do frats/sor. help for med school admission?

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Are you in a frat or sororiety?

  • Yes

    Votes: 22 32.4%

  • No

    Votes: 46 67.6%
  • Total voters
    68
R

ratman7

Do they ever have an impact on your admission into med school as opposed to someone who is not in one?

do frats in general? What about those premed frats? Seem stupid, but do they give you a leg up in admission?
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ratman7 said:
Do they ever have an impact on your admission into med school as opposed to someone who is not in one?

do frats in general? What about those premed frats? Seem stupid, but do they give you a leg up in admission?
Click to expand...
It's not about what you're in, but more about the extent of your involvement with what you're in. If you have leadership within any of these things it'll look really good. Just being a member won't do anything no matter what you're in!
 
ratman7 said:
Do they ever have an impact on your admission into med school as opposed to someone who is not in one?

do frats in general? What about those premed frats? Seem stupid, but do they give you a leg up in admission?
Click to expand...
It won't tip one way or the other. It does establish you're able to get along with other people. A leadership position in that frat helps in that not only u are able to get along with other people, but you are capable of being a leader in some respect.
 
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Some will say that it hurts, even with leadership. I think if you can find a way to show that you had real value, then it should be okay. It has been, by far, the most important EC, but too many adcoms will assume it was just drinking and parties.
 
It doesn't hurt. I know a mentor at Vanderbilt Hospital that was in a fraternity (president for a year) in UG. He ended up going to JHU and was inducted into Alpha Omega Alpha his 4th year.
 
I will say that I feel like the odd one out

90% of my class seems to have been in either a fraternity or sorority

So I really doubt it can hurt you. From what I observed in undergrad, it only offers more opportunity for community service and other checkbox stuff for your application.
 
Everyone is in Greek life nowadays so no ! Unless there is a former member of your house in your committee and that give you some legacy points!
 
It's all about how you sell it. I used my positions in my fraternity to talk about various experiences that I've had and what I learned from them, and I feel like it definitely helped me out in interviews. I remember chatting with one interviewer who asked about my fraternity, and I mentioned that fraternities get a lot of negative media attention, and she agreed, but also stated that she believed that they weren't inherently negative and that they could definitively be used as a vehicle for positive personal growth, to which I agreed.

Also, to OP, I'm guessing you aren't in a fraternity (mostly because most fraternity men refrain from calling fraternities "frats")? If you were thinking about joining one, don't join it in order to look better as a med school applicant, but join it because you like the guys and feel like joining will give you an opportunity to learn and to grow with a group of men whom you are proud to represent and call your brothers.
 
I've definitely had it come up in a "explain how your experience in a fraternity wasn't just partying/drinking" sort of way. As noted above, join for the right reasons. You will find people that are just like you no matter where you go. It is also good to be able to demonstrate you have some capacity for leadership.
 
Unless you were a leader of a frat that did more than party, I would not mention it. Definitely left it out of my app.
 
I'm in a fraternity and so far it has not come up during any interviews. I was very minimally involved (was part of some committees and did some community service) and have a ton of experience elsewhere on my application so that is probably why it doesn't come up. I can imagine that the only time it will help you is if you happen to have an interviewer who was part of the same fraternity/sorority and you break the ice that way.Of course, there are many news stories lately giving Greek life a bad rep so some people may have some negative judgements about the entire system.

My premed advisor told me that any community service/philanthropy you do through Greek life probably won't be of much help since it is typically a 1 time thing as opposed to long term regular service (putting all your effort into sponsoring 2-3 big events per semester vs going to a soup kitchen every week for months).

If you want to join Greek life I say go for it. It's a great time and is so much more than the parties.


Edit: Academic fraternities are completely different, I was referring to social fraternities above. Academic fraternities are good so long as you join one that is actually known across the country.
 
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I was in a sorority in undergrad and was extensively involved, was president for a while and board member the rest of the time.

At the end of the interview for the med school where I am currently, the interviewer asked me for an "impressive" fact. We ended up talking about my role in the sorority, a specific conference that we organized, and how it was kind of a watershed moment in my personal development. Obviously my resume has more typical "premed" things, but this particular experience was a big portion of that interview and it seems like that faculty member played a big role in my getting admitted.

I probably wouldn't have thought it relevant if it was just a social activity or a club that I belonged to, but for me my sorority was a community that yielded friendships, support, and opportunities. I think it just depends on what the organization is to you, like anything else in your app.
 
ponyo said:
I was in a sorority in undergrad and was extensively involved, was president for a while and board member the rest of the time.

At the end of the interview for the med school where I am currently, the interviewer asked me for an "impressive" fact. We ended up talking about my role in the sorority, a specific conference that we organized, and how it was kind of a watershed moment in my personal development. Obviously my resume has more typical "premed" things, but this particular experience was a big portion of that interview and it seems like that faculty member played a big role in my getting admitted.

I probably wouldn't have thought it relevant if it was just a social activity or a club that I belonged to, but for me my sorority was a community that yielded friendships, support, and opportunities. I think it just depends on what the organization is to you, like anything else in your app.
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Is your name Elle Woods?
 
No one really cares one way or another unless you were involved in some serious ECs with your fraternity, particularly those that involve volunteering and the like.
 
No, no, no and no.
ratman7 said:
Do they ever have an impact on your admission into med school as opposed to someone who is not in one?

do frats in general? What about those premed frats? Seem stupid, but do they give you a leg up in admission?
Click to expand...
 
As with all things, it depends on what you did and what you took away from the experience. Were you a chapter president and responsible for organizing a group of your peers to accomplish goals? Or were you just a line member going to Friday night EtOH binges?

With all activities it depends on what you did and how you present those things. Nothing if clearly "helpful" or "harmful."
 
gyngyn said:
Does it matter there?
Click to expand...

From what I've read (and been told by friends that work there), there are frats that have pretty high representation due to the importance of networking. There's also greater representation of HYP among other things because that's more important there than in medical school. Many firms recruit almost entirely from top tier UG schools and don't bother looking at applicants from 'lesser' institutions.
 
ridethecliche said:
From what I've read (and been told by friends that work there), there are frats that have pretty high representation due to the importance of networking. There's also greater representation of HYP among other things because that's more important there than in medical school. Many firms recruit almost entirely from top tier UG schools and don't bother looking at applicants from 'lesser' institutions.
Click to expand...
Interesting.
 
i would say it was my biggest involvement in undergrad and gave my application a boost. many interviews i spent most of the interview talking about my deep involvement and health service programs I constructed while in my position
 
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