Greek Life for an International Student at UIUC
 

Hey guys,

The admission decisions are released today and depending on whether I come in, I think it's highly probable that I will be choosing to attend UIUC this fall.

I am quite excited about it, but as I'm from Norway, there is also a lot to take in as I'm not very familiar with how things work, especially greek life which seems to be a big part of UIUC. Norwegian culture is quite like American culture, I guess, but at the same time it's also very different. We do however have something similar to fraternities during high school, so even though I'll be doing an engineering major, I would want to join a 'social' or partying fraternity. Bear in mind though, I'm going to the US to get an education and will prioritize this (doesn't mean I can't go out :).

Anyway, hope the post is not a mess, I basically just want to know as much as possible about how things work and if possible, from an international perspective. Pleding, rushing a fraternity, bids and 'Hell Week', I've read about it, but I don't really know how it works yet.

If you have links to any good artivcles too, I would appreciate it! I've tried searching some already.

Cheers,
Anton

Anton, if you're going to be a full time student at an American university, then, yes, you are eligible for fraternity membership at that university. Go through fraternity rush at your school. Please be advised that membership obligations include paying dues, attending meetings, etc. Contact the office of Greek Life at your school for information about rush, pledging, etc.

I'm obviously a woman, but I was also a UIUC engineering major back in the day. Greeks are a little less common in engineering than they are in the general UIUC population, but there's still a handful, and you can certainly balance the two (it also depends on which major within engineering; some are more populated with Greeks than others). One challenge, which is really just more of an annoyance, is that, as an engineering major, you will probably never have Fridays off, and a lot of Greek events happen on Thursday nights.

I'm assuming that if you attend UIUC, you'll be living in the dorms? There will be fraternities storming every dorm during rush week. Obviously, you won't know people from advance the way a lot of the other men will, but that shouldn't be a huge problem at UIUC. There are TONS of fraternities, and many, many men get to campus with no idea about the greek system, no intention of rushing, etc. There are two social fraternities specifically for engineering majors, so that's also an option.

The fact that you are from another country will likely be novel and memorable for most groups (as long as you are otherwise cool), so I wouldn't worry about that. As adpiucf points out, though, you should be sure that you understand the obligations that come with joining a fraternity. Obviously, you are researching now, so you probably know them as well as plenty of men who will be rushing, and it's good that the fraternities know you take it seriously. One lovely thing about Chambana is that the cost of living is quite low, and living in a fraternity house, even with social dues, is often comparable to living in the dorms and/or a campus apartment.

My husband's fraternity at UIUC had an international student (I want to say from Australia?)

That's really all I can contribute to this thread, lol

Oh, c'mon, you were there more recently than I! When I went to mention my major, I realized it doesn't even exist there anymore.

Anton, obviously lovespink88 and I are alumnae, though we're women and we've been out of school a few minutes, so if you have any specific questions, we will do our best.