you due to grades or you transfered. While it is more traditional to rush as a freshmen, you should already know some people since you are a sophmore, so that might actually help your chances. Will you be rushing next fall or this spring. Waiting until junior year is pretty rare and unless you are good friends with some people, it would be pretty tough to get into a top house, but some of the smaller fraternities would still be interested. Send me a message if you have any other questions.

Let me guess, 3rd tier bottom feeder.
Yes it absolutely does matter. If you know we hate the spring's because they rushed in the spring instead of the 1st semester, what do you think we think about sophomores rushing in the fall?

James · #6 02-12-2007, 11:41 PM

I didn't realize some chapters took what year you were so seriously.

Do you guys subscribe to some wierd formal rush rule that limits the amount of people you can take?

So if you have some real athletic guy with a cool personality and acceptable grades you will disqualify him based on his year even if you have space in the chapter?

Why?

shinerbock · #7 02-12-2007, 11:49 PM

Being a sophomore is not a deal breaker at AU or UGA, but it does raise eyebrows. Some top tier places may not give you a chance because of it. If you're a junior, its unlikely you'll get in a decent place.

Edit: the best shot for a sophomore is to have a valid reason for not pledging their first reason and be well connected to the previous pledge class. The only non-freshmen we took were a couple of people who had a lot of friends in the pledge class before them, but for some reason couldn't rush their first year. Usually those guys would come to parties and what not, so most of the brothers were already friends with them. Thats the only time you really saw non freshmen come through.