why join a fraternity? what is the up side?

i got to thinking about this when i was checking out huffington post today.
some frat in florida is under suspension because members were caught on tape saying something about 'raping some bitches'

www.huffingtonpost.com...

if you want to read^^^

so im sitting here thinking about frats in general and why anyone would want to join one. seems like a big ass waste of time to me.

now i admit i really dont know much about frats other than what i see in the movies and what i have read in the news.
must admit though, the stories in the news do not paint frats in a positive light.

i cant even get past the hazing part. pretty common knowledge that there is a hazing period. why would anyone put themselves through that 'ritual'? what is the point for the people doing the hazing? what is the point for the people on the receiving end of it?

lets move past that then. say you make it through and youre in the frat. youre in phi beta whatever the hell
ok. now what?
what is so super awesome about it?

i would love to here your opinions and especially is someone has experience first hand. either being in one or being around one when you were in college.

thank you

I think for most guys it's a "status" thing. Plus they hang out at their awesome house all the time getting # faced and throwing wild parties.

a reply to: Mugly

When I was young I worked at a McDonald's with a guy in a Frat. He absolutely HATED everybody in it. I asked him the same question and he said it was all about making contacts. SO I guess that's one reason

I lived in a frat house for one year. My observations of members I interacted with:
1. Most were from affluent families
2. Many were addicted to drugs and alcohol
3. Supra majority did not "make grades"
4. Hazing... Psychological, not physical, was rampant
5. There were efforts to contribute to the community and take on projects to help "specific" under served groups (the elderly, handicapped children).
6. Everything I owned was either destroyed or borrowed (stolen) by fellow brothers
I had fun for a couple of years, but it grew tiring. You get what you put into it.
Would I recommend joining a frat or sorority to my children? No.

No idea? Why hang around a bunch of smelly dudes? Go join a sorority! They can't stop you, sexual discrimination. Did you ever watch three's company? Convince them your gay (if your not), get in and then.... heaven, surrounded by a bevy of beauty....marvelous!

I think you have to choose your frat carefully. The big advantage is the connections you make, of course. Those can serve you well later on in life.

But at the same time, my great uncle was part of a frat, and by the time it came down to my day the frat he was part of, he wouldn't have anything to do with anymore it had deteriorated that much between his time and mine. They do change character and I think different houses will have different characters from uni to uni, too.

what kind of connections can you make by joining a frat that you cant make if you didnt join?
i dont get it

i also dont understand where all the hazing and d baggery comes in.

oh well. guess im not supposed to

originally posted by: Mugly
what kind of connections can you make by joining a frat that you cant make if you didnt join?
i dont get it

i also dont understand where all the hazing and d baggery comes in.

oh well. guess im not supposed to

The frat thing continues long outside of college. You can put it on your resume as organization you were in during college which is what all the social projects are for, and since most frats are national orgs, you can count on there being frat brothers all over in the world in various businesses, including the ones you'd like a foot in the door at.

Call it an insta network that most of us Gamma Delta Iotas have to build on our own.

I was Zeta Tau Alpha, i loved being part of a sorority, when going away to college especially if its out of state, joining a sorority gives you insta friends, its a step in the ladder to establish yourself, great to have on your resume etc, the only downside is the jealousy factor between sororitys, and it can be really superficial, you are under a microscope at times, people judging your looks and popularity etc, and you need to be carefull when choosing a sorority because some have bad names

So you can get revenge on the jocks? NERDS!!!!

a reply to: Mugly

Back when I attended college, students who belonged to a sorority or fraternity acted like they were better than those who didn't belong to a Greek organization. I honestly think their place on college campuses certainly doesn't benefit the growth and maturity in young adults. It only promotes alcohol and drug abuse, abusive ridicule, promiscuity, "gang" mentality and divisiveness among college students.

My dorm roommate pledged a fraternity. He used to be waken in the middle of the night just to be ridiculed and abused by his "fraternity brothers." He came back to the dorm one night at 3:00 in the morning drenched in sweat, ketchup and mustard. I just looked at him and said, "do you really want to join a fraternity that treats you like this?" His grades suffered during hell week.

I couldn't understand how colleges could promote such an organization that promoted alcohol abuse, and it deflects attention away from the students main educational priority. Granted college students need to relieve some stress from their excessive studies and finals week, but they can easily do that without having college endorsed party houses. I think it's more of a liability for colleges than what it's really worth. Yeah, they do some good charity work, but again, you don't need an organization that promotes abusing alcohol and possibly causing some members to become alcoholics later in life.

Long term, none. Short term, drugs and women.

My folks said frats and sororities would also keep test files with the major tests profs would give so that you could look up and see what the tests were like to have an idea of what to study for and how.

a reply to: WeRpeons

yeah.
to me it just seems like a lame excuse/reason to get loaded, act stupid, and treat people like # for a bit.

insta friends? connections?

i guess.

i fail to see how being a member of a frat will help you with a job app 20 years down the line.
even if that is the case..what is with the hazing?
good for the community? dont need a frat or be a member of one to donate time/effort, etc.

Theta Chi here. My experience was much different than most it seems. I had no intention to join a fraternity. I began making friends with some guys that I would play basketball with.

One day, they invited me to a cookout. It was at the fraternity house. Everyone was nice and I had a great time. The thing that stood out to me was that not one person mentioned anything about rushing the fraternity. There was no pressure.

A month later, I decided to pledge. Honestly, I did it for the parties and to live in a pretty cool house with low rent. Once I pledged, I made it known that I would not put up with any kind of hazing or somebody would get punched in the mouth. I was assured that they banned hazing years before and sure enough, they were telling the truth.

The men in this fraternity were from mostly blue collar families, myself included. We did have 2-3 guys that were from affluent families but they sure didn't act like it. It was a small chapter of 20 or so when I joined. We were very tight knit, and had to work together to overcome some financial and PR problems with the fraternity.

What did I get out of it? In my case, I got life long friends and irreplaceable memories. I learned how to be a leader after volunteering for committee chairs and eventually became chapter president. I got over my fear of public speaking. I gained confidence in myself and became comfortable with who I was. I learned to take personal responsibility as a result of living in the chapter house and taking care of it. I learned to co-exist with many different personalities, skills I still use today. As president, our chapter grew in numbers to 40+, we secured funding for chapter house renovations, we still upheld a strong stance on no hazing and we made a positive image for ourselves in both the greek community as well as the university. We were involved in many charities and raised money and awareness for them.

Yes, we partied pretty hard. Yes, a lot of us were power drinkers. The university was known as the "party school" so I'd party just as hard with non-greeks as I did fellow greeks.

Would I do it again? At this particular chapter? Absolutely. That said, I know of plenty of other fraternities and even other chapters of Theta Chi that I would never join. All chapters are different. You can't judge all of them by a few.

I did a few threads a while back on haunted Athens, Ohio, home to Ohio University. Here is the one that mentions my fraternity house. Theta Chi ghost

a reply to: ketsuko

Yeah, that's true. My roommate had mentioned that. They also like to take classes together if they can so they sit next to each other and share answers during the test.

a reply to: Mugly

Delta Chi.

Mostly made up of vets. No hazing, everyone said "been there done that" if you went to boot.

Was there to hang out with like-minded individuals.

Great study groups. Great teamwork.

I spent two years in a scholarship house which was more or less like a sorority except it didn't have the national organization backing it, but most of our activities and internal structuring was very similar.

Greeks would derisively refer to us as the "cheap" sorority.

I left it after two years because two thirds of the house went on academic probation, so they switched focus to leadership and heavily ramped up activities and projects. Between my active athletic commitment and a need to study, I wasn't able to commit to their new project slate and didn't want to anyhow.

a reply to: Mugly

Well... I am so poorly educated, that I do not even know if such things as are described in American television and film, even happen in my country, with regards to heaving mobs of hormonal young lads at university.

From what I understand of it though, all fraternities are in essence, is the kindergarten version of Freemasonry. Think about it for a second.

Kindergarten:

Designed to lull very young children into believing that the next sixteen years of their life will be anything other than hard work, awkward social interaction with persons, 70% of which will be so fantastically tedious that even their homework looks like a better option, and dealing with adolescence. Essentially, its brainwashing so that society in general does not seem like such a bad idea, when you get to officially join it (You might have gotten the impression, incidentally, that the scheme does not work on me very well... and you would be one hundred percent correct there!).

Fraternity:

Designed to lull young adults into believing that joining Freemasonry will be anything other than a fantastic way to spend time with persons at least a thousand times more mind buggeringly tedious than they ever thought possible, learn new ways to do relatively simple things, like shake hands, and place cherries in glasses, and to get good and used to having very little by way of genuine self respect and self determination. It increases group think, decreases inventiveness and in some cases destroys morality in totality.

Both Fraternity living, and Kindergarten are times in life which are at least partially overseen by some sort of authority figure or structure, both are designed to prepare a young person for elements of the next stage in their lives. Just a thought.