Help choosing a fraternity

[cloneteach]

You pay to live in the dorms don't you? Oh, looks like you paid for your friends too..........

Also, most fraternities are cheaper than the dorms. Looks like your friends got a better bargain haha.

How many instances can you name where a fellow frat member or yourself had to either pay the penalty for cancelling a dorm cancellation OR later in their schooling decided to live off campus but still paid frat dues? Its not always the first year that matters.

 

[CyArob]

My only problem with the fraternities is all of the spam emails they send out to me. I'm a junior now, but over the past two years I've probably gotten 500 some emails from the frats.

Enough is Enough, if I wanted to join I would have...

 

[cloneteach]

U.S. Department of Education Higher Learning says this about greeks:

Fraternity and Sorority Members | Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse and Violence Prevention

 

[hawkeyeh8r]

Thank you to everyone who is giving quality responses, I would love some name dropping on the frats and there reps not just an opinion on Greek life . I know already I want to join just don't know which one. also I don't want a dry house. I think I have it somewhat narrowed down but with 28 frats that's hard to do... So far I'm thinking sig ep, delts, pikes, sae any input on those or names of some other good ones would be great!

id stay away from SAE if i were you. no offense if anyone here is in that house but they did get busted slipping stuff into girls drinks at parties on the weekends within the past couple years. delts and sig eps are decent houses and pikes are.....pikes.....

if youre looking for a party, most houses have them on the weekend except for maybe adelante. damp houses still drink but they are usually restricted to drinking on the weekends only, at least thats how my house was. dont pick a house just because they are damp, wet, dry or whatever since partying is something that you have to try hard to avoid that in college. i just graduated this year and i was a member of phi kappa theta and i enjoyed the 3 years i was apart of it. after living in the dorms the first year i was much happier after that. my grades went up and so did the partying so its a win-win either way

 

[illinoiscyclone]

Not really. In a fraternity, your meals are included with your dues. Not to mention the free laundry, parking and anything else they might include. So yes, it does end up being a bargain not having to pay for a meal plan.

yeah for one year. But I guarantee my duplex on hunt street was way cheaper than joining a frat.

And whoever said pi kapps are clean and trustworthy yadda yadda... flat out lie. I have been in many frat houses as an outside observer, and pi kapps was always covered in puke and dirty as hell, they sure liked to party though. A lady friend of mine told me about some bad experiences she had there. I met many of them, and I can say that I only genuinely liked one.
Kappa sigma seemed pretty lame, justa bunch of nerds, it was dry when they were recruiting me.
Lambda Chi seemed like it was the bunch of nerds who had to "pay for friends" for sure.. and my roommate who was a lambda chi would tell me about questionable things they did.
Acacia was a huge bunch of nerds, but they were good people.
SAE was the only one that was ever friendly to us, "Outsiders," which is another reason why people who are not in the greek system dislike those who are.

 

[cloneteach]

yeah for one year. But I guarantee my duplex on hunt street was way cheaper than joining a frat.

And whoever said pi kapps are clean and trustworthy yadda yadda... flat out lie. I have been in many frat houses as an outside observer, and pi kapps was always covered in puke and dirty as hell, they sure liked to party though. A lady friend of mine told me about some bad experiences she had there. I met many of them, and I can say that I only genuinely liked one.
Kappa sigma seemed pretty lame, justa bunch of nerds, it was dry when they were recruiting me.
Lambda Chi seemed like it was the bunch of nerds who had to "pay for friends" for sure.. and my roommate who was a lambda chi would tell me about questionable things they did.
Acacia was a huge bunch of nerds, but they were good people.
SAE was the only one that was ever friendly to us, "Outsiders," which is another reason why people who are not in the greek system dislike those who are.

+1

 

[LeSchmick]

+1

Dude what's your deal? If you don't like fraternities, don't join one.

 

[agrabes]

I hope all the anti greeks stop, realize and thank the greek community for running all the major events that go on during the school year and with out them it would be a disorganized cluster.

Oh and stay away from the argument we never get a chance to run them the interviews are posted and opened to everyone that has ambision to apply.

Something to point out-- greeks run the events that are attended and appreciated by greeks. Others run many of the various other events.

Homecoming-- Virtually all of the events associated with homecoming that require organization are cared about only by greeks. That's fine, have your fun, but don't blame the rest of us if we have no interest in joining in. It's kind of fun to look at the way you've decorated your houses, but that's about it. I think most people would be just as satisfied if Homecoming only included the actual football game, plus the campaniling, etc that happens without (greek) organization.

VEISHEA-- This one, I'll give the greeks some credit for. They do a lot of work, however I don't fully buy the line "Non-greeks could apply, but don't." It is true, but misleading. Yes, non-greeks can apply but quite honestly don't feel welcome when they get the cold shoulder after revealing that they are not greek. If you try it once, or even if a friend tries it and gets the cold shoulder from the greeks, you aren't going to try again.

Now think about other events that happen on campus -- Res-Hall week or E-Week for example. Those events are not lead by greeks and they turned out just fine.

Personally, the greek lifestyle wasn't for me. I was able to successfully make friends and have a good time in college and get a good job lined up before graduation on my own. I also participated in various leadership roles on campus and did some volunteering, without being required to do so by a greek organization. In the end, it's up to you. Do what you want to do and if you put in some effort you'll succeed.

 

[BigM]

id stay away from SAE if i were you. no offense if anyone here is in that house but they did get busted slipping stuff into girls drinks at parties on the weekends within the past couple years. delts and sig eps are decent houses and pikes are.....pikes.....

if youre looking for a party, most houses have them on the weekend except for maybe adelante. damp houses still drink but they are usually restricted to drinking on the weekends only, at least thats how my house was. dont pick a house just because they are damp, wet, dry or whatever since partying is something that you have to try hard to avoid that in college. i just graduated this year and i was a member of phi kappa theta and i enjoyed the 3 years i was apart of it. after living in the dorms the first year i was much happier after that. my grades went up and so did the partying so its a win-win either way

Obviously you aren't well informed, SAE was put on social probo because of a freshman girl that got a ride home from a sober monitor after she had been drinking at delts, when she got her stomach pumped later that night her roomate told the officer that she had been drinking at SAE. the roomate's house was paired with delt's and she didn't want them to get in trouble. not an SAE but i know for a fact that this is the truth.

 

[Cyclone711]

id stay away from SAE if i were you. no offense if anyone here is in that house but they did get busted slipping stuff into girls drinks at parties on the weekends within the past couple years. delts and sig eps are decent houses and pikes are.....pikes.....

if youre looking for a party, most houses have them on the weekend except for maybe adelante. damp houses still drink but they are usually restricted to drinking on the weekends only, at least thats how my house was. dont pick a house just because they are damp, wet, dry or whatever since partying is something that you have to try hard to avoid that in college. i just graduated this year and i was a member of phi kappa theta and i enjoyed the 3 years i was apart of it. after living in the dorms the first year i was much happier after that. my grades went up and so did the partying so its a win-win either way

100% false and inaccurate. Find a better source before you decide to voice your opinion.

 

[BasedClone]

yeah for one year. But I guarantee my duplex on hunt street was way cheaper than joining a frat.

And whoever said pi kapps are clean and trustworthy yadda yadda... flat out lie. I have been in many frat houses as an outside observer, and pi kapps was always covered in puke and dirty as hell, they sure liked to party though. A lady friend of mine told me about some bad experiences she had there. I met many of them, and I can say that I only genuinely liked one.
Kappa sigma seemed pretty lame, justa bunch of nerds, it was dry when they were recruiting me.
Lambda Chi seemed like it was the bunch of nerds who had to "pay for friends" for sure.. and my roommate who was a lambda chi would tell me about questionable things they did.
Acacia was a huge bunch of nerds, but they were good people.
SAE was the only one that was ever friendly to us, "Outsiders," which is another reason why people who are not in the greek system dislike those who are.

I joined Lambda Chi back in 08 when they had nearly a full house and quite a party reputation. I only joined because my father was a LXA alumni and didn't look at any other house. They lied to me and pretended like everything was all good, but what they were hiding from me was the fact that Nationals was on their ***. There were some shady dudes, some drugs and way too much partying going on so Nationals dropped the hammer on them and they ended up with a Net Loss of 30+ guys. I decided to stick it out for the upcoming semester anyway, but quite frankly it wasn't what I signed up for and I felt like I made a mistake by not looking into other houses. So at the end of the Semester I told them I didn't want to be initiated and that I was leaving to check out other houses.

I ended up coming down to Pike's and SAE... I unfortunately joined Pike for a semester and proceeded to have the worst semester of my life. They seemed to be content on focusing on the negative aspects/stereotypes of being "Frat" that is portrayed in movies and on TV. Like yelling "Frat, Frat, Frat!" down the hallways for fun, saying that they were "soooo Frat" and all that sort of crap. Nice guys, but they were consumed by all the Frat-life jargon. Needless to say, I left and I don't think many of them like me, but oh well it just didn't end up being my cup of tea.

My life has definitely improved since living in an apartment, I am accountable for myself, cook for myself, pay bills, have my own privacy and can do all the things I want on my own terms. If I want a damn 6-pack on Tuesday night after an exam, I'm having a damn 6-pack on a Tuesday night after an exam. On top of this, the friends I have now vs my frat friends I wouldn't trade for the world. We meet plenty of ladies, have plenty of fun and don't have to worry about having my stuff stolen. Frankly, having a close friend group, your own place, your own accountability for your actions/choices, and meeting the ladies while not being in a frat is a WAY better lifestyle. I love college!

 

[woodie]

I joined Lambda Chi back in 08 when they had nearly a full house and quite a party reputation. I only joined because my father was a LXA alumni and didn't look at any other house. They lied to me and pretended like everything was all good, but what they were hiding from me was the fact that Nationals was on their ***. There were some shady dudes, some drugs and way too much partying going on so Nationals dropped the hammer on them and they ended up with a Net Loss of 30+ guys. I decided to stick it out for the upcoming semester anyway, but quite frankly it wasn't what I signed up for and I felt like I made a mistake by not looking into other houses. So at the end of the Semester I told them I didn't want to be initiated and that I was leaving to check out other houses.

I ended up coming down to Pike's and SAE... I unfortunately joined Pike for a semester and proceeded to have the worst semester of my life. They seemed to be content on focusing on the negative aspects/stereotypes of being "Frat" that is portrayed in movies and on TV. Like yelling "Frat, Frat, Frat!" down the hallways for fun, saying that they were "soooo Frat" and all that sort of crap. Nice guys, but they were consumed by all the Frat-life jargon. Needless to say, I left and I don't think many of them like me, but oh well it just didn't end up being my cup of tea.

My life has definitely improved since living in an apartment, I am accountable for myself, cook for myself, pay bills, have my own privacy and can do all the things I want on my own terms. If I want a damn 6-pack on Tuesday night after an exam, I'm having a damn 6-pack on a Tuesday night after an exam. On top of this, the friends I have now vs my frat friends I wouldn't trade for the world. We meet plenty of ladies, have plenty of fun and don't have to worry about having my stuff stolen. Frankly, having a close friend group, your own place, your own accountability for your actions/choices, and meeting the ladies while not being in a frat is a WAY better lifestyle. I love college!

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the best thing about fraternities and sororities is they provide rooms and beds that the state of iowa taxpayers do not pay a dime for and it provides extra housing
for students in a group living situation.take away every fraternity and sorority from iowa state,look at the extra "friley armpits" that the state of iowa taxpayers would have to provide the university to build for student housing. those extra rooms that the frats and sororities provide save the iowa taxpayers several millions of dollars over the many years they have been at iowa state.

 

[cstrunk]

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the best thing about fraternities and sororities is they provide rooms and beds that the state of iowa taxpayers do not pay a dime for and it provides extra housing
for students in a group living situation.take away every fraternity and sorority from iowa state,look at the extra "friley armpits" that the state of iowa taxpayers would have to provide the university to build for student housing. those extra rooms that the frats and sororities provide save the iowa taxpayers several millions of dollars over the many years they have been at iowa state.

I'm not quite sure I understand very much of what you are saying, and it might be time to put down the whiskey.

Having said that, I don't see how having more dorms would be a huge burden on the Iowa taxpayers. If ISU isn't making money off of the extremely high rent they are charging students in the dorms, someone is pocketing a ****-load of money somewhere. I don't see how having the frats and sororities around saves Iowa taxpayers that much money. Maybe you (or hopefully someone else) can explain it to me.

 

[acoustimac]

Thank you to everyone who is giving quality responses, I would love some name dropping on the frats and there reps not just an opinion on Greek life . I know already I want to join just don't know which one. also I don't want a dry house. I think I have it somewhat narrowed down but with 28 frats that's hard to do... So far I'm thinking sig ep, delts, pikes, sae any input on those or names of some other good ones would be great!

I'm a Theta Xi and like many others am proud of it and glad I made that decision. You can check the fraternity out at: Mu Chapter of Theta Xi Fraternity

Contact Randall Doran II at [email protected]
Tell him you got this info from Dennis McElroy, Mu923

 

[3TrueFans]

Contact Randall Doran II

That name deserves to be punched in the face, right after his polo match.

 

[CyStorm]

Pi Kapp. If I had to join a frat it would be Pi Kapps, I was just there this weekend. The guys there are legit and I probably stopped by the house every single weekend last year. Good place, good people.

 

[Al_4_State]

The thing I always found funny about the Greek system was that if you weren't a part of it, you were not allowed (unless it was the early school year recruiting season) yet unless you were the absolute biggest ****** bag on the face of the planet, about anyone who rushed one could get in.

Basically, they acted like this exclusive club, but anyone could join it. Just kind of silly to me.

But there were/are a lot of attractive chicks in sororities. My buddies and I never had much problem with finding trim outside of the Greek system, but you had to do the hunting and gathering. In the Greek system, you were practically spoon fed it. Thus, to use an analogy, I probably would have eaten more in the Greek system, but I don't think the meals would have been as satisfying.

 

[IcSyU]

Hell yeah we did! That's why you join a fraternity...IMO.

My buddies and I never had much problem with finding trim outside of the Greek system, but you had to do the hunting and gathering. In the Greek system, you were practically spoon fed it. Thus, to use an analogy, I probably would have eaten more in the Greek system, but I don't think the meals would have been as satisfying.

Bingo. Getting some isn't much of a challenge whether you're Greek or not. Even I could pull pretty high quality when I was single. You have to just be insufferable to not be able to on a college campus.

However, if you need a slump buster, there will always be KDs.

 

[delt4cy]

I never understand the need for "anti-greek" bashing in a thread that specifically asks for help choosing a Fraternity. It's a fit for some and not for others, simple as that. Check it out and make up your own mind.

A piece of advice, do not go in with the "I want to party, hook up, get drunk" attitude. The good houses, imo, aren't looking for that "stereo-type" mentality.

 

[isukendall]

I went to several recruiting events with several friends that ended up joining. Best decision of my life was not joining. A couple that joined regretted it. They made good friends but you can make same good friends in dorms and your classes. Don't need to pay to get friends and spend time at meetings.

Obviously comments like this are extremely biased and misinformed. Cost of living in a fraternity is very comparable to the dorms and in many cases is cheaper. Regarding the meetings thing, that may have some truth to it, but that's because it gets you involved in something rather than sitting in your dorm room playing Playstation (or whatever guys like cloneteach play nowadays).