Not initiated yet, can I rush another fraternity?

[gottaquestion]

to answer the sidenote: I didn't really go out and meet people outside my freshman class last year. So I didn't rush, then all my friends joined fraternities (i don't see them for 8 weeks, so I try this new one starting up - bad idea).
All my friends become brothers and I then meet most people in a couple fraternities just by joining them at parties all the time.

But the point isn't whether I'll receive a bid or not - I'm certain I will. I'm asking if this is possible and if anyone has joined another fraternity in a situation similar to this, or has anyone heard of someone doing this?

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by gottaquestion

But the point isn't whether I'll receive a bid or not - I'm certain I will.

This type of thinking will set you up for disappointment.

If you were certain of the bid(s), you wouldn't need to come here asking your questions -- you would've already quit your fraternity.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by knight_shadow

This type of thinking will set you up for disappointment.

If you were certain of the bid(s), you wouldn't need to come here asking your questions -- you would've already quit your fraternity.

Yep, exactly. The guys who have "assured" you of these other bids may be a small minority in their fraternity or perhaps just pulling your chain to see if they can get you to jump ship. I would have a couple helpings of humble pie if I were you.

Quit the colony ASAP, though. It's not for you.

[lucgreek]

Ha. Whenever someone comes on here saying their friends have "guaranteed" them a bid or are "certain" they will get one, usually end up not getting that promised bid. If you're guaranteed this bid you wouldn't be posting your dilemma on GC.

Short answer: If you have gone through a ceremony or ritual that you cannot openly discuss to non-members of your fraternity, you were probably initiated and would need to be released by your headquarters before you could rush again.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by lucgreek

Short answer: If you have gone through a ceremony or ritual that you cannot openly discuss to non-members of your fraternity, you were probably initiated . . . .

Not necessarily. At all.

While the pledging ceremonies/associate member ceremonies/whatever-they-may-be-called-ceremonies of some fraternities are open, not all are. In fact, without doing a study of it, I'd guess that the majority of pledging ceremonies are secret. So the mere fact that one has been through a ceremony that cannot be discussed with non-members doesn't mean one has likely been initiated.

And given that the OP is a member of a colony that will be chartered this spring and said the colony members become "official brothers" when the colony is chartered, he probably hasn't been initiated yet. Again, I haven't done a comparative study, but it is common in my experience that colony members are not initiated until chartering.

[lucgreek]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Not necessarily. At all.

While the pledging ceremonies/associate member ceremonies/whatever-they-may-be-called-ceremonies of some fraternities are open, not all are. In fact, without doing a study of it, I'd guess that the majority of pledging ceremonies are secret. So the mere fact that one has been through a ceremony that cannot be discussed with non-members doesn't mean one has likely been initiated.

And given that the OP is a member of a colony that will be chartered this spring and said the colony members become "official brothers" when the colony is chartered, he probably hasn't been initiated yet. Again, I haven't done a comparative study, but it is common in my experience that colony members are not initiated until chartering.

I might have been overgeneralizing a little.

I'd be interested in knowing if other fraternities (besides DU, which is open) reveal confidential, secret information prior to their own initiation ceremony. In my GLO, for example, secrets are only revealed at the initiation ceremony. So if you knew secrets, you were most definitely an initiated member.

Slight derail but: Say a colony dissolves after two years but never gained its charter, are those members who were in the colony not considered members and never initiated? Or does the national organization initiate those guys? Seems like a raw deal if the national org just up and dumps them. (Not sure if there are general guidelines or if each GLO views this idfferently)

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by lucgreek

I'd be interested in knowing if other fraternities (besides DU, which is open) reveal confidential, secret information prior to their own initiation ceremony. In my GLO, for example, secrets are only revealed at the initiation ceremony. So if you knew secrets, you were most definitely an initiated member.

Alpha Kappa Lambda's ritual is also open.

Then there are other fraternities that have closed initiation rituals but open pledging (by whatever name they use) ceremonies -- Lambda Chi Alpha, Kappa Alpha Order, Theta Chi and Delta Chi come immediately to mind (some of these fraternities publish these ceremonies on the web), though I think there are others. I know a Phi Mu at GreekChat once said that their New Member Ceremony is also open.

As for the second question -- how many orgs reveal secret info prior to initiation -- I guess no one could know this without knowing the rituals of specific orgs. I can say, though, that I've had the definite impression over the years that some orgs do reveal some secrets in their pledging/new member ceremonies (perhaps related to things like the meaning of the pledge/new member pin, for example?), though I would suppose that they save the "bigger" secrets for initiation. As far as that goes, I know that some at GreekChat have said that their orgs have a ceremony for those transitioning from collegiate statuts to alumni/ae status at which still more secrets are revealed.

Another example of different orgs doing things in different ways.