I’ll be attending SDSU starting this fall. I’ve heard greek life’s a big thing there. Anyone want to fill me in on greek life and pledging? Should I pledge? Why or why not? I’m leaning towards pledging as of right now. I’m not a big into drinking though. Are there frats that are cool with you not getting shit faced every weekend?
[quote]SirTroyRobert wrote:
I’ll be attending SDSU starting this fall. I’ve heard greek life’s a big thing there. Anyone want to fill me in on greek life and pledging? Should I pledge? Why or why not? I’m leaning towards pledging as of right now. I’m not a big into drinking though. Are there frats that are cool with you not getting shit faced every weekend?[/quote]
If you’re not into drinking, you shouldn’t join a frat. Not all of them are big into the party scene (although down at SDSU, pretty much all of them are, other than the racist ones that only let you in if you’re of a certain color), but the ones that advertise the typical Greek experience certainly are.
Personally, it doesn’t sound that fun to me and didn’t when I was in college. Sure, you’ll meet some great people and you’ll get to bang the occasional, disease-free sorority slampiece. But you can do all that without all the bullshit that goes into joining a frat. I’m sure you’re more than capable of meeting people and banging sluts without having to get put through the ringer first. They just always seemed like a place for followers and lemmings to congregate.
[quote]DBCooper wrote:
[quote]SirTroyRobert wrote:
I’ll be attending SDSU starting this fall. I’ve heard greek life’s a big thing there. Anyone want to fill me in on greek life and pledging? Should I pledge? Why or why not? I’m leaning towards pledging as of right now. I’m not a big into drinking though. Are there frats that are cool with you not getting shit faced every weekend?[/quote]
If you’re not into drinking, you shouldn’t join a frat. Not all of them are big into the party scene (although down at SDSU, pretty much all of them are, other than the racist ones that only let you in if you’re of a certain color), but the ones that advertise the typical Greek experience certainly are.
Personally, it doesn’t sound that fun to me and didn’t when I was in college. Sure, you’ll meet some great people and you’ll get to bang the occasional, disease-free sorority slampiece. But you can do all that without all the bullshit that goes into joining a frat. I’m sure you’re more than capable of meeting people and banging sluts without having to get put through the ringer first. They just always seemed like a place for followers and lemmings to congregate.[/quote]
Yeah that’s true. I was just thinking maybe I’d find a frat I liked that wasn’t so oriented on drinking and partying. Don’t get me wrong, I like to party, but I don’t think I can handle getting wasted every weekend.
[quote]SirTroyRobert wrote:
[quote]DBCooper wrote:
[quote]SirTroyRobert wrote:
I’ll be attending SDSU starting this fall. I’ve heard greek life’s a big thing there. Anyone want to fill me in on greek life and pledging? Should I pledge? Why or why not? I’m leaning towards pledging as of right now. I’m not a big into drinking though. Are there frats that are cool with you not getting shit faced every weekend?[/quote]
If you’re not into drinking, you shouldn’t join a frat. Not all of them are big into the party scene (although down at SDSU, pretty much all of them are, other than the racist ones that only let you in if you’re of a certain color), but the ones that advertise the typical Greek experience certainly are.
Personally, it doesn’t sound that fun to me and didn’t when I was in college. Sure, you’ll meet some great people and you’ll get to bang the occasional, disease-free sorority slampiece. But you can do all that without all the bullshit that goes into joining a frat. I’m sure you’re more than capable of meeting people and banging sluts without having to get put through the ringer first. They just always seemed like a place for followers and lemmings to congregate.[/quote]
Yeah that’s true. I was just thinking maybe I’d find a frat I liked that wasn’t so oriented on drinking and partying. Don’t get me wrong, I like to party, but I don’t think I can handle getting wasted every weekend.
[/quote]
Just find some friends and fraternize with them. At least that way you can do your own thing when the group is doing something you’re not into without having the whole “brotherhood” thing held over your head, which is really just an insidious form of peer pressure.
[quote]SirTroyRobert wrote:
Yeah that’s true. I was just thinking maybe I’d find a frat I liked that wasn’t so oriented on drinking and partying. Don’t get me wrong, I like to party, but I don’t think I can handle getting wasted every weekend.
[/quote]
If you’re an athlete, you’ll fall into your own group of friends; more like minded and living a life more suited to your goals.
Just make friends the old fashion way, instead of paying for them through a frat.
[quote]SirTroyRobert wrote:
I’ll be attending SDSU starting this fall. I’ve heard greek life’s a big thing there. Anyone want to fill me in on greek life and pledging? Should I pledge? Why or why not? I’m leaning towards pledging as of right now. I’m not a big into drinking though. Are there frats that are cool with you not getting shit faced every weekend?[/quote]
Join the masons instead and actually do some good works in the world.
I like to be part of organized groups of men who do things, so frats appealed to me because they typically have some pre-arranged activities (e.g., intramural sports, bike trips, rock climbing, charity work), but they have degenerated into little more than organized drinking groups.
I never was in a frat so I cannot comment directly on them, I just know I was never interested. If you live on campus in a dorm your first year (which I highly recommend) you will meet people. You will meet at kinds a people. People who like to party, people who like to study, people who like music, people who like fantasy role playing games, people or like sports etc. The best thing about college is everything is cool, just be yourself. Personally I like sports and music. Some I joined a jazz ensemble and also had a group of friends I played IM sports with and got season tickets to football, basketball, and hockey with.
Now some of the people you meet in your dorm will join frats, and if that appeals to you go ahead and join. But I would not go in with any preconceived notions about whether or not a frat is for you. You will find out once you get there this fall. Have an open mind. Just know real college is not like movies and it is very different from high school.
Dunno about Frats, but SDSU is about to suck a bulldog dick in baseball Friday. That is all. Carry on.
SDSU is a pretty big greek oriented school. The frats and sororities like to be very exclusive there, and love to exercise their classic “who do you know here, bro?!” phrase. Because of this, almost their entire party scene is based off greek life.
I have plenty of friends who rushed, and plenty who didn’t. For the most part it seems that those who did not rush felt left out until about their third year, once their friends within frats actually had enough say to get them into their events. If you are not in a frat, you will be going to lots of house parties or parties within apartment complexes. The greek events they have down there are pretty awesome, and I (if I attended that school) would probably rush and give it a shot, you can always drop if you want. You do not have to be getting wasted every single weekend. Usually as a freshmen they keep a bunch of pledges sober to do thinks like drive older guys to bars, and pick up sorority girls from their houses. Oh, and speaking of sororities… they have some VERY pretty women.
I played Div 1 water polo here at UCSB for three years (I’m a 4th year now, bout to graduate), so I came into a school with a solid group of friends already, and really like the bonding associated with groups/ clubs/ whatever . If I were you I would just give it a shot. Your initiation week will definitely suck ass, as I said SDSU is a big greek school and they take it pretty seriously. But all in all, you’ll have some fun. My little brother will also be attending college this coming school year, and this is what I told him. Just think you have nothing to lose by trying. You don’t want to sit in your dorm freshmen year wishing you had tried something. Rather have you try it and make the decision yourself that it is not for you.
[quote]thethirdruffian wrote:
Join the masons instead and actually do some good works in the world.
[/quote]
This. Same fraternal idea, more mature and worthwhile agenda. Less sluts tho.
I didn’t join a frat, but went to plenty of their parties.
Basically a bunch of dudes bing drinking and feeding underage girls drinks they didn’t really want in order to have slightly less than consensual sex with them.
In short, a bunch of douchebags I wouldn’t want to hang out with in the first place, let only pay them to hang out with them, date raping a bunch of chicks with horrid judgment.
[quote]countingbeans wrote:
I didn’t join a frat, but went to plenty of their parties.
Basically a bunch of dudes bing drinking and feeding underage girls drinks they didn’t really want in order to have slightly less than consensual sex with them.
In short, a bunch of douchebags I wouldn’t want to hang out with in the first place, let only pay them to hang out with them, date raping a bunch of chicks with horrid judgment. [/quote]
A pretty general statement here that, although most true, doesn’t always ring true.
I was anti-frat when I got to college but in my second semester, I ran into a few guys from a really small, 12 person fraternity. didn’t really fit the mold. We had excellent academic record, a very diverse group of guys (everyone from your typical frat guy to guys who didn’t drink) and a growing project. We took it from 12 guys to 65+ and the most well known fraternity on campus(within greeks and non-greek system) at a school where greek life wasn’t really that big.
In my personal experience, it’s worth exploring, but find a group that not only likes to party, but likes to do other things and actually be friends. To be honest, this may not be possible in fraternities that are much larger than mine was. Even at 65, it started turning douchey for a few years. Not a happy alumni when that happened.
I am friends with some people a part of the Greek community and when I first met them I did not really think much about it. Just drinking and parties all the time and strange weird rituals. Yet, getting to know them being a part of the community is actually a cool way to get to know a bunch of people. Just like someone else mentioned, you can always drop it later
[quote]ZJStrope wrote:
[quote]countingbeans wrote:
I didn’t join a frat, but went to plenty of their parties.
Basically a bunch of dudes bing drinking and feeding underage girls drinks they didn’t really want in order to have slightly less than consensual sex with them.
In short, a bunch of douchebags I wouldn’t want to hang out with in the first place, let only pay them to hang out with them, date raping a bunch of chicks with horrid judgment. [/quote]
A pretty general statement here that, although most true, doesn’t always ring true.
I was anti-frat when I got to college but in my second semester, I ran into a few guys from a really small, 12 person fraternity. didn’t really fit the mold. We had excellent academic record, a very diverse group of guys (everyone from your typical frat guy to guys who didn’t drink) and a growing project. We took it from 12 guys to 65+ and the most well known fraternity on campus(within greeks and non-greek system) at a school where greek life wasn’t really that big.
In my personal experience, it’s worth exploring, but find a group that not only likes to party, but likes to do other things and actually be friends. To be honest, this may not be possible in fraternities that are much larger than mine was. Even at 65, it started turning douchey for a few years. Not a happy alumni when that happened.[/quote]
Yeah I’m generalizing, and I’m sure more than one person reading this is getting upset and ready to throw out story after story about how theirs wasn’t like this.
But keep in mind, I didn’t join, I was only there for the parties… I only witnessed what happened when “they were just having a good time”. And it was that “good time” that made me not want to join.
I went to college with the intention to rush, but… From what I witnessed, it wasn’t for me is all.
I joined a small frat that had minimal events (a lot of us were engineers). I also played a big part in the leadership part of the frat. After a while, it ended up being a hassle to show up to the activities because I could be doing better things.
I think talking about my leadership experience in the fraternity was the reason I was not accepted into an engineering internship program through the school. I have never mentioned that experience or that I was even in a frat from that point on. It is very detrimental to have that on your resume/talk about that in interviews, contrary to what the Greeks tell you.
Also, 99% of frat boys are huge douche bags.
[quote]Ripsaw3689 wrote:
I joined a small frat that had minimal events (a lot of us were engineers). I also played a big part in the leadership part of the frat. After a while, it ended up being a hassle to show up to the activities because I could be doing better things.
I think talking about my leadership experience in the fraternity was the reason I was not accepted into an engineering internship program through the school. I have never mentioned that experience or that I was even in a frat from that point on. It is very detrimental to have that on your resume/talk about that in interviews, contrary to what the Greeks tell you.
Also, 99% of frat boys are huge douche bags. [/quote]
A company I used to work for had a frat guy in a young leadership position. He was in a different office than the one I worked in, but I travelled there a couple times. He had his frat paddle mountain on the wall in his office.
He was a nice guy, but everytime I saw the paddle, I couldn’t help but think “douchebag”.
I say look into it, you can always drop out. It’s much harder to get in a year or two in then it is to drop a year or 2 in. Some frats are douches, some have some pretty cool people. Find one that you think fits best in, not which one you think is going to have the coolest parties or whatever. Then try it out. I’ve had friends that make snide remarks about frat guys without ever looking into them, and I’ve had friends that rushed from the first day and loved it.
They usually do have a much easier time of “having something to do” on a weekend. And depending on how involved you get, you can definitely make lifelong friends from it that you wouldn’t have met without it.
[quote]theuofh wrote:
[quote]Ripsaw3689 wrote:
I joined a small frat that had minimal events (a lot of us were engineers). I also played a big part in the leadership part of the frat. After a while, it ended up being a hassle to show up to the activities because I could be doing better things.
I think talking about my leadership experience in the fraternity was the reason I was not accepted into an engineering internship program through the school. I have never mentioned that experience or that I was even in a frat from that point on. It is very detrimental to have that on your resume/talk about that in interviews, contrary to what the Greeks tell you.
Also, 99% of frat boys are huge douche bags. [/quote]
A company I used to work for had a frat guy in a young leadership position. He was in a different office than the one I worked in, but I travelled there a couple times. He had his frat paddle mountain on the wall in his office.
He was a nice guy, but everytime I saw the paddle, I couldn’t help but think “douchebag”.
[/quote]
They do have some fucked up hazing at a lot of frats. Fortunately for me, I was in charge of ritual and made sure none of that shit happened in our chapter.
Unless you join a specialized frat(business, engineering, etc) and can network with former brothers that now have careers and are in a position to help you out, it is definitely detrimental.
EDIT: I will say that I have a few great, successful friends that were part of my fraternity who I would have not met otherwise.
[quote]MAK40 wrote:
SDSU is a pretty big greek oriented school. The frats and sororities like to be very exclusive there, and love to exercise their classic “who do you know here, bro?!” phrase. Because of this, almost their entire party scene is based off greek life.
I have plenty of friends who rushed, and plenty who didn’t. For the most part it seems that those who did not rush felt left out until about their third year, once their friends within frats actually had enough say to get them into their events. If you are not in a frat, you will be going to lots of house parties or parties within apartment complexes. The greek events they have down there are pretty awesome, and I (if I attended that school) would probably rush and give it a shot, you can always drop if you want. You do not have to be getting wasted every single weekend. Usually as a freshmen they keep a bunch of pledges sober to do thinks like drive older guys to bars, and pick up sorority girls from their houses. Oh, and speaking of sororities… they have some VERY pretty women.
I played Div 1 water polo here at UCSB for three years (I’m a 4th year now, bout to graduate), so I came into a school with a solid group of friends already, and really like the bonding associated with groups/ clubs/ whatever . If I were you I would just give it a shot. Your initiation week will definitely suck ass, as I said SDSU is a big greek school and they take it pretty seriously. But all in all, you’ll have some fun. My little brother will also be attending college this coming school year, and this is what I told him. Just think you have nothing to lose by trying. You don’t want to sit in your dorm freshmen year wishing you had tried something. Rather have you try it and make the decision yourself that it is not for you.[/quote]
That’s most likely what I’ll do. Talk to as many as I can and see if any fit me. If it doesn’t fit me then so be it. Thanks for the advice.