How to choose a fraternity

[Enginerd]

I loved buying my friends. It weeded out a lot of the dorks.

As far as picking a house: figure out who gets the hottest chicks and has the best parties. Make sure each and every one of the houses you are interested in take you out this summer, kiss your arse, and hook you up. During rush, if you end up messing around with a girlfriend or a heifer on their watch OR you puke in one of their cars or their house you will need to eliminate that particular house. Oh yeah, you definitely want some hazing too. Not the farm animal kind...more like the smart arse kind clean the house kind.

It's college, go enjoy yourself. All that other stuff will come (academics, philanthropy, school involvement, etc.) if you have an interest or commitment to it. You don't need a house for that stuff. Do you really care which house has the best serenade?

I'll never understand the rivalry between the self conscious nerds from the dorms and the insecure die hards from the frats. Who cares? If you make fun of frats all I ask is that you be funny which is kind of a challenge for non-conformist types.:smile:

 

[Kinky F]

I would advise a year in the dorms and then get an apartment with some friends (you know, the kind you don't have to buy)

I'm not going to read all 80 posts in this thread, so I'm sure this has been posted, but this is an ignorant statement. Meeting guys you like and joining one of the best Greek systems in the nation is 'buying' friends?

I hated the Greek system when I came to ISU and was in the dorms for a year. After going with some girls who were "little sisters" to a house a few times, and hanging with the guys, I joined a house, and it was one of the best things I ever did. Met so many people I wouldn't have in the dorms (and lots of girls). If I would have stayed in the dorms I would have hung out with more of my high school buddies.

The Greek system at ISU is awesome, and anyone that says otherwise just has not experienced it, has stereotypes that are not true, or is just bitter.

 

[Cyclone_Grav]

I would ask each Fraternity you are checking out about their values, leadership opportunities and other ways to get involved (service, competitions, etc). Guys can be cool in many different houses - look for things that set them apart from the pack and look for a good fit for you.

i agree whole heartedly with this statement, especially the values part. each fraternity has goals, ideals, or traits it tries to instill in it's members. find a fraternity that supports something you believe in. for instance, i was a theta chi and we were the fraternity of the helping hand. we tried to emphasize community service and philanthropic efforts. i bought into this and really got a lot out of my fraternity, more than just making friends, meeting girls, etc.

its okay to join a fraternity to make friends and meet girls but if you really want to get a great experience out of it, you need to be able to support the organization and what its trying to offer. so find one that you feel is worth wild in the respect.

 

[Cyclone_Grav]

I'm not going to read all 80 posts in this thread, so I'm sure this has been posted, but this is an ignorant statement. Meeting guys you like and joining one of the best Greek systems in the nation is 'buying' friends?

I hated the Greek system when I came to ISU and was in the dorms for a year. After going with some girls who were "little sisters" to a house a few times, and hanging with the guys, I joined a house, and it was one of the best things I ever did. Met so many people I wouldn't have in the dorms (and lots of girls). If I would have stayed in the dorms I would have hung out with more of my high school buddies.

The Greek system at ISU is awesome, and anyone that says otherwise just has not experienced it, has stereotypes that are not true, or is just bitter.

to go along with this sentence, its not just awesome, it is literally one of the best in the nation and has won several awards over the past few years. really there are so many good chapters at iowa state its hard to make a wrong choice, and even harder to make the best choice.

 

[Phaedrus]

Yeah, that is completely ridiculous to me.

I lived in 4-7 bedroom houses in West Ames through college. My advice is to buy the crappiest, cheapest house you can find, party like crazy, and don't ever expect a deposit back. Buy a house where you can clean the floor with a shop-size push broom. Expect to have many "nuisance party violations" written in your name.

Never did the frat thing, and don't have anything against them, but the amount of intrusiveness and control the dorm system tries to foist on its residents just chafed my butt. I can't imagine doing the frat thing without physically killing someone.

I was way too independent to live with that many people without being ordered to, so I moved out at the earliest opportunity and lived on my own.

 

[HILLCYD]

There were WAY more rules on my dorm floor than there were in my fraternity house. I hear things have changed however over the last several years and many houses have become a lot more strict.

 

[isucyfan]

There were WAY more rules on my dorm floor than there were in my fraternity house. I hear things have changed however over the last several years and many houses have become a lot more strict.

What are these rules you speak of in dorms?

At the Towers, we ruled by lawlessness and intentionally thumbing our noses at any rules. It was great.

 

[HILLCYD]

What are these rules you speak of in dorms?

At the Towers, we ruled by lawlessness and intentionally thumbing our noses at any rules. It was great.

I was reported 4 times by my RA and nearly tossed from my dorm.

1 time for participating in a mud football game and making a mess in the hallway.

1 time for playing my music too loud.

2 times for drinking

And no, I am not kidding.

 

[isucyfan]

I was reported 4 times by my RA and nearly tossed from my dorm.

1 time for participating in a mud football game and making a mess in the hallway.

1 time for playing my music too loud.

2 times for drinking

And no, I am not kidding.

I had the benefit of two awesome (read: look the other way) RA's. We bowled with a real bowling ball in the hall at 2AM, drank like fishes, and there was always loud music playing.

 

[ISUboi12]

I could only stand to skim these posts. However, it appears that the bashing is really coming from only one side...a non-greek bashing the greek system...I really didn't see any greeks bashing the residence halls or living off campus.

I am just having fun with this thread, but....

Greek people aren't making fun of off-campus dwellers because...... they can't. Prove me wrong and win a cookie!

 

[ornryactor]

I just read/skimmed through six pages of petty bickering and self-righteous meat-beating...

Just so we're clear, just under 11% of the student body is involved in a greek organization. 7% are involved in a chapter that has a physical facility. While it's not a percentage to be discounted, it is by no means an overwhelming majority of the student body that is in a frat or sorority.

In case we have any current members from the Greek Council or something that are going to start their recruiting spiel, I want to state that if they start saying "You can't get this or that in the residence halls, but you can get it in a frat!" they are flat-out lying. I saw a lot of that this summer at Orientation, them basically slandering residence halls and apartments, saying the students that live there are drooling antisocial morons who will likely fail out of school. I got real sick of that, and want to preempt that nonsense before it begins. Any good benefit that you can get in a greek house, you can get in a residence hall, and vice versa. If anyone tells you otherwise, they are lying.

While I have a few very valid reasons for disliking the greek system, I'm not going to dwell on those.

Before my freshman year, I did my research on the frats and found one that I really liked. I did a bunch of stuff with them over the summer, liked the guys and the house well enough, and they extended me a bid. I almost joined, but decided that since living in a residence hall is a quintessential college experience, I'd do that for a year and see if I made up my mind one way or the other.

I'm going into my fourth year at Iowa State, and I'm going into my fourth year of living on the same house in Friley Hall that I started in. Living there was one of the best choices I've made: I've had tons of experiences there I wouldn't have had in a frat or off-campus, and the people are top notch. It seems we have a significant number of former frat guys here that all had great experiences. I'm going to chime in and reiterate what an awesome experience I've had living in the residence halls. I don't regret it for a second, and I highly encourage any freshman guy to try it for a year, even if you decide to join a frat. (Yes, you can do both simultaneously!)

 

[Enginerd]

Never did the frat thing, and don't have anything against them, but the amount of intrusiveness and control the dorm system tries to foist on its residents just chafed my butt. I can't imagine doing the frat thing without physically killing someone.

I was way too independent to live with that many people without being ordered to, so I moved out at the earliest opportunity and lived on my own.

Moderators - Phaedrus is ruining the entertainment value of this thread. Pretty soon everyone will start thinking fratters and dormies are just making the best personal decision for them and not feel the need to degrade each other out of fear the grass is greener on the other side or some kind of personal void. It's not right.

 

[Phaedrus]

Moderators - Phaedrus is ruining the entertainment value of this thread. Pretty soon everyone will start thinking fratters and dormies are just making the best personal decision for them and not feel the need to degrade each other out of fear the grass is greener on the other side or some kind of personal void. It's not right.

Okay, okay... you got me. How 'bout this?

Frats Suck!

No, dorms suck!!!

You suck!!!

No, you suck!!!

Better???:wink:

 

[cyclonenum1]

I just read/skimmed through six pages of petty bickering and self-righteous meat-beating...

Just so we're clear, just under 11% of the student body is involved in a greek organization. 7% are involved in a chapter that has a physical facility. While it's not a percentage to be discounted, it is by no means an overwhelming majority of the student body that is in a frat or sorority.

In case we have any current members from the Greek Council or something that are going to start their recruiting spiel, I want to state that if they start saying "You can't get this or that in the residence halls, but you can get it in a frat!" they are flat-out lying. I saw a lot of that this summer at Orientation, them basically slandering residence halls and apartments, saying the students that live there are drooling antisocial morons who will likely fail out of school. I got real sick of that, and want to preempt that nonsense before it begins. Any good benefit that you can get in a greek house, you can get in a residence hall, and vice versa. If anyone tells you otherwise, they are lying.

While I have a few very valid reasons for disliking the greek system, I'm not going to dwell on those.

Before my freshman year, I did my research on the frats and found one that I really liked. I did a bunch of stuff with them over the summer, liked the guys and the house well enough, and they extended me a bid. I almost joined, but decided that since living in a residence hall is a quintessential college experience, I'd do that for a year and see if I made up my mind one way or the other.

I'm going into my fourth year at Iowa State, and I'm going into my fourth year of living on the same house in Friley Hall that I started in. Living there was one of the best choices I've made: I've had tons of experiences there I wouldn't have had in a frat or off-campus, and the people are top notch. It seems we have a significant number of former frat guys here that all had great experiences. I'm going to chime in and reiterate what an awesome experience I've had living in the residence halls. I don't regret it for a second, and I highly encourage any freshman guy to try it for a year, even if you decide to join a frat. (Yes, you can do both simultaneously!)

I don't believe anyone ever said you couldn't have a great experience in a residence hall...did they?

I'd be curious to see what the "greek" percentage is in the leadership of the various campus activities / organizations like Homecoming, Veishea, MDA Dance-a-thon, etc. I know when I was on campus, it was extremely high. In fact, I was on the Homecoming committee and we went to great efforts to try and get people from the residence halls more involved and really had only limited success.

As I said before, my experience was clearly that the greek system tended to encourage campus involvement far more than any other "living option".

 

[isucyfan]

I don't believe anyone ever said you couldn't have a great experience in a residence hall...did they?

I'd be curious to see what the "greek" percentage is in the leadership of the various campus activities / organizations like Homecoming, Veishea, MDA Dance-a-thon, etc. I know when I was on campus, it was extremely high. In fact, I was on the Homecoming committee and we went to great efforts to try and get people from the residence halls more involved and really had only limited success.

As I said before, my experience was clearly that the greek system tended to encourage campus involvement far more than any other "living option".

You forgot to tie this all into how it's all McDermott's fault.

It's possible that people in the dorms sought out their own volunteer opportunities. I worked for the campus organization ISU Volunteers, hooking people up with volunteer opportunities all over Ames. We built playgrounds, assigned mentors to kids, etc.

 

[ISU4ME]

Moderators - Phaedrus is ruining the entertainment value of this thread. Pretty soon everyone will start thinking fratters and dormies are just making the best personal decision for them and not feel the need to degrade each other out of fear the grass is greener on the other side or some kind of personal void. It's not right.

Oddly I found myself wishing Phaerus would keep posting under the "Personal Trainer" thread about how much he knows about strength training even more so than the folks who have spent time taking actual courses. :wink:

 

[cycloneG]

I don't even have to read the entire thread to know what people are already saying. For some reason this is a hot topic but I'm not sure why. Who cares what other people think about where you lived during college! If you had a great college experience and evolved into a great person, then the person who is going to judge you based on where you lived obviously didn't evolve into a great person.

 

[Phaedrus]

Oddly I found myself wishing Phaerus would keep posting under the "Personal Trainer" thread about how much he knows about strength training even more so than the folks who have spent time taking actual courses. :wink:

Yeah, laugh it up, fuzz-ball!!!!:yes:

And I was talking about "fitness" training versus "strength" training. (But something tells me you already knew that and are just yanking my chain.... Maybe it's the "winky" emoticon... My powers of observation are stupendous....)

 

[cyclonenum1]

You forgot to tie this all into how it's all McDermott's fault.

It's possible that people in the dorms sought out their own volunteer opportunities. I worked for the campus organization ISU Volunteers, hooking people up with volunteer opportunities all over Ames. We built playgrounds, assigned mentors to kids, etc.

You need to read a little more closely, my friend.

First, I only hold McDermott responsible for the success (or lack thereof) of our MBB program. As you (and many others) are aware, I have become increasingly underwhelmed during his tenure...both in terms of our performance as well as his ability to build a team. I am not encouraging or condoning a coaching change...I just believe it is foolish to not have some serious doubt about his ability as our HC at this point with all that has transpired. The time for blind faith has passed.

Second, I never said that people in the residence halls didn't do anything in terms of campus involvement. It was just my experience and observation that people in the greek system participated in campus activities at a higher rate than those not in the greek system.

 

[Phaedrus]

You need to read a little more closely, my friend.

First, I only hold McDermott responsible for the success (or lack thereof) of our MBB program. As you (and many others) are aware, I have become increasingly underwhelmed during his tenure...both in terms of our performance as well as his ability to build a team. I am not encouraging or condoning a coaching change...I just believe it is foolish to not have some serious doubt about his ability as our HC at this point with all that has transpired. The time for blind faith has passed.

Second, I never said that people in the residence halls didn't do anything in terms of campus involvement. It was just my experience and observation that people in the greek system participated in campus activities at a higher rate than those not in the greek system.

As someone who is fairly neutral, I have to validate this. Fraternity/sorority types ARE more likely to be active in campus activities, imo.

Though whether those activities are worthwhile remains in question.