Penn State: Joining a fraternity during master studies?

[ManuelMMM]

Hello,

my name is Manuel and I study food technology in Germany. In spring 2015 I will return to the States for finishing my master studies with a thesis at Penn State. I am interested in joining a fraternity but have some questions about the membership rules.


But first some information about me. I have both the German as well as the US-American citizienship, but grew up in Germany. I participate in two German fraternities (better known as “Studentenverbindungen”), which belong to the same parent organization. I hold many different offices with different tasks as representative and leading functions (called "Senior" - comparable to President),organisational matters (called "Consenior" - comparable to Vice-President and promotion matters (called "Fuxmajor" - responsible for new and possible members, comparable to the rush team).

I am an open-minded, communicative and very ambitious person and would like to participate in a fraternity at Penn State. I informed myself about most of the fraternities via internet. Someone told me that it is impossible to join any fraternity as a master student. I think the bachelor/master system in Germany is similar to the one in the States but I was wondering why you can not paticipate when you are a master student? In German fraternities you are a so called "Aktiver" as long as you study and when you start to work, you become a so called "Alter Herr" who supports the brotherhood with an annual contribution and your help/expertise. Is the information of this guy true that there is no way for me to join? Or does it differ from fraternity to fraternity?



Thank you very much for your help.


Greetings from Germany,

Manuel