Fraternities

[Darthtiki 0]

I was approached today about joining one and I'm on the fence. Anyone have any insight?

[Guest Vitamin X]

Don't do it. Costs too much money for what you get out of it. You don't have to go out and buy friends unless, I suppose, you're lacking a bit in the social department. Since you moved from out of town, it might be okay for you, but I had a couple bad experiences with some, so I'm just speaking from personal experience in that they're pretty much a waste of time and money.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Don't do it. There's plenty of other ways to be involved in stuff and make friends than pay dues to a frat, and walk around campus looking like the stereotypical frat douchebag in your Greek letter shirt. Yeah, the parties are supposed to be fun, if you like hanging out with the same people you're basically living with anyway...and who knows, maybe you can be involved in the next alcohol related frat death, or have someone fall off the frathouse roof pulling a prank and fall into a coma (yes, that actually happened at the school I went to).

[Epic Reine 0]

Hell no. You're basically paying for friendship. How pathetic can you get?

 

Join a club (for free!), that's better and you don't have to do ridiculous tasks and be someone's bitch in order to join.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

Man I was going to post the same thing.

 

At my campus, there aren't any Greek houses or any other on campus perks. I don't know what you're really paying for. I have friends in different frats so it works out.

[Copper Feel 0]

The concept of a fraternity intrigues me, I have never heard it discussed in real life.

[Guest Smues]

During "National Fraternity Week" or some bullshit while I was at UW some frat kid fell out of his 2nd story window (drunk of course) and died. That's all I got.

[Nighthawk 0]

Well that made me laugh out loud.

 

I will say go ahead and do it, just to say you did. I never did, because I barely even qualified as going to college, but I did hang out at the parties, and saw some crazy shit. I warn you, however, that like Homer Simpson, my concept of college life is pretty much completely based on movies I watched in the 80s. That's really how it looked, though. Gangbangs, rampant alcoholism, the whole deal.

[geniusMoment 0]

Wait, you're 25 and thinking of joining a frat now?

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I joined one and was booted out within six months. It's not an experience that I have fond memories of, but I did meet some great guys who I'm still good friends with nearly 7 years later when we've all moved on to our own lives. It's a good place to meet people, but at the same time there is a lot of bullshit that goes along with it.

[Darthtiki 0]

Wait, you're 25 and thinking of joining a frat now?

 

I went to Junior College and did a University Extension stint before heading to college. Also, I wouldn't be living at the house also and I am joining other clubs. Additionally, it's a commuter school, so there really isn't a giant social atmosphere, especially if you're from out of town.

[EricMM 0]

Just sayin', most pledges are like 17 or 18...

[Darthtiki 0]

It seems as if I would be paying money to run errands and clean a house that I visit once a week just for the chance to go to a couple parties that won't even guarantee me getting laid. I'm somewhat leaning against this I think, thanks for the advice.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Just sayin', most pledges are like 17 or 18...

 

Not really.

 

I wouldn't even say that going right into college (especially a major university) out of high school is even the majority of the case anymore; most people I know went to JuCo or took some time off afterwards for various reasons. I know I went to JuCo first, then a private art school, and now a public state university. I've seen pledges for fraternities at many schools range from 18-24. 25 is a bit older on the scale, but it's not entirely unrealistic. You're more mature in regards to your education when you're older, anyways, and you're more likely to know what you want to do with it rather than just spend time and waste money in school entirely directionless.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Just sayin', most pledges are like 17 or 18...

 

Not really.

 

I wouldn't even say that going right into college (especially a major university) out of high school is even the majority of the case anymore; most people I know went to JuCo or took some time off afterwards for various reasons. I know I went to JuCo first, then a private art school, and now a public state university. I've seen pledges for fraternities at many schools range from 18-24. 25 is a bit older on the scale, but it's not entirely unrealistic. You're more mature in regards to your education when you're older, anyways, and you're more likely to know what you want to do with it rather than just spend time and waste money in school entirely directionless.

 

My pledge class had like 40 people and I don't think any of them were over the age of 18. Your mileage may vary, depending on the school you're attending.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

You can't get insight about a fraternity from people who haven't been in one, first of all.

 

That's like asking a bunch of message board people what the inside of a pro sports team's locker room is like and how you'll get treated.

 

You're not paying for your friends. You know what? I take that back. With some fraternities, you are. DON'T JOIN THOSE. You'll know which ones are made up of guys who pretend to be your friend so you can just have a big clique to bang girls.

 

My advice is to rush a bunch of them. Don't listen to the "WE BECOME A FAMILY, WE'RE NOT YOUR TYPICAL FRATERNITY" thing because they all say that.

 

Pick one that:

 

A) DOES COMMUNITY SERVICE EVENTS, AND FUN ONES

 

B) HAS A VERY GOOD REPUTATION WITH FEMALES. ASK GIRLS WHICH FRATERNITY IS THE MOST RESPECTFUL AND POPULAR AT THE SAME TIME.

 

C) IS MOST RESPONSIBLE WITH PARTIES. DON'T LET A GOOD TIME GET YOU ARRESTED. A GREAT PARTY IS ONE THAT CAN BE CRAZY AND RESPONSIBLE.

 

D) HAS GUYS THAT DON'T PRESSURE YOU AND LET YOU BE YOURSELF.

 

Don't ever let a fraternity inflict physical harm to you.

 

There's good ones. Good luck! I loved my fraternity life. Made lifelong friends, got to meet great girls and meet future girlfriends, did good for the community, drank a lot, and always had a cool house to party at!

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Another downside of frats is you meet people like UseTheSledgehammerUh.

[Black Lushus 0]

Another downside of frats is you meet people like UseTheSledgehammerUh.

 

yeah but DA PARTIES~!, Inc, DA PARTIES~!

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Parties don't define a person's character, but they sure do beat boring weekends sometimes, especially at suitcase schools where it can be tough to meet new people outside of a Greek/Sports environment.

 

Ignore the retard 2 posts up that had nothing worthwhile to contribute and decided to spit venom at me because one of his World of Warcraft elves died.

[Jingus 0]

Actual conversation overheard by me back in college:

 

Chick: "So, you having a good time with all your 'frat' buddies?"

 

Dude: "It's called a frat-er-ni-ty. Do you call your country a cunt?"

[Guest Vitamin X]

I seriously doubt either of those two posters do World of Warcraft. In fact, if anything, I'd expect UseTheSledgehammerUh more likely to be the one elfin' it up. Again, you pay money in the guise of "dues" for a social group. I've been inside this shit, I know what this is like. It's fucking lame.

 

Tip for meeting girls: Don't force it to happen, just let it happen. Joining something or doing something specifically for the purpose of fucking chicks is rarely effective, especially for, again, a douchebag who needs to pay money to pretend he has friends.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Actual conversation overheard by me back in college:

 

Chick: "So, you having a good time with all your 'frat' buddies?"

 

Dude: "It's called a frat-er-ni-ty. Do you call your country a cunt?"

 

Yeah, that's there lame line they always use. It's hilarious how anal some of them are about it.

 

As a hilarious aside, I was involved with our campus RHA, and we had a weekly television show broadcast on the campus TV station. One week, we did a segment on a comedy show at the campus coffee house, and a guy doing standup used that same line as a joke, in a bit about fraternities. Anyway, yours truly managed to get it on the air...didn't really take any flack for it, though we did have to edit it before the second airing later in the week. Yeah, good times.

 

Actually, speaking of RHA, I met a lot of people, and quite a few of my friends by being involved in that. I liked the dorm life, personally. Not a lot of social pressure, and a good way to meet lots of people.

[Guest Soriano's Torn Quad]

Yikes, that was pretty bad.

 

I was expecting "yeah, fraternities are lame...if doing totally awesome community service is lame!", and well, I kinda got it, so that was nice, but that's enough ripping on USTU.

 

fighting orcs, brb

[justsoyouknow 0]

Was UTSU the guy that had to watch for cops at the parties, or was that Johnson? Same quality posts, either way.

[Guest Soriano's Torn Quad]

Pretty sure that was Johnson. USTU was the guy that unloaded on a sleeping girl's leg.

[Slayer 0]

Ignore the retard 2 posts up that had nothing worthwhile to contribute and decided to spit venom at me because one of his World of Warcraft elves died.

Lance Armstrong would win 1000 games of WoW in a row

[B. Brian Brunzell 0]

Ignore the retard 2 posts up that had nothing worthwhile to contribute and decided to spit venom at me because one of his World of Warcraft elves died.

Lance Armstrong would win 1000 games of WoW in a row

 

I figured out mathematically that 1000 WoW games equals to 7 Tour de Frances, so you're totally right.

[The Niggardly King 0]

USTU was the guy that unloaded on a sleeping girl's leg.

 

???

 

This sounds creepy. I get the image of USTU decked out in his Eagles gear with red cup... hiding in some chick's closet... anticipating the moment she falls asleep, and then busting out and quickly blowing a load on an uncovered limb of hers before running out of there.

[Ripper 0]

Frats strike me as being really really semi-homoerotic, and when guys that I knew tell me the crazy stories that [insert crazy frat name here] did, it usually is something that would be the setup for a gay porn scene. I pretty much think it ended with them all blowing each other but they just edit that part out the story.

 

Here is the thing, you don't need a frat to do community service. If you want to service the community, then fucking service it.

 

And you know whats better than having a frat that is respected by the ladies? you being respected by the ladies. Fuck a frat.

 

Basically, the only plus to joining a frat is the future networking that it enables you to do when you get in the real world and how many chicks you banged doesn't seem to matter anymore. And honestly, just make really good friends with a frat guy learn all the dumb handshakes, mantras and shit (or look it up on the internet) and just pretend you were in a frat if you need it to get a extra leg up in networking. Otherwise, fuck that noise. Save your money.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Not to mention time. Fraternities waste a lot of time that could be better spent elsewhere.