weirdly loved pledging, thought it was hysterical. Also weirdly hated being actually in the fraternity once I was in. Was a fun experience but I stopped being an active member my Sophomore year.
Good times. Can't imagine what it would be like in this climate. College kids drinking was a far more accepted thing back then, for example. A little over a dozen years ago maybe My chapter got banned for several years and then had to rebuild itself, which it seems to have done.
nothing I ever considered close to abusive or over the top. Worst we had to do was run naked one morning across campus, eat a hot pepper sandwich if we wised off, sing silly songs at parties. Tons of drinking, but nobody ever made me take a drink I didn’t want to have, or punished me for refusing. At times each of us asked to skip out on pledge activities to study or write papers and never got abused for that
Always been proud of my house in my era, consistently amongst the best GPA on campus, nobody from my time ever mistreated a girl in any way, and while we engaged in some amusing rivalry pranks and stuff with other houses (stealing liquor, snowball fights, etc) we got along with everyone, other houses were welcome at our parties and we were welcome at theirs.
I’ve heard all the bad stories and understand the negative opinion held by many, but my experience was good and remain lifelong friends with many of the guys in my frat
living in South Quad in Ann Arbor. One day on my hall I hear a bit of a commotion on the back stairs. Two Black guys wearing jockstraps and bunny ears and nothing else appear to have been tarred and feathered and are each carrying loads of bricks up and down the stairs being supervised by their frat brothers. That was enough for me.
that pound PBR's and constantly talk about scouting for pussy but then blow each other after everyone else at the party passed out and then agree to never talk about it?
weirdly loved pledging, thought it was hysterical. Also weirdly hated being actually in the fraternity once I was in. Was a fun experience but I stopped being an active member my Sophomore year.
There's pros and cons like anything else.
I think a lot of people find the pledging semester the best part. I joined one that didn't haze (wanted no part of any physical abuse) mostly for the party scene. I cared for it less and less after I was in.
I don't regret the friends I made but I wouldn't try to talk anyone into joining one either.
I never had trouble making friends (believe it or not) and by the time I transferred to a school that had frats (URI), I was a junior. I sure as hell didn't want to take any shit from someone who might've been younger than me.
But maybe more importantly, for about the same cost i rented a house (with a couple others), had my own bedroom with a view of Narragansett Bay. Meanwhile, some frat guys were sharing a bedroom with about 30 guys (with a view of - 30 other guys).
At URI, they called people like me GDIs (G-damn independents).
Having copies of old tests would've been nice, though.
Good times. Can't imagine what it would be like in this climate. College kids drinking was a far more accepted thing back then, for example. A little over a dozen years ago maybe My chapter got banned for several years and then had to rebuild itself, which it seems to have done.
I was in one at RPI also (that also was shut down for a period before I got there and had to rebuild).
Some of the best times of my life were there. Have a ton of friends from the fraternity that I'm still close with today. We didn't do much of the crazy/stupid hazing stuff that people see in the news.
fascination. You can always find drinking friends and parties without having had to do stupid humiliating stuff. No peer pressure to do other stupid stuff.
I was in one. I had a unique experience of being a founding member (sort of, the chapter was kicked off about 15 years before I arrived on campus and when I was a freshman I was asked to help start it up when I met some dudes from the national chapter that wanted to get it going again).
I had a positive experience. Have some great, life-long friends. We had some fun parties. Met lots of girls. All of those things would have happened anyway most likely, but not in quite the same volume...If you are in a big fraternity you're going to meet people that join that you won't like. Some cliques will form which is annoying b/c you're not in HS anymore.
There are pros and cons for sure. I don't know what its like to be a college aged kid anymore so I don't know if I'd steer a kid that asked one way or another. I would just say I had a positive experience.
living in South Quad in Ann Arbor. One day on my hall I hear a bit of a commotion on the back stairs. Two Black guys wearing jockstraps and bunny ears and nothing else appear to have been tarred and feathered and are each carrying loads of bricks up and down the stairs being supervised by their frat brothers. That was enough for me.
Fraternity life was pretty at JMU since there were no bars, well one bar and no real downtown to hit. At the time the football team was meh so another fun avenue was not available to us. A lot of it is dumb, you can really see who the insecure assholes who were slapped around were, they take it out on the pledges. I was usually the one who stepped in, I didn't like people being humiliated for no good reason. I had a blast doing it, found some life long friends but I never got into the whole thing like some guys did. I never felt defined by the letters or anything, and I coached our flag football team to 3 straight Greek Titles and the first ever Intramural title on campus and we lost zero times. That was easily my favorite part.
.... as the most fun I'd never want to have again.
The greek scene at Michigan was pretty wild. Back in those days there were something like 40 fraternities on campus, including a handful that were granted keg waivers. Ours was one of those.
Been out of school 20 years and still count some of my "brothers" from those days among the closest in my life.
recent grad here, was in a frat. loved it for 3 years, got kinda stale by senior yr but by that point i had my hands full trying to become a real-life adult so i just stopped participating.
totally depends on the school though, if you are looking for advice for child I would really try to crowd source some opinions from people that are familiar with the specific schools.
I am definitely more of an introvert, so joining a frat was a easy way to force myself into more social situations, and i really do think it has helped navigate corp politics so far in my career as a young manager.
"And most recently of all, a "Roman Toga Party" was held from which we have received more than two dozen reports of individual acts of perversion SO profound and disgusting that decorum prohibits listing them here."-Doug Neidermeyer.
And joined Theta Delta Chi, which, at the time, was a pretty quiet house. A bunch of us joined so we could live together as sophomores.
We threw good parties and distinctly I remember watching LT bust Theisman's leg on Monday night football during a rush function.
The house gained popularity because we were not the jock house, or the drug house or the pretentious house. We were just the last house on the right.
But that changed as our popularity grew and I found myself far less interested in the scene.
kinda douchey older guy in your freshman class who you thought was cool so you made friends w him and feigned interest in rushing: "man we having an 8 kegger with birds everywhere, you should come check it out". *gets to party at 11pm w entourage*: one keg (floating already), 50 guys and about 15-20 girls looking like house of cards while the 100 college peasants like myself are outside on the premises bitching about where the kegs at.
kinda douchey older guy in your freshman class who you thought was cool so you made friends w him and feigned interest in rushing: "man we having an 8 kegger with birds everywhere, you should come check it out". *gets to party at 11pm w entourage*: one keg (floating already), 50 guys and about 15-20 girls looking like house of cards while the 100 college peasants like myself are outside on the premises bitching about where the kegs at.
As Rush Chairman, alcohol was prohibited from Rush functions, but we had a huge budget that was supplemented by National. I would coordinate activities such as white water rafting, paintball, elevated ropes course, etc. We would hide all the beer from those that attended the after-Rush party except for the token half-kicked keg. When we kicked out those that were attending except for a few that we told to stick around, then the real party would start until the next morning. 11PM? The party didn't even start yet.
basically a way to make friends for those who really really want to be friends with certain people
There's pros and cons like anything else.
Always been proud of my house in my era, consistently amongst the best GPA on campus, nobody from my time ever mistreated a girl in any way, and while we engaged in some amusing rivalry pranks and stuff with other houses (stealing liquor, snowball fights, etc) we got along with everyone, other houses were welcome at our parties and we were welcome at theirs.
I’ve heard all the bad stories and understand the negative opinion held by many, but my experience was good and remain lifelong friends with many of the guys in my frat
lol
I've never been a fan.
My son recently concluded pledging and is now a member.
Good and bad. Glad he's a level-headed dude.
'Old Man River won't shut up about it.'
There's pros and cons like anything else.
I think a lot of people find the pledging semester the best part. I joined one that didn't haze (wanted no part of any physical abuse) mostly for the party scene. I cared for it less and less after I was in.
I don't regret the friends I made but I wouldn't try to talk anyone into joining one either.
But maybe more importantly, for about the same cost i rented a house (with a couple others), had my own bedroom with a view of Narragansett Bay. Meanwhile, some frat guys were sharing a bedroom with about 30 guys (with a view of - 30 other guys).
At URI, they called people like me GDIs (G-damn independents).
Having copies of old tests would've been nice, though.
I was in one at RPI also (that also was shut down for a period before I got there and had to rebuild).
Some of the best times of my life were there. Have a ton of friends from the fraternity that I'm still close with today. We didn't do much of the crazy/stupid hazing stuff that people see in the news.
But then again we didn't have frats...
I had a positive experience. Have some great, life-long friends. We had some fun parties. Met lots of girls. All of those things would have happened anyway most likely, but not in quite the same volume...If you are in a big fraternity you're going to meet people that join that you won't like. Some cliques will form which is annoying b/c you're not in HS anymore.
There are pros and cons for sure. I don't know what its like to be a college aged kid anymore so I don't know if I'd steer a kid that asked one way or another. I would just say I had a positive experience.
So who did you end up pledging?
The greek scene at Michigan was pretty wild. Back in those days there were something like 40 fraternities on campus, including a handful that were granted keg waivers. Ours was one of those.
Been out of school 20 years and still count some of my "brothers" from those days among the closest in my life.
He sounds like Tri-Lam material. U.N. Jefferson would be proud.
totally depends on the school though, if you are looking for advice for child I would really try to crowd source some opinions from people that are familiar with the specific schools.
I am definitely more of an introvert, so joining a frat was a easy way to force myself into more social situations, and i really do think it has helped navigate corp politics so far in my career as a young manager.
As was I. I graduated about 20 years ago. Damn shame what they're doing with the Greek life situation at that school.
They would start telling me pointless stories about "Greek Life" and then would have to stop to make themselves feel important.
Agreed but let's be honest, you start listening to me when I am around and send you on your way, proud and more well-informed about life.
We threw good parties and distinctly I remember watching LT bust Theisman's leg on Monday night football during a rush function.
The house gained popularity because we were not the jock house, or the drug house or the pretentious house. We were just the last house on the right.
But that changed as our popularity grew and I found myself far less interested in the scene.
As Rush Chairman, alcohol was prohibited from Rush functions, but we had a huge budget that was supplemented by National. I would coordinate activities such as white water rafting, paintball, elevated ropes course, etc. We would hide all the beer from those that attended the after-Rush party except for the token half-kicked keg. When we kicked out those that were attending except for a few that we told to stick around, then the real party would start until the next morning. 11PM? The party didn't even start yet.