How hard is at most schools to join a fraternity?

[fpLAX]

I live in connecticut, i'm a senior this year and looking at schools mainly all down south. My older brother is going to be a senior at north carolina and rushed pi kappa phi as a freshman and ever since I was a sophomore in highschool I would visit him there at all my breaks and go to his school at the end of summer before mine had started and stay with him for 2 weeks, he lived in his fraternities house his sophomore year and when I visited him it was great. They were all amazing guys and treated me like I was one of their brothers, they took me out to parties every night, we'd all go out and do stuff and during the day just hang out. Even when one of my good friends from back in CT died half of his brothers personally called me up telling me they were sorry... I love the life and the brotherhood and friendship and everything, being in a fraternity is hugely important to me now after seeing what it was like.

My question is how hard is it to join? At my brother's chapter they always were open to meeting people and would take down people names in a book if they liked them and called them up with the interest of finding rushes and pursue them to a degree. At most schools is it like this or do you have to make sure your always on your game and going after them. I'm most likely going to be applying to ole miss, mississippi state, roanoke college, radford university, st. josephs university in philidelphia, university of alabama and WVU. I read alot about how rushing is really competitive especially at ole miss and mississippi state and how maybe they prefer instate. Would being from up north and not knowing any actives at the school hurt my chances unless they basically love me? I'm a little worried because ole miss and mississippi state are my 1st choices right now. I went and visited both them around 2 weeks ago and they were my dream schools, I loved the campuses and the fraternity houses there were siick. I'm basically a laid back kid, rock sperrys, polos and brooks brothers 24/7 and real sociable but I'd like to be able to join one of my first choice fraternities and not settle with guys who I can "tolerate"

[lucgreek]

Southern Schools it will be hard as hell to get into as someone from the North. Insanely competitive so unless you really stand out, you really won't be actively pursued. Not knowing anyone plus being from the North, while not 100% killing your chance, puts you at a huge disadvantage it's probably not even be worth your time.

I have friends at St. Joe's and WVU, both have said it isn't really that competitive. St. Joe's is probably the least competitive school you listed.

Also it matter in how big of a chapter size you want. At the southern schools, you'll have insanely huge chapters where you don't know everyone that well. Whereas at schools with smaller chapters, you'll know everyone in your fraternity and (hopefully) be great friends with all of them.

Honestly it boils down to how hard you really want to try during rush. If you want to dedicate tons of time, you could risk trying at a more competitive southern school. But if you don't want to sacrifice the time commitment that rush at southern schools takes, you could probably consider going to one of the least competitive schools. The fraternity experience will be different but, in my opinion, a brotherhood is a brotherhood no matter what school.

I personally would hate not knowing all of my brothers that well, so at my school (Loyola) having a chapter of 40 guys is great for me.

Also: I don't know if you are or not, but don't base your school decision off greek life. Some of the southern schools you listed aren't exactly stellar academically, so you might want to take that into account.

[EE-BO]

At most of the schools you are looking at, what is most important is getting on the radar early through anyone you know down there who can introduce you around.

Rushing in the South is hard for Northeners because they do not have the contacts to get introduced early in the rush process. If you can achieve this, your chances are better than you might think.

If you are suitable for southern fraternity life, then finding a way to get introduced early will cover you. If you are not suitable, then why worry because you would not have liked it anyway.

As for getting introduced, here are some options for you to consider,

1. Who at your high school has gone to the colleges you list? Are they Greek? I mean women as well as men. A sorority member at one of your chosen colleges can be a huge benefit to you- so don't just think about looking for contacts who are male.

2. Your brother is Greek. Who else in your family? Anyone in your family who is Greek can at least make introductions for you at southern chapters of their fraternity. It is just a starting point, but it helps.

3. Outside of family and schoolmates, who do you know who might have gone to one of your chosen colleges at some point? Are they Greek? If so, can they get you in on summer rush?

Finally, do some serious homework. Find out what fraternity chapters are at the schools you are interested in via the college websites. Cross reference that with potential contacts in 1-3 above, and that is your starting point.

[PhiGam]

Originally Posted by EE-BO

At most of the schools you are looking at, what is most important is getting on the radar early through anyone you know down there who can introduce you around.

Rushing in the South is hard for Northeners because they do not have the contacts to get introduced early in the rush process. If you can achieve this, your chances are better than you might think.

If you are suitable for southern fraternity life, then finding a way to get introduced early will cover you. If you are not suitable, then why worry because you would not have liked it anyway.

As for getting introduced, here are some options for you to consider,

1. Who at your high school has gone to the colleges you list? Are they Greek? I mean women as well as men. A sorority member at one of your chosen colleges can be a huge benefit to you- so don't just think about looking for contacts who are male.

2. Your brother is Greek. Who else in your family? Anyone in your family who is Greek can at least make introductions for you at southern chapters of their fraternity. It is just a starting point, but it helps.

3. Outside of family and schoolmates, who do you know who might have gone to one of your chosen colleges at some point? Are they Greek? If so, can they get you in on summer rush?

Finally, do some serious homework. Find out what fraternity chapters are at the schools you are interested in via the college websites. Cross reference that with potential contacts in 1-3 above, and that is your starting point.

Great post

[igsigmanu]

Meh,


Its really not as bad as some of these people are portraying. I'm going to State now. Things that many people said would never happen during my stay at MS State have happened and are continuing to happen. I think people group Ole Miss and Ms State into these groups that are unbreakable. yeah you have certain fraternities that are Southern based, but honestly you have just as good of a chance as anyone else. My fraternity and so does many others here at STATE have Northerners in our fraternity system.

Your disadvantage in my opinion is that you are coming here and a good number of these guys that will be in your rush class will have exposure because they have been able to attend various rush parties and they go to schools here that people can easily research. But i agree with the above post. Do some research... and Most fraternities have a questionaire for prospective members on their pages, fill those out so they can look you up and find out a bit more about you. Believe me, Rushing is VERY competitive for the Rushee but even more for the Fraternity itself. Every fraternity wants to get the best of the best and they strive to try to reach and contact these people before the other fraternity on campus.

I can't really comment on things at other schools other that MS STATE. but these are strictly my opinions.

1. Don't settle for mediocracy, find the guys that you enjoy and find a home within your selections here at State.
2. Do some research, all schools have an IFC or greek page that you can look up the list of active chapters at the school and you can find out exactly what they do for fun as well as for service.
3. remember greek life isnt all about the parties, brotherhood and service are definitely up there so go into it with the idea that tier systems are set up for the meak and that it only hinders the progress of those that do not "rank". thats a bunch of bologna.
4. HAVE fun... Enjoy Rush and be yourself. Thats the easiest way for the other guys to find out who you are and what you are about, not WHERE you're from.

[fpLAX]

hey guys thanks for the anwsers, I'll definently look into people who I might know that might have gone to some of these schools and see if any people from my school might be down there and pledged I could probly just facebook them and see how it works they'd probly be happy to meet up with someone back where i'm from down here. Seems pretty competitive but from what I picked up some fraternities aren't as restrictive? Or are ALL of them going to want a southerner or instate person unless i'm basically amazing. Also just wondering but say I go to one of these competitive schools and my brothers fraternities on campus there, would they think any different of me or would it help?

[WVU alpha phi]

I was in a sorority at WVU and fraternity rush isn't very highly competitive. Dynamics are changing on campus since I graduated in 07 according to my younger sisters. This is mostly due to some fraternities losing housing to remodeling/being kicked off campus, one fraternity getting a gorgeous new house, and of course the obvious dynamics changing with each pledge class.

PM me if you want with my more detailed opinions so I don't get my head ripped off. But as a very social sorority girl (of course we had our favorites but we had parties with many of the fraternities, not just ones we were close with), guys who rush at WVU should not have a problem finding a house that mutually fits.

[EE-BO]

Originally Posted by fpLAX

Seems pretty competitive but from what I picked up some fraternities aren't as restrictive? Or are ALL of them going to want a southerner or instate person unless i'm basically amazing. Also just wondering but say I go to one of these competitive schools and my brothers fraternities on campus there, would they think any different of me or would it help?

I think it is important to define competitive here. Sorority rush is highly competitive because there are quotas- i.e. limits- on the number of pledges a sorority can accept in any given formal rush period, and also because there is a process known as matching where an entity other than the chapters and the rushees makes the final assigment of pledges to chapters. So the ladies are competing not only against other rushees, but a pretty rigid and very complex numbers game.

Fraternities are not like that. There might be quotas somewhere, but every campus I know does not have any kind of numbers restrictions on pledges- a chapter can take all the pledges they want. So when you are rushing a fraternity, you are really only competing against other rushees- and the final decision about giving you a bid will come directly from the chapter without any other outside party able to forcibly affect that decision.

From that standpoint, I think "competitive" is a bit of a misnomer when it comes to fraternity rush. What is really going on is that you are presenting yourself to a chapter and they have to decide if you are a good potential pledge. When it comes to top tier chapters (the chapters that have the best social calendars, biggest budgets etc.), there are always tons of people who want to get in who really are not cut out for it. But that does not make it competitive in my mind- just highly selective. I keep tabs on rush data and even some of the top tier chapters at my school have pledge class sizes that vary quite a bit from year to year. So it is not like they are pledging up to X number of guys and stopping after that.

Since your brother is a Pi Kappa Phi, you are considered a legacy. Whether it hurts or helps depends on the reputations of the chapters where your brother is a member and where you might seek membership. It is not even about good vs. bad- many northern chapters have negative perceptions of southern chapters and vice versa purely on cultural differences. But generally speaking I think this helps you since it gives you a legitimate connection to any Pi Kappa Phi chapter when it comes to making first contact. Your brother would just contact the chapter you are interested in and say "my brother is coming to your school and I would like him to rush our fraternity". Quick, easy and the right way to make first contact.

If I may, please let me offer some additional thoughts since you are clearly going about this the right way- asking good questions and starting the process early,

1. Make sure your Facebook photos and profile reflect you and the image you want to present to fraternities- especially if you start networking through there. This has been a big problem for people coming here for advice before, and in at least one case it probably ruined the guy's chances at the kind of rush results he wanted.

2. First contact is best done through a friend or acquaintance who knows the chapter. Calling them directly yourself is not necessarily going to ruin your chances, but the higher the reputation of a given chapter- the less likely they are to want to talk to you unless you are introduced through someone they know. Having that introduction tells them that someone they know thinks you would be a good candidate. You calling yourself suggests you have noone to vouch for you, and that sends a bad message.

3. You are applying to a lot of schools. I never did that, so hoping others can correct me if I am wrong, but I suspect you would be wise to not have people make contacts on your behalf until you know what school you are attending. Or at the very least, have it narrowed down to 1-2 places if you need extra time to make a decision.

4. Once you settle on a school, read up on the Greek Life section of the website for that school and sign up for fall rush as soon as you can. While not all chapters bother with the rush lists, many do- including good and top chapters. So make sure your name is out there. And when they see you are out of state, that can be an incentive for them to contact you since the fact you are not local is a logical reason why you are not generally "known" yet.

5. Once you settle on a school and contacts are made on your behalf, be financially prepared to make 3-4 visits during the spring/summer months to any rush events you are invited to. If you plan carefully and are discreet (i.e. don't tell people at the chapters you are visiting other chapters on the same trip) you can hopefully hit events at 2-3 chapters on a single trip.

5. Be careful about committing too early. Lesser chapters will often try to push guys into taking a bid before they have a chance to see that they could do better. Being from out of state, you are at some risk for this unless you go into rush knowing a lot about the chapters at a given school. Once you find a place that just "feels" right, go for it. But be sure you rush at least 3 chapters before making that decision so you have a basis for comparison.

6. You have done the wise thing posting the schools here that you are interested in and leaving it at that. From there, people can read your thread and contact you privately to discuss individual campuses and chapters. Talking openly about specific chapter reputations in the forums can, for obvious reasons, be problematic for you. Keep on being discreet and you will be fine.

Sorry to be so long winded, but I hope this helps. Again, you are going about this the right way and I wish you good fortune in your search. Do keep coming back as the year progresses to report on your status. Lots of people read this forum and can learn from your rush process.

[jarred66]

i sorta have the same situation, but there are afew differences
1) i am going to LSU and I am from Louisiana but i currently live in Georgia
2)i have a cousin that was in a chapter that is currently at LSU.
I visited LSU and even had a meeting with the greek life office.

[jarred66]

He said LSU hasn't been as competitive the last few years. I just want to know if the same advice applys

[Elephant Walk]

Originally Posted by jarred66

He said LSU hasn't been as competitive the last few years. I just want to know if the same advice applys

LSU is far more competitive than some of the systems the OP mentioned.

Being from Georgia helps, I think. I would check to see if there are others from your high school going there or that have gone there.

[jarred66]

i get the impression that at LSU because there are 18 chapters there are a lot of different opinions of competitive. I guess it depends which fraternity you are rushing. THe greek office member i met with(who was an active) said it was not as competitive, but like I said it probably depends on which one. I do not want to just speculate though. Does anyone here know LSU or go there?

[EE-BO]

Originally Posted by jarred66

i get the impression that at LSU because there are 18 chapters there are a lot of different opinions of competitive. I guess it depends which fraternity you are rushing. THe greek office member i met with(who was an active) said it was not as competitive, but like I said it probably depends on which one. I do not want to just speculate though. Does anyone here know LSU or go there?

Elephant Walk and pledgesicle have given you advice consistent with my limited familiarity with LSU. You are welcome to put your questions in this thread, but you might be better off starting a new one with LSU in the title since that will more directly attract the attention of other people with specific knowledge of LSU.

pledgesicle made an important point that is common to every campus I know anything about. Top tier chapters will tend to be highly selective- and at some campuses to an extreme degree- but any Greek system will have solid mid tier houses that are far more open (a nice way of saying "keeping the numbers up".) Of coure the lousy chapters will be the same way, so the trick is to make sure you are not getting into a lame chapter when the process of getting a bid happens faster and easier than you expected.