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Hey TL, just a little college blog for you  .
Yesterday was bid day, today is today, and tomorrow I'll still be a not-so-proud member of the Gamma Delta Iota fraternity. It's not a totally bum deal, I have a lot of free time because of it, I'm progressing at learning how to play hockey and picking it up incredibly quickly, apparently. I should back up though.
Joining a fraternity isn't something I'd expect out of a majority of the teamliquiders I see on the forums, not because any of them couldn't survive the hazing or whatever, but because it just doesn't seem to be the style of the people who frequent this forum. When I got to college, I didn't think it would be mine either. I went to some of the rush events but had no formal idea of what rush actually is, I didn't submit a bid card, and I definitely had no idea that the different stereotypes about each of the fraternities on my campus were in large part only somewhat true.
In the south, being in a fraternity means a lot. It won't change your life, unless you happen to be at a big state school, then yes it can change your life. Other than that, it's more about brotherhood and fun. There are issues with it, and I won't downplay some of those. It's a huge time suck being a pledge, and there are all the issues with being a pledge in general. There's the issue that it could make my GPA fall, which would be awful considering I still have hard to hit goals for graduate school. Finally, being socially branded is something I have to accept for the brotherhood.
Now it's second semester and my #1 Fraternity choice chose not to take a pledge class. I was denied from my #2 choice, which pissed me off since I brought three friends with me, two of which didn't think they were going to rush before I made them come with me. Then I got denied out of the four of us. I was angry, and my day was shit that day, but they were my #2 and I don't really give a shit about losing out on my #2 when I'm very sure I'll get into my #1.
So where is this going? This going to ask you guys about any fraternity experiences you all may have had. I know I'm going to be a PIKE if I get their bid as a Sophomore first semester and I'm going to make my schedule easy so I can do that; if I don't get the bid, I'll just spend the extra time playing hockey so I can get good enough to play travel hockey in 4 years. I'd like to know if any of you have advice for me.
Before I end this, I'd like to make it clear I'm not joining a fraternity to meet girls. I'm doing it for the brotherhood. I'm not doing it to cover my alcohol expenses or for any shitty reason like that. I'm doing it for me and because I like the guys at my school's PIKE. Yes I love the party scene they throw, but that's a positive that isn't my #1, that's far from the top. I like the guys sober and that's a big thing for me. With that said, do you guys have any advice or stories to lay on me?
 
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Several frats asked me if I wanted to join considering I knew a lot of those guys and girls from the sororities but I like to march to the beat of my own drum and they were already my friends heh.
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United States97276 Posts
Do you have any friends that are already in Pike? If you have friends there already and go to their social events, hang out at their house more often and meet a lot more of the brothers it will make it a lot easier to get a bid if that's what you really want. Fraternities are still basically recruiting all the time even outside of rush. It'll also give you a good chance to figure out what you really think about the place imo. Another thing is a lot of sports are actually pretty similar to fraternities. I'm not exactly sure how it is at your school but here at GT a lot of the club sports teams still have an off campus house where a bunch of people live together and everyone pretty much hangs out there on the weekends. Hockey is actually one of the big ones that does that here. If you end up not joining a fraternity, you could always look into doing that or some other sort of club. It's still a pretty good way to meet people.
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On January 27 2014 03:37 StarStruck wrote:
Several frats asked me if I wanted to join considering I knew a lot of those guys and girls from the sororities but I like to march to the beat of my own drum and they were already my friends heh.
Yah, what's the point of joining a frat when you have all the benefits anyways? That was always my line of thinking
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On January 27 2014 03:41 Whatson wrote:Show nested quote +On January 27 2014 03:37 StarStruck wrote:
Several frats asked me if I wanted to join considering I knew a lot of those guys and girls from the sororities but I like to march to the beat of my own drum and they were already my friends heh. Yah, what's the point of joining a frat when you have all the benefits anyways? That was always my line of thinking
There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes. You can go to the parties, but from what I've seen, people meet a lot more people when they are in the fraternities. Between formals and swaps etc. I'm personally not single, so it's not the option of getting girls that makes me want to do this. Another thing fraternities give is alumni relations and the ability to get connection out which is good for a guy like me.
On January 27 2014 03:38 Shellshock wrote:
Do you have any friends that are already in Pike? If you have friends there already and go to their social events, hang out at their house more often and meet a lot more of the brothers it will make it a lot easier to get a bid if that's what you really want. Fraternities are still basically recruiting all the time even outside of rush. It'll also give you a good chance to figure out what you really think about the place imo. Another thing is a lot of sports are actually pretty similar to fraternities. I'm not exactly sure how it is at your school but here at GT a lot of the club sports teams still have an off campus house where a bunch of people live together and everyone pretty much hangs out there on the weekends. Hockey is actually one of the big ones that does that here. If you end up not joining a fraternity, you could always look into doing that or some other sort of club. It's still a pretty good way to meet people.
I've been there pretty much all the time. They were the first rush event I went to and even when they are just hanging out and opening up the house I'm over there since I like the guys. In regards to what you said about living, the school has a restriction on living in the houses. I wish I could. I'll be in dorms with other students, I can choose to room with brothers, but that's about it unfortunately. I'd have to transfer to live in a house. Hockey here is a club sport and not NCAA, and the team is pretty small, though the community around it in the area is huge. It's kinda funny how a tiny little southern city could have such a hockey pull.
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United States97276 Posts
GPA shouldn't be a problem because that's mostly about just keeping yourself disciplined and going to class and studying imo. If you don't have a problem now you probably won't after joining. I guess the other thing you have to think about is what you would get out of joining. You said you already hang out with a lot of them and I know people that just hang out at fraternities and/or with the people without ever joining them. I guess you just have to evaluate how much the membership means to you and if that benefits of joining outweigh the cost.
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Frats are great for networking as I understand it ... but other than that, I'm not too sure of the benefits myself.
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My history teacher told me people who join frats and sororities have higher gpas due to access of previoud test materiL from other members in the group.
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dont you have to pay a 1000$ fee to join a frat/
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Something something finals clubs.
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On January 27 2014 05:34 Smurfett3 wrote:
dont you have to pay a 1000$ fee to join a frat/
Not exactly. It's about 1000 per year as a pledge, it goes down once I become an active because I don't need pledge insurance, etc. I will say that the costs of fraternities do vary, but there are also scholarships I could pursue if I really needed to.
On January 27 2014 05:19 MysteryMeat1 wrote:
My history teacher told me people who join frats and sororities have higher gpas due to access of previoud test materiL from other members in the group.
That usually has to do with them having test bank answers at larger schools where professors almost always use large-scale testing/grading methods. I go to a small school even though the former is what I like better. Basically that doesn't work since the professors hand grade the material with little TA help. It's possible they can help by explaining material to me, but the tacit kind of cheating he's talking about doesn't really exist here.
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My advice is to not join a frat/soror.... the people are cool, but I'd much rather learn to get to know people as me and develop a bond of brotherhood/deep friendship, not have them artificially created through manufactured 'intense experiences'.
but, you do you
edit: my freshman year, guys at a frat I liked tried to get me to join them, I declined but we ended up being friends naturally. Not with all of them, but quite a few
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Bisutopia19299 Posts
I hope your PIKE house is better then the ones at UCF in Orlando and UF in Gainesville Florida. Both of those shut down for rape and much worse  . But seeing as you are one of the quality posters on TL and have a protoss icon I know you will make good choices. So go for it and have a blast.
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I'm still trying to decide whether to join a fraternity or not. I'd appreciate a follow up blog sometime in the future.
On January 27 2014 05:19 MysteryMeat1 wrote:
My history teacher told me people who join frats and sororities have higher gpas due to access of previoud test materiL from other members in the group.
I think it could also be that going Greek gives you a network of older students that are likely to help you. Also, the costs of being Greek exclude poorer students, who in many cases don't do as well in school. There are lots of variables here.
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Why not AEPi docvoc?
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On January 27 2014 06:34 Chocolate wrote:I'm still trying to decide whether to join a fraternity or not. I'd appreciate a follow up blog sometime in the future. Show nested quote +On January 27 2014 05:19 MysteryMeat1 wrote:
My history teacher told me people who join frats and sororities have higher gpas due to access of previoud test materiL from other members in the group. I think it could also be that going Greek gives you a network of older students that are likely to help you. Also, the costs of being Greek exclude poorer students, who in many cases don't do as well in school. There are lots of variables here.
docvoc already mentioned the usual reason. A lot of frats have test banks, where students just keep previous tests and pass them down to whoever needs 'em in addition to helping each other with work and such.
Some frats also have GPA reqs.
I don't necessarily think that poorer students do worse than rich/middle-class students in university. You can easily argue that the fact they got into university in the first place while being poor says good things about their work ethic.
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Docvoc, are you enjoying college as a whole? I remember you talking about how you didn't go to your first choice because of a dumb decision to go to a school cause of your gf at the time, but I never found out if you ended up being happy with your decision in the end.
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I joined a fraternity for 2 years, but dropped out because the dues were too high, the meetings were a waste of time, and i had a different perspective than most of the members. All they wanted to do every weekend, and even weekday was to drink and party. I didn't do any of that and there fore was not very close to them.
I didn't regret joining because It was cool to be in part of the rituals and stuff, plus i was curious to see what it was all about.
But at the end of the day, fraternities are not for me.
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Oh I think I know where you go to school. Would you say it's egalitarian, or elitist? I ask because I'm fine in social situations, but my interests are a bit different from what you would expect of stereotypical fratbros (science/research rather than lacrosse). I know the university probably has a lot of people like me, but are they the kind of people that join fraternities? There's a pretty high chance that I'll be attending the same school as you by Fall.
NVM you go to a different school but they're both pretty similar so I'd still like to know.
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Please don't join Pike, at my school they were the date-rape frat. Their sister sorority DPhie does have a lot of 10/10 girls though.
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EPT
