Can you serenade a sorority wearing nothing but a diaper and a Spiderman mask? Are you willing to do your sorority sister’s laundry for a week? These are questions that you have, or will have to consider before joining college greek life. Even if you’re a college freshman, you don’t have to decide right away. Most colleges have a policy of not letting students join college greek life during their first semester. In that time there are a lot of things that can and should go into your decision-making process. Here are some of the more important ones to get you started:
1. Understand Greek Life On Campus
A small Christian school is going to have a different greek campus than a Big Ten school. If greek college is a big part of the social life on your campus, it may be more advantageous for you to join. Those schools typically have parties and other events that require fraternity and sorority affiliation for participation. Smaller schools generally have a more relaxed and flexible greek life in college, where belonging to a house isn’t as important.
2. Think About Your Personality Type
If you know you have a hard time meeting people, fraternity life or sorority life could be perfect for you. It’s nearly impossible not to make friends when you belong to a house, whether you actually live in the house or not. If you’re the exact opposite and are really outgoing and sociable, you’re a great candidate as well. Either way, there are upsides and downsides to greek life in college, so it really just depends on what you’re hoping to get out of the experience.
3. Think About The Social Scene
If you’re not the type of person that enjoys large group activities such as college parties, volunteer events, and socials, greek campus life probably isn’t for you. Most of the things you do in college greek life are in groups, often times large groups. If you know you’d rather connect with a few close friends rather than a house of people, then that’s certainly something you need to consider.
4. Talk To Your Friends About Joining
Whether or not your friends want to join a fraternity or join a sorority shouldn’t make or break your decision, but it should be taken into consideration. Your friends can influence your overall college greek life experience in a number of ways. For example, while rushing a fraternity or sorority with friends may make the experience less intimidating and provide a “we’re all in this together” mentality, it may also prevent you from meeting new people and creating your own experiences.
5. Know Your Motivation For Joining
Make sure your motivation for joining a fraternity or sorority is something that will be fulfilled by becoming a member. For example, if your main goal is to use the greek campus experience as a way to bulk up your resume, make sure you’re not joining a house that’s only known for throwing college parties. Instead, consider joining a business fraternity or sorority, or something more specific to your major.
6. Decide If You Want The Commitment
Depending on your schedule, you need to decide if you want the extra commitment. College greek life is a time-consuming commitment. There’s generally at least one meeting or activity a week you’re expected to attend, and most of the time, many more. In other words, don’t join a fraternity house or sorority house just because you think it’s just a few big college parties throughout the year. There are mandatory meetings, volunteer events, fund raisers, and other obligations.
7. Understand The Financial Obligation
Pretty much all greek fraternities and greek sororities have some sort of dues, usually broken out by semester. Make sure you know the costs before committing to pay them, as they may be more than you think. If you’re pretty tight on cash, which most of you probably are, this should be a major consideration for you. On the other hand, if college greek life is really something you want to do, you may find that it’s well worth the costs.
8. Talk To Students Inside The House
You’ll get a much better sense of the greek college fraternity or sorority house is like by meeting the members of them. Here are a couple questions you should consider: What is the reputation of the house? What kind of events do they host or join? What kinds of obligations are required from members? What constitutes their initiation process for their college greek life? The only way to find the answers to these questions is to ask.
9. Talk To Students Outside The House
Another great way to get an idea of frat life or sorority life inside a particular house is to talk to people outside of the house. Assume that people in the college greek house will have a biased opinion. Their opinions are still valuable, but an outsider’s perspective is also very helpful. An older sibling, an older friend, or a professor, are perfect resources to tap.
10. Think About Long-Term Implications
Not to scare you, but there can be several long-lasting effects of joining greek life in college. Don’t worry… most of these are positive. On a personal level, you’re making friends for life… friends who will stop at the drop of a hat to help you out. On a professional level, relationships developed during college greek life can lead to job opportunities, business partnerships, and any number of career-oriented perks. On the other hand, joining a house that’s only known for throwing college parties, may reflect poorly on you, post college.