Rushing a Frat, Last semester of Graduate School

[Delta Love]

My boyfriend was always against joining greek life, but I joined a year ago (I'm an undergrad) and he has since changed his mind. The only problem is that he graduates from graduate school in the spring. He wants to join to get what little of the experience he still can and also plans on being active as an alum. What do you think the chances of them even considering him are? He has pretty good grades, hes participates in multiple intramural sports, and is very sweet. He's not much of a party boy or very "bro-y" however. Any advice about how to approach the chapters?

[thetalady]

Originally Posted by Delta Love

My boyfriend was always against joining greek life, but I joined a year ago (I'm an undergrad) and he has since changed his mind. The only problem is that he graduates from graduate school in the spring. He wants to join to get what little of the experience he still can and also plans on being active as an alum. What do you think the chances of them even considering him are? He has pretty good grades, hes participates in multiple intramural sports, and is very sweet. He's not much of a party boy or very "bro-y" however. Any advice about how to approach the chapters?

What kind of GLO is he interested in? NIC, IFC or NPHC? It will make a huge difference in the answers you need.

[Delta Love]

Originally Posted by thetalady

What kind of GLO is he interested in? NIC, IFC or NPHC? It will make a huge difference in the answers you need.

IFC. Sorry about that

[Psi U MC Vito]

It will depend a lot on the campus culture. And honestly, if he is going to be finishing off his graduate degree, I would suggest against it. He already will have the stress of classes, looking for work and maintaining a relationship. Pledging might be a little bit more work then he can handle on top of all of that.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Psi U MC Vito

It will depend a lot on the campus culture. And honestly, if he is going to be finishing off his graduate degree, I would suggest against it. He already will have the stress of classes, looking for work and maintaining a relationship. Pledging might be a little bit more work then he can handle on top of all of that.

It will also depend on national fraternity rules. Not all fraternities allow grad students to pledge.

[Delta Love]

He will definitely have enough time to rush and assuming the frats do allow graduate students, do you guys have any advice on how to approach them about it? Thank you for all the advice and answers so far

[DrPhil]

He is a graduate student so he should know how to research and, if applicable, can figure out how to contact the NIC fraternities (not frats).

Good luck to him.

[DubaiSis]

And at this point he's a big boy. He needs to figure this out on his own. I know you want to help, and this comes from someone who is a "fixer" herself, but if he really wants this he will have to the homework, make the contacts, etc.

[AnchorAlumna]

If I were in a fraternity (well, technically I am, but not THAT kind of fraternity) and a last-semester grad student wanted to join for what would basically be a few weeks, I'd just laugh.
1), Most of the chapter is probably undergrad so he would probably not be amused by some of the antics.
2), Would there be other pledges? Or do they do most of their pledging first semester? If there are no other pledges, and IF he's lucky enough to get a bid, he's not going to have the same type of experience.
3), He's not going to be there long enough to build the same types of friendships as someone who's been there a couple of years. He won't be rushing a couple more pledges classes under him, going for beer runs, partying, studying etc....he won't have many shared experiences that build brotherhood.
3), Besides dues, what would the fraternity get out of this? He's not going to be here long enough to be an officer, or help pledge the next group. He would be there long enough to do the grunt work pledges do, but not long enough to enjoy the benefits when he's a brother.

Now, if he's going for another grad degree and will be around for another two or three semesters, it might work. But if he's going to get his degree and look for a full-time job, he probably won't have much time to work with the chapter as an alum.

But it could happen. Fraternities don't seek out new members the same way, or en masse, sororities do. They're much more likely to pledge an upperclassman, or a grad student, if enough brothers hit it off with him. They also don't necessarily hew to set pledge periods and rules like sororities do.

So...it could happen. Not likely, but it could happen.

[DGTess]

Originally Posted by Delta Love

My boyfriend was always against joining greek life, but I joined a year ago (I'm an undergrad) and he has since changed his mind. The only problem is that he graduates from graduate school in the spring. He wants to join to get what little of the experience he still can and also plans on being active as an alum. What do you think the chances of them even considering him are? He has pretty good grades, hes participates in multiple intramural sports, and is very sweet. He's not much of a party boy or very "bro-y" however. Any advice about how to approach the chapters?

He's already in grad school - almost done - and will have enough time? I guess that's because you're doing the research for him?

Fraternities are very different from sororities, but I just don't see this happening.