Quote:
Originally Posted by SigEpLegacy
Once again, thank you for the support. I really plan on just getting out and going to school. I will be 24 when I get back to school. Is age frowned upon?
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I think it is very likely that as long as you are otherwise a good fit for a given chapter, your ROTC participiation will be seen as a plus.
However, your age is definitely going to raise a lot of questions.
Kansas is a large state school and while not as competitive as some Greek systems, it is definitely a place where upper tier fraternities have a lot of incoming freshmen who want to be members.
There is not the time or money to get to know each individual to the degree that would be perfect- and so there have to be some arbitrary ways in which to automatically cut down on the candidates to be considered.
For fraternities- ability to pay dues, age/class level and GPA are (in my experience) the most commonly considered arbitrary measures used to cut down on the list of candidates. Such factors can also keep an otherwise ideal candidate from being offered a bid since there are other ideal candidates who meet all those criteria.
Going into rush before you meet guys in the various chapters, anyone who sees your info in advance is going to logically wonder if a 24 year old is going to be willing and able to go through pledgeship and have people 5 years younger than him dictating his personal schedule for a period of time. I am not talking about hazing here- but about suddenly leaving adult life and putting yourself in a situation where people younger than you are going to require your attendance and participation in the chapter.
They will also wonder if you are really going to stick around and pay dues for the full 4 years. No fraternity is going to take a chance on someone who has a good chance of not staying all 4 years when they have another good candidate who will stay and pay dues all 4 years.
And some will be concerned about the reaction of sororities to a 24 year old pledge mingling with much younger women at mixers. I kid you not- this came up years ago at my chapter when a few guys wanted to pledge someone who was 22 and an incoming freshman.
However, all is not lost.
I think anyone would have to agree the above questions are logical concerns of a fraternity who comes across a 24 year old rush candidate.
But all of those concerns can be put to rest if a given chapter knows you well before the rush process and has decided you would make a great addition to the chapter.
In other words- I think you need to find out where you stand well in advance of the rush process.
Kevin has mentioned the recolonization of his GLO at Kansas- a great place to start. Someone with your maturity and military service would surely make an outstanding re-founding father for a chapter. You could have all the fun, but also put your maturity and skills to use- skills that your average college student does not yet possess.
Also, your user name indicates you are a Sig Ep legacy. It never hurts to ask your father (uncle or whoever was a Sig Ep) to make some inquiries with the chapter and help you discreetly make an initial contact with Sig Ep at Kansas (I assume they have a chapter there) so you can go to dinner with some of the guys and they can have a chance to hear your unique situation and then go from there.
Long story short- in your specific situation I think going into formal rush without any prior introduction to any chapters is very likely to result in not getting a bid anywhere worth pledging.
But if you can figure out where specific opportunities lie- meaning the SN recolonization Kevin mentioned and your family connection to Sig Ep- and then get yourself introduced around well in advance of rush, then you will have the most opportunity anyone could ask to be evaluated as a candidate without your age being a limiting factor before anyone knows who you are.
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