For another perspective on this same topic, check out Gavin’s post. It’s an experience that means different things to everyone so check out what he has to say!
There’s a lot of stereotypes out there about greek life. I’m sure you have heard many and I won’t elaborate on them here. What I will say, is that you would be surprised by how many of them aren’t true. One of the biggest surprises I ran into at the start of my freshman year was the wide range of people I found in the greek system here. If you met me, you would not take me to be a stereotypical frat bro. But despite that, I found a place where I spend a great deal of my time and has changed my college experience immeasurably.
I couldn’t write about another student involvement for this post because I really spend the vast majority of my time doing something fraternity-related. Whether I’m working on organizing events, doing homework, studying or just hanging out, I am very frequently at my fraternity. One of the many great things about it is that it exposes you to a wide range of people. I spend my time with people of all majors, all interests and all personalities because I’m part of an organization that brings together people to a common ground. Also impressive is the amount of engineers in my fraternity. Who says that we have no time and don’t know how to have fun? Because of this, it’s also a great place to do work. There’s many a time that I have sat on a seniors couch for hours soliciting their help for a difficult project because they have gone through it already. Older students are a valuable resource and being in a fraternity is a great way to meet older students (also, when you’re a freshman you have people to drive you!).
On a practical side, it’s an incredible experience to be a leader at a young age. Where else does a sophomore or a junior get to be in charge of an organization of that magnitude with that much responsibility? In a fraternity, you can practice running an organization and learn how to make things work. I’ve gotten to practice organizing events that I never would have been able to get close to accomplishing on my own. I’ve gotten to go to leadership conferences with members from all across the west coast to share ideas and learn. Fraternity involvement really gives you a chance to broaden horizons and learn how to lead.
Most importantly, the people become your friends. That is what makes everything great. That you’re doing it with friends. It wouldn’t be as fun to play sports with people you didn’t know. Or to go out to Hollywood with people you didn’t know. Or even go to Las Vegas with people you didn’t know. The friendship is what takes experiences and makes them into lasting memories and great times.
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- Tri Delta Dodgeball
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- Hanging out with Snoopy at a fraternity leadership conference
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- Kappa Alpha Theta Baseball
