Harder for older students to join?

[JensLindgren]

I'm a junior, looking to join a fraternity or start a chapter of one, a lot of thought is going into both options right now.

Of the fraternities at my school which I have checked out, they've all told me the same thing, that it's "never too late" to join, but I think they mean "as long as your still a undergrad", and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't give say, a 45 year old a bid. But joining one in one's third or even fourth year isn't unheard of, I know a few people who've done just that.

Jen

[Benzgirl]

Originally Posted by JensLindgren

I'm a junior, looking to join a fraternity or start a chapter of one, a lot of thought is going into both options right now.

Of the fraternities at my school which I have checked out, they've all told me the same thing, that it's "never too late" to join, but I think they mean "as long as your still a undergrad", and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't give say, a 45 year old a bid. But joining one in one's third or even fourth year isn't unheard of, I know a few people who've done just that.

Jen

IMHO....I think Fraternities look at things a little differently than Sororities.

When I rushed (that shows my age there), I believe every house admitted Sophomores, but it was limited in some houses. Some sororities admitted Juniors, but not that many Juniors went through recruitment. I am not aware than anyone banned Seniors, but I can't remember any rushing or receiving a bid.

Frats.....I knew Seniors that pledged.

Bottom line....It's all up to the chapter.

[MaryAmanda]

It also depends on the type of group it is. I joined my local as a fourth year. In OPA, we've had plenty of pledge classes with no freshmen at all (a trend we made sure to discontinue--at one point, we were about to lose about half of our membership to graduation, so we recruited freshmen girls like crazy that semester!).

Also, my boyfriend joined Phi Kappa Sigma as a fifth year. Most GT students (I think the number is something like 70%) take more than four years to graduate, and their chapter was small at the time. From my experience, though, I've never seen a fraternity put a cap on how many bids to hand out or pledges to take in. Especially if a chapter is struggling with numbers; they can afford to mostly focus on quantity during rush, then determine quality later.