Does being a sophomore or above matter when looking to join a fraternity?

goldtiger1 · #1 02-11-2007, 06:39 AM

I was just wondering if your school class correlates with your acceptance rate into a fraternity. I realize that some fraternities do not mind, but I was more or less interested in hearing about what southern fraternities think about it, esp. at LSU.

BigRedBeta · #2 02-11-2007, 11:29 AM

It really depends on the school and the chapter. Some places being a junior won't matter, but at a lot of places it raises a lot of red flags.

If I had to guess (given the culture of Southern Fraternity life, and even just at other big greek schools like my own) @ LSU, it probably matters. Being a sophomore is likely not an automatic deal breaker, but being a junior is.

In my chapter at a more northerly school, we routinely rushed sophomores, if they were an excellent fit, but didn't give them quite the benefit of the doubt we gave freshmen. We had one junior go through rush while I was in the chapter, and he really didn't have a chance. There were plenty of questions: why now? how is he going to mesh with his pledge brothers? how is going to handle having to do study hours and the other things required during pledge semester, when he's already had 2 years on his own? what about his other friends, are we essentially a free party for them? What happens when he turns 21, is he just going to ditch his pledge class? What is he really going to bring to the house and his pledge class in only 2 years?

Those were the types of things we looked at. In the end, the guy was a jackass so we didn't have to worry about it, but the experience and going through those types of questions pretty much made everyone's minds up not to rush juniors in the future.

If you're a sophomore, then certainly rush, but if you're a junior, then you better have some good reasons and be able to answer some of the questions posed above.

Robh88 · #3 02-12-2007, 05:22 PM

I go to LSU and being a sophmore is not a huge deal when you are going through rush. Just be sure to have some kind of reason like your parents wouldn't let you due to grades or you transfered. While it is more traditional to rush as a freshmen, you should already know some people since you are a sophmore, so that might actually help your chances. Will you be rushing next fall or this spring. Waiting until junior year is pretty rare and unless you are good friends with some people, it would be pretty tough to get into a top house, but some of the smaller fraternities would still be interested. Send me a message if you have any other questions.

goldtiger1 · #4 02-12-2007, 07:52 PM

Being concerned with my grades was kind of the case with me not going through rush at the beginning. Once I'm dedicated to something, I want to put everything I have in it, and I was anxious I would hurt my grades. I'm a sophomore right now, but I'm switching my major this semester, which is definitely going to push me back a year, and not to mention I had to resign last semester because of reasons. So I probably still have a bit of time left in college hah. If I were to go through rush it would probably be in the fall semester this year. I definitely understand where you were coming from with questioning that one guy bigredbeta, I'm just hoping it isn't like that with me if I decide to go through with it because I definitely don't want to do it because of the free rides into parties.

Elephant Walk · #5 02-12-2007, 09:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robh88

I go to LSU and being a sophmore is not a huge deal when you are going through rush. Just be sure to have some kind of reason like your parents wouldn't let you due to grades or you transfered. While it is more traditional to rush as a freshmen, you should already know some people since you are a sophmore, so that might actually help your chances. Will you be rushing next fall or this spring. Waiting until junior year is pretty rare and unless you are good friends with some people, it would be pretty tough to get into a top house, but some of the smaller fraternities would still be interested. Send me a message if you have any other questions.

Let me guess, 3rd tier bottom feeder.
Yes it absolutely does matter. If you know we hate the spring's because they rushed in the spring instead of the 1st semester, what do you think we think about sophomores rushing in the fall?

James · #6 02-12-2007, 10:41 PM

I didn't realize some chapters took what year you were so seriously.

Do you guys subscribe to some wierd formal rush rule that limits the amount of people you can take?

So if you have some real athletic guy with a cool personality and acceptable grades you will disqualify him based on his year even if you have space in the chapter?

Why?

shinerbock · #7 02-12-2007, 10:49 PM

Being a sophomore is not a deal breaker at AU or UGA, but it does raise eyebrows. Some top tier places may not give you a chance because of it. If you're a junior, its unlikely you'll get in a decent place.

Edit: the best shot for a sophomore is to have a valid reason for not pledging their first reason and be well connected to the previous pledge class. The only non-freshmen we took were a couple of people who had a lot of friends in the pledge class before them, but for some reason couldn't rush their first year. Usually those guys would come to parties and what not, so most of the brothers were already friends with them. Thats the only time you really saw non freshmen come through.

DeltaBetaBaby · #8 02-12-2007, 10:57 PM

Wow, I am surprised to hear so many negatives. At Illinois, there were a fair number of guys who transferred in from community college and pledged as juniors. I understand some of the concerns brought up by BigRed, but as a general rule, wouldn't you rather have a decent guy than an empty space?

MaryAmanda · #9 02-13-2007, 12:53 AM

My boyfriend pledged and was initiated in his 5th year here at Tech.

His fraternity has taken in several 4th and 5th years (5+ years is perhaps more common than here than 4...lots of engineers and co-ops and such)...as long as they truly want to make the committment now, that's what matters.

Also, as a 4th year now myself, I'm a new member of the local sorority on campus, but that's a whole different ball game. I think of it this way: I needed the first few years to grow as an individual, to kind of find out who I am and want to be. Then I realized that this sorority fit into that vision.

shinerbock · #10 02-13-2007, 10:45 AM

We don't really have empty spaces. We take who we want. We're not trying to fill any void.

macallan25 · #11 02-13-2007, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Wow, I am surprised to hear so many negatives. At Illinois, there were a fair number of guys who transferred in from community college and pledged as juniors. I understand some of the concerns brought up by BigRed, but as a general rule, wouldn't you rather have a decent guy than an empty space?

Just because we pass on an older guy doesn't mean we have an empty space.

TSteven · #12 02-13-2007, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

Wouldn't you rather have a decent guy than an empty space?

Regardless of his class rank, if a man is worthy of a bid he will most likely receive a bid. And part of worthy may include having a valid (good) reason as to why he didn't rush (join) as a freshman.

And as others have said, there isn't an empty space to fill. IFC/NIC fraternities do not have quota or total. Frankly, if a chapter *needs* to fill an empty space, it most likely has bigger issues than a man's class status to deal with. Most likely financial issues.

Tom Earp · #13 02-13-2007, 02:59 PM

It would be sad to think that an outstanding person because of year of class could not be accepted for that reason only is silly.

It can be the same for an A I (Alum Associate) who later becomes not only a strong member, but very important one for their Organization.

It is ideal to have a new young member that can be trained and spend his time and knowledge over a period of time, but there is always one who can be a spark plug who can help hold a chapter together in times of strife as we all go through.

Robh88 · #14 02-13-2007, 05:53 PM

Elephant, you were a bit off in your guess about me. I'm not going to embarrass my chapter and say what fraternity I am in because I would normally never post on a message board like this but I happened to see a post about a guy at lsu and wanted to help out. If anyone in my chapter knew I looked at this garbage I would never hear the end of it. I know you kappa sigs love talking about how you are the best fraternity here, and even though you all have gotten better in the past few years I can assure you, we get much more respect.
Back to the topic, goldtiger, there are a lot of fraternities at lsu, you may not end up in a top tier especially as a junior, but that is why they have about 20 different houses here, something for everyone.

fabulousxi · #15 02-14-2007, 05:25 AM

Here at Arkansas, fraternities definately care if you are a sophomore or junior. However, that doesn't mean that person will not get into a top fraternity. I pledged as a sophomore and had 2-3 other sophomores in my pledge class. A good example are the people that played sports as a freshman that ended up wanting in greek life rather than athletics. I'm actually glad I pledged as a sophomore because now I know 100% that I am in the right house.

ElephantWalk, what fraternity are you in at UA?