Prohibiting 1st Semester Freshmen From Pledging

[icicle22]

Originally Posted by RedRover

His older brother chimed in that forbidding first semester freshmen from pledging might not be such a bad idea. He said he pledged as a first semester sophomore at a large public university. The older brother said that the first semester of college can be traumatic. He said he had a year to assess the various fraternities on campus, learn their reputations and was able to figure out which Greek letter organization would be the best fit for him. He added that a number of men who had pledged as freshmen "burned out" as members, going inactive before graduation. He said too often these men made poor choices in choosing their fraternity memberships, accelerated because there were numerous fraternities and too little time for make a proper assessment as a college freshman.

He has a point, but the first semester of college for anyone could be beneficial because you get to meet a whole of people.

[33girl]

I completely agree with prohibiting first semester freshmen from pledging. Here's why:

1. Joining other campus orgs (yearbook staff, football team etc) is not a lifetime commitment. Greek life should be. Will it really kill you to wait a semester if you're going to be a brother/sister your whole life?

2. Shortened pledge programs have been mandated by many universities and national GLOs. Often times people are initiated before they have their first semester's grades (and subsequently flunk out or leave the school) or know whether that college is truly the right fit for them. I know a lot of the propaganda says "going Greek your first semester helps you fit in at a big campus", but the fact is, going Greek won't prevent you from being in classes taught by TAs instead of real professors, or hating that the whole school culture revolves around football. You can't "hide" in your GLO. It's part of the campus, and you can't know what the campus is truly like until you actually live there and go to class there.

And once you're initiated - you're stuck (females anyway). Unless you transfer to another school with your sorority you can never join another one, and even if there is a chapter of your sorority there, they might be completely the opposite of the chapter you joined and you want nothing to do w/ them or vice versa.

3. Rushees know the stereotypes going in. I take this as a PLUS. Formal rush can be really phony and superficial, so if that's the only time you've had any contact w/ these people, it can be hard to make a decision - especially if you don't know anyone else on campus. Plus a lot of times, chapters are rushing in a way that isn't really "them" (especially if they're getting national help). We had deferred and never had anyone say after joining "I'm so disappointed, I thought you guys were the sorority that had all the homecoming queens" or something like that. I'd rather have a girl who's heard all the stereotypes, positive AND negative, and goes where she wants, not necessarily to where she would have thought was great her first week on campus.

4. "Dirty rushing" happens at every campus, no matter WHEN rush is. Some of the pre-freshman year schools supposedly have their whole class picked out from recs and resumes before the school year even starts. If that isn't "dirty" I don't know what is.

5. Less chance of burnout. If all you've ever known is your GLO, after 4 years I can't see how it WOULDN'T be on your nerves. If burnout isn't a problem, why are so many national groups implementing special programs to keep the seniors involved?

The NPHC groups do not allow first semester freshmen to pledge - and they seem to have much less of a problem instilling the fact that membership is a lifetime commitment. I'm not saying there aren't NPHC members that leave their GLO behind the minute they graduate, but for the most part, you hear from the 40 year olds "I am an AKA" not "I was an AKA."

And to the OP's question, it's not just private schools that do this.

[SmartBlondeGPhB]

Originally Posted by 33girl

And to the OP's question, it's not just private schools that do this.

Correct, it's referred to as deferred recruitment and it's more common than the OP thinks.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by 33girl

The NPHC groups do not allow first semester freshmen to pledge

If there are no chapter or university-established restrictions, people can pledge an NPHC org as a first semester freshman. They have to have the necessary credit hours and GPA for the Fall line. Some of us had that as first and second semester freshmen but thank God we had to wait.

Pursuing membership as a first semester freshman doesn't happen too often but 2nd semester freshmen initiates are common, particularly for certain organizations with different credit hour requirements.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

If there are no chapter or university-established restrictions, people can pledge an NPHC org as a first semester freshman. They have to have the necessary credit hours and GPA for the Fall line. Some of us had that as first and second semester freshmen but thank God we had to wait.

Do you mean if they tested out of courses and got the credits, took college courses while still in high school and got the credits, things like that?

That same thing can happen w/ NPC deferred rush too.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by 33girl

Do you mean if they tested out of courses and got the credits, took college courses while still in high school and got the credits, things like that?

That same thing can happen w/ NPC deferred rush too.

Yes. Also, many universities offer summer courses to incoming freshman so they are able to have a college GPA and at least 12 credits before the Fall. I was in such a program.

My point is that the NPHC as a whole does not forbid first semester freshmen.

[tld221]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

If there are no chapter or university-established restrictions, people can pledge an NPHC org as a first semester freshman. They have to have the necessary credit hours and GPA for the Fall line. Some of us had that as first and second semester freshmen but thank God we had to wait.

Pursuing membership as a first semester freshman doesn't happen too often but 2nd semester freshmen initiates are common, particularly for certain organizations with different credit hour requirements.

Is it? Chalk it up to regional differences, but almost every greek i know who came in on the UG level were sophomore/junior level. Im sure hypothetically it happens, but is it "common?"

Originally Posted by NutBrnHair

I am against any school administration limiting the right of association. Do these universities allow 1st semester freshmen to join the ski club? the Baptist Student Union?

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

Do you find your sorority to be comparable to "sign-up type" organizations like the ski club and BSU?

That may be an issue.

touche. i too am against first-semester froshies pursuing membership, and that's both NPHC and NPC. i know it's the norm for the latter, but i really do think that freshmen need some time to get acclimated to college life, as it is a HUGE milestone and life-changing event. and while i'm sure most of us would like new members to associate that milestone with XYZ, i think that coming-of-age stage should happen independent of a GLO affiliation.

case and point, one of my LS's (ok, im letting go of all PC here) came in as a freshman - had very little knowledge/exposure to greek life and well, she was 18 vs. 20-21 like the rest of us. believe it or not, a lot of maturation can happen in those short 2 years. and in the present-day, you can definitely see the difference in her connection to our chapter and to the organization than the rest of us. love her to pieces, but should she have waited? i think so. no, i know so. even a semester longer couldve made a difference.

then again, i see why NPCers would be/are totally for first-semester initiation, because (what i gather from GC), formal initiations are done once an (academic) year, and there tends to not be a chance for a second-semester freshman to join.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by tld221

Is it? Chalk it up to regional differences, but almost every greek i know who came in on the UG level were sophomore/junior level. Im sure hypothetically it happens, but is it "common?"

Yes.

Most undergraduate NPHCers came in as sophomores or juniors. This is because of the GPA and credit hour requirement restrictions for NPHC organizations, as a whole.

For organizations (or chapters) with lower credit hour requirements, they often get 2nd semester freshmen.

[NutBrnHair]

NPC has historically always been in favor of early 1st semester freshmen rush/recruitment.

I totally respect the fact that NPHC has a different opinion and it certainly works for them.

NPC groups can expect to see drastic decreases in numbers if a complete change was made to deferred recruitment.