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

[fabulousxi]

I'm a Kappa Sig at Arkansas and know of 2 guys in the whole chapter that gel their hair...We give them shit about it everyday. Typically these few "shanes" are the ones that slip through during rush. I know of a couple "shanes" but i'd say your assumption is completely wrong. On top of that, the only negative thing I have heard about the Xi chapter is that a lot of members are arrogant and cocky...but never gelheads

[banditone]

Originally Posted by fabulousxi

I'm a Kappa Sig at Arkansas and know of 2 guys in the whole chapter that gel their hair...We give them shit about it everyday. Typically these few "shanes" are the ones that slip through during rush. I know of a couple "shanes" but i'd say your assumption is completely wrong. On top of that, the only negative thing I have heard about the Xi chapter is that a lot of members are arrogant and cocky...but never gelheads

2....

[fabulousxi]

1)Definately did not go to any lake or get hazed on bid day...
2)I haven't met any transfer student from LSU that lived in the house this past year.
3)A) I know quite of few AOPi's...On this campus, AOPi's are relatively new and do not come over that often.
B) At Arkansas, the sorority bid day is before school starts and (if i remember correctly) happens right around (if not before) the house is even open to move back in.

In other threads, you say at "our" chapter we do this and that referring to Arkansas Xi...and now you are talking shit about "our" chapter? If you seriously think this...then you are not a part of MY chapter

I'm not trying to start anything or call you out, but don't rag on a chapter of YOUR fraternity that is far superior to the one you transferred from.

[BigRedBeta]

For those that asked...

We've never needed to "fill space" in my chapter. Our chapter house is usually full with several juniors actually having to live out because we don't have the space. We do summer rush, so our pledges live in, but we only have spots for 21, and if we want to go bigger we have to find pledges that want to live out. In the time since I was a freshman, till now (6 pledge classes total) we've had only 1 class that started out below 21, which was a year in which the rush chairs' performance was an anomaly, combined with very low numbers of guys going through to begin with.


Are there possible exceptions in the future that we might take a junior? Sure, but it seems unlikely. Not to sound cocky, but given our campus involvement (just greeks in general at my school), if a guy did go through as a junior that on paper appeared to be a good fit for my chapter, we'd probably have someone who already knew him and would likely know the reasons he would or would not be worth a bid. Thinking about it personally, if it was me that knew the kid and found him to be a great fit, I'd still worry about his commitment to the chapter, what he was looking to get out of joining, and also what sort of things were coming up for him in the future...If it's a kid who is pre-med or pre-law, is he going to spend all second semester studying for the MCAT or LSAT? If he's in business is he going to be doing an internship somewhere during the summer, and thus not be around to help during rush? There's just too many questions that I'd need answered to my satisfaction to believe that the chapter and the man in question would both be helped. Even if the kid was a rockstar, there are just so many things that would go against the dynamic of my chapter...like getting him in to leadership roles within the house (b/c if he's that good at that point, shouldn't he be on the list?). Except that we don't elect pledges to executive positions (they initiate in january, elections are in November). And if he gains a cabinet level position - well the important positions at that level are where we place the future leaders of the chapter so they get some experience and grooming for the future, and then this "awesome guy" is left being the historian, sergeant-at-arms, or public relations chair...pretty much BS positions. (I was historian for a term because I pretty much dominated Beta lore but it's nothing I'd ever list as one of my leadership accomplishments.)

All in all the more I think about the more remote a possibility it becomes for my chapter - not that it wouldn't work at another, even on my campus (the guy who did rush as a junior did sign with another house), just not my chapter.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by BigRedBeta

For those that asked...

We've never needed to "fill space" in my chapter. Our chapter house is usually full with several juniors actually having to live out because we don't have the space. We do summer rush, so our pledges live in, but we only have spots for 21, and if we want to go bigger we have to find pledges that want to live out. In the time since I was a freshman, till now (6 pledge classes total) we've had only 1 class that started out below 21, which was a year in which the rush chairs' performance was an anomaly, combined with very low numbers of guys going through to begin with.


Are there possible exceptions in the future that we might take a junior? Sure, but it seems unlikely. Not to sound cocky, but given our campus involvement (just greeks in general at my school), if a guy did go through as a junior that on paper appeared to be a good fit for my chapter, we'd probably have someone who already knew him and would likely know the reasons he would or would not be worth a bid. Thinking about it personally, if it was me that knew the kid and found him to be a great fit, I'd still worry about his commitment to the chapter, what he was looking to get out of joining, and also what sort of things were coming up for him in the future...If it's a kid who is pre-med or pre-law, is he going to spend all second semester studying for the MCAT or LSAT? If he's in business is he going to be doing an internship somewhere during the summer, and thus not be around to help during rush? There's just too many questions that I'd need answered to my satisfaction to believe that the chapter and the man in question would both be helped. Even if the kid was a rockstar, there are just so many things that would go against the dynamic of my chapter...like getting him in to leadership roles within the house (b/c if he's that good at that point, shouldn't he be on the list?). Except that we don't elect pledges to executive positions (they initiate in january, elections are in November). And if he gains a cabinet level position - well the important positions at that level are where we place the future leaders of the chapter so they get some experience and grooming for the future, and then this "awesome guy" is left being the historian, sergeant-at-arms, or public relations chair...pretty much BS positions. (I was historian for a term because I pretty much dominated Beta lore but it's nothing I'd ever list as one of my leadership accomplishments.)

All in all the more I think about the more remote a possibility it becomes for my chapter - not that it wouldn't work at another, even on my campus (the guy who did rush as a junior did sign with another house), just not my chapter.

At my school, we had a fair number of men and women who transferred in from two-year colleges. Most of them spent an additional three years on campus. I guess my question was more about people who were new to the campus, rather than guys who hung out for two years without pledging.

[RU OX Alum]

well the average graduation time at my alma mater went from 4 to 5 and a half, so yeah, why not?

[shinerbock]

Same questions apply. Why are you here now. Where did you go originally, why did you leave, etc. Leaving somewhere can indicate things we don't want. I mean if you went to Berkley and decided it was too bleeding heart, that could be a valid excuse. However, if you transfer from Ole Miss to UGA, people are naturally going to make the assumption you couldn't cut it at Ole Miss. Our university is a big part of our fraternity (hence you have southern chapters that would side with another fraternity at their school over one of their own chapters from somewhere else). We also never had any people affiliate.

[Tom Earp]

Originally Posted by ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl

We've initiated several as sophomores, but I'm not aware of any that got initiated as juniors. That wouldn't be a death sentence, but it would be taken into consideration, I think. Personally I'd wonder why they are only interested in joining so late in the game, and I'd want them to be the type of person who would really be involved. I think it would make a huge difference as to whether or not they knew a lot of us, too, because then we'd have a better idea of why they wanted to join and what we could do for them and they could do for us.

Key Point!!!

Never leave anyone out, You may never know how strong they can be and what the can do for you.

[g41965]

I can't see why a chapter would vote against a Soph. Fraternities don't have quotas like the NPC's do so if you fit in you should get a bid.