Joining the Fraternity That is Right for You
There are all different fraternities and sororities available on a college campus as well as professional fraternities endorsed by the school. It is very important that you end up in the one you belong in because if you join a fraternity that you may not like, you will end up regretting your decision to join for years to come.
I had been searching my school bulletins for information on general interest meetings for the fraternities for the Spring Rush. After finding several general interest meetings, I ended up attending three of them. Two were regular fraternities that were recommended by several of my friends and the other was a pre-law professional fraternity. Going into the two meetings with the regular fraternities I wasn’t sure what the difference between the two was. The pre-law fraternity looked really interesting to me on the other hand because I loved learning about law and wanted to be with other people who shared a similar interest as me.
After the meetings, I attended a dinner with the two fraternities and learned that they all liked to drink heavily. The fraternity would be a huge time commitment and the hazing process was at times pretty extreme. Coming out of the meeting I doubted if either of these two were right for me.
However, I was genuinely interested in the pre-law fraternity. The people there all seemed nice as the pledge masters, the people who would run the initiation into the fraternity, all introduced themselves with a smile and welcomes all of the interested people into the group. They showed off the cool sweatshirts and what activities they do. While they do throw parties like other fraternities, there was an academic concentration on studying the law and the members helping each other get into law school. Furthermore, from reports I had heard, while there was a pledging process, there was no extreme hazing and the process seemed mild compared to other fraternities. This had been the one main concern I had had about joining a fraternity and now it eased my mind.
I attended the rush dinner and a gathering at the house the next night. I got to meet all of the members and they all seemed really nice as they introduced themselves to me and welcomed me aboard. At the weekend’s conclusion, I handed in a letter of intent to the pledge master and became an official member of the fraternity, a decision that changed my life all for the better. I made lasting friendships and always had something to do; whether it was a lunch or dinner gathering or another social event.
I have known many people who were undecided about the decision of joining a fraternity. There are several decisions to make to factor in: the first is do you know anyone who is in the fraternity or who wants to rush with you? Also, does it matter to you that you might not know anyone in the fraternity? Personally for me it did not matter but for many other people they like going trough initiation with someone they know.
Another decision is what kinds of activities do they do? Is it just parties and heavy drinking? Or do they do charity drives or other social events that don’t involve drinking alcohol? Then here there is the issue of comfort. A person must feel comfortable in the fraternity and be themselves when they are around other members. Otherwise you are just a phony and the fraternity was not worth the decision to join. Finally, there is the hazing aspect. Most colleges deny that it goes on, but rumors do exist and in most cases it is true. Hazing can be quite severe and if you aren’t comfortable going through it, don’t join. There are plenty of other fraternities that do less hazing to test your will as a new member.
I hope you make a good decision concerning a fraternity and I hope you use these tips to your benefit in making your decision.
