To Frat or not to Frat

I just went through this with my son at USC. He joined, and in my opinion his grades suffered. There were several stories of serious problem drinking. I rent a house at the beach every summer and about six of them showed up - three were not invited back.

I realize there are networking benefits, but there is also risk associated with it.

Choose Wisely.

 

It annoys me how frat boys all think they're the ****. Do it if it's your thing but I'm not a big fan of the whole conformist pay for my friends bs.

 

Did you even read any of our posts from those of us that were members of fraternities?

 

I would be concerned from the standpoint that future employers now have great 'reach' into the personal lives of potential employees. With everything being available online, including social activities (and your evidence of participation), employers are obtaining and using this information to make hiring decisions and weed people out.

There used to be a time when what you did in College would be excused or dismissed or forgiven. Those days are OVER - what you do in College now is a reflection of your character, morals, ethics and professionalism. If you do not offer an online track record of these higher standards, you put yourself at a disadvantage compared to your peers when it comes time to find a job. What does this have to do with Greek life at College? A great deal. Fraternities don't have the greatest reputation of fostering higher levels of character, morals, ethics and professionalism - they may WANT to, and work to change themselves to truly offer this to the world, but they're not 'there' yet in the public eye.

You WILL be judged by the company you keep in this world. "If you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas". Something to think about. Your future lives and dies by what you can put on your resume - and what the person in Corporate HR feels about it and can dig-up on you online.

 

I say don't join one. Where I went to school the frat guys all acted like little girls and never wanted to hang out with people from other frats. I didn't join one, but I made sure that I was friends with several people in each of the frats, so I could go to all their parties, and have a good time with everyone.

Why limit yourself to just a certain group of people that you can hang out with without catching grief, when you can be friends with everyone?

Just my opinion of course, one of my best friends was a TKE and he loved it.

 

No offense, but that sounds ghey...

BT

 

Sounds like you had a fun time, but everything you experienced will be pretty similar in any fraternity. You just described my SAE house from 25 years ago--the party setup, girls, kitchen, sports leagues, parties twice a week. Also, it isn't always the best thing to be the biggest house. On our campus the largest house had over 140 members (ours ranged between 50-60) and they just ran the numbers game. They rushed every freshman guy, it seemed. And since they were close to the dorms, we would stop in on our way home from the bars, drink and play pool, then head home. They let us do this for an entire semester, and when the time came for formal rush none of us even visited them. If you keep hanging out with these guys, be prepared for them to approach you about your interest in joining their fraternity, aka "hotboxing". Don't allow yourself to get pressured into anything. Again, it's very important to get your feet on the ground and settle in to school before figuring out which, if any, fraternities interest you. That way you'll be able to strip away all the amenities and focus on the actual members you would be spending the next few years with.

 

LMAO!!!

 

nerds!

 

Join the Frat house...you'll make some good lifelong business connections (for the future)

Thanks,
UZY

 

Do you think I'd be able to join?!