Fraternities and Sororities

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I'm completely on the fence here.

I suppose it depends on your values and beliefs on society and conventions, to comply or to defy, to live or to dream.

But of course I have to leave room for doubt that there might be different kinds of fraternities and sororities.

In my opinion, they are alright to know people from them but to be in one is more based on what you are looking for while in college.

I am a member of Delta Alpha Pi Honor Society (Not a Frat or Sorority) which is for students with disabilities which recognized their academical achievements.

Honor or social, both can be bad.

In the end, all they do is serve as "networking" groups. If you're smart, you can group with academic equals. If you're popular (or popular enough) a group might take you in and make a circle of people who may help you get ahead later in life.

Sadly, even the academic groups can be as cliquish as the social groups. I only was involved in academic frats, and frankly, I never got to a meeting and was never kept in the loop.

Just a way of supposedly "fitting in." Unless you are dealing with another frat brother, nobody really cares down the road that you were in these things.

Fraternities and sororities aren't good or bad per se; there's so much diversity in the Greek System that it's impossible to make an entirely pro or con argument.

On the good side, there's vast potential for networking, meeting new people, having an instant social group (which is very important to surviving university or college with your sanity intact) to rely upon. I've found that fraternities and sororities do have benefits in this respect, although they do attract certain personality types that are more authoritarian or insecure enough to feel as if they need to hook up with people of like-minds. I've met some stridently pro-frat guys in my day, and they all tend to follow similar patterns of loyalty to groups and teams. They aren't bad guys, but they aren't the kind of people who follow the beat of their own drum.

This leads to a distinctly bad side to Greek Life: the fractionalizing of campus life and classism. Let's face a certain reality here -- not only are not all fraternities and sororities considered equal, but it's an unspoken topic that it's impossible to view them exclusive of ethnicity, money or elitism. You can say a frat is "open to all who apply" and the like, but it's just not true: sexism, classism and homophobia can be rampant in fraternities especially.

And, of course, while it's not politically correct to do so, let's not forget about that old standby: hazing...

As stated already, there are many different sororities and fraternities, so you can't lump them all into one group. I just finished my freshman year of college and am part of a fraternity, and I am extremely glad I did. Why? I automatically had a fairly large social group, and you are put in situations (not hazing though, at least not for my fraternity) where even someone like me who usually is shy and quiet is forced to step outside of the box. I made many close friends faster than I ever really have before. If it wasn't for my frat, i know i would have been a recluse and rarely left my dorm, but i was going out with friends more than i ever have in my life. Also, as i already stated, we are not hazed, you are forced to do stuff you wouldn't want to do, yes, but no forcing you to get really drunk, or spanking, or anything demeaning. (though there are other fraternities like that) Also, we are a Christian fraternity, and don't support going out and getting drunk and laid like some other frats do. Plus, even when there are frats like that, that doesn't mean ALL the guys do that.

I admit though, many do focus on such things, but that doesn't make them bad guys. Another con is the cost, but mine for example was relatively cheap, and alumni often offer scholarships, but some others can be 1k+ a semester.

Also, don't forget all the philanthropies that Greeks do, they give tons of money to charity and tend to do a lot of community service.

I want to join Delta Tau Chi.

It depends on the kinds of frat/sorority... also depends on the people running it and the members. I joined a sorority my second year and i can honestly say that it comes with a lot of positives as well as negatives. I got to put myself out there socially and although it was scary I found that a lot of univeristy students are very accepting and understanding. most negatives are mandatory events and a few bad apples. positives are a great group of girls that i wouldnt have met otherwise. Although I am not as close to them as they are to each other, they are always there to support and hang out with me. I can't say the same thing about other fraternities/sororities though. you really can't generalize them.

When I went to college I rushed some frats. I was not really planning on joining one, I was more looking for some free brews and possibly a dope connection, but I actually found two that were full of smart, moderately driven nonconformist type dudes that were just trying to get rowdy and didn't give a sh*t about the whole "greek system" thing, and I ended up joining one of them. It was great at first, but then in subsequent years most everyone that joined were stereotyped frat douchebags. It was a pretty bad scene after a while.

Also, a friend of mine from high school joined the other such frat, that place was ridiculous. It was a total sh*t show, it really was just like the animal house fraternity. I hung out there a fair amount my first couple years and ended up getting a lot of free beer and multiple dope connections from them I'm really glad I didn't join that one but it was usually good times.

All in all though, 95% of the people in the greek system were infuriating and I had next to nothing to do with them.

I've been in college for a couple of years but I'm currently being recruited to join a fraternity through a friend. I was originally skeptical because of all the bad media representations over the years, but I have to say that they are just a good group of guys. In my community they do tons of charity work and they aren't elitist in any sense. Being an aspie being around these guys this summer has really helped.