Pledging more important than EC's?

[JoshuaGuit]

Hey everyone,

Last year (freshman year) I came out with a 3.7 in pretty much all science/math courses and had been involved in like 5 clubs pretty consistently.

I'm hoping to keep my GPA up this year as well, but this Fall I am not sure what to do with my ECs. I've been rushing different frats and found one that has really chill brothers in it and I know I can get a few bids, but I also know that if I commit to pledge then I probably won't have much time outside of school work and what they make me do for the semester.

That said I know that if I got in I'd try to be in some type of leadership role (whether it be on the IFC or within the actual frat). I just don't know if joining a frat and putting off EC's for a semester is a good idea or not.

Any ideas?

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[kevster2001]

Sure. 1 semester wont make a big difference unless it'll compromise your chances of potential leadership positions in those clubs.

 

[apumic]

Academically? No.... it won't really help any.

Socially? If it's your thing, go for it. If you can still have a great life w/o being part of a frat, do it.

Really... it's sort of up to you. Where are your priorities? What do you value?

 

[cfx]

So, you're a freshman? I can't imagine putting some ECs off for one semester during your freshman year would be that big of a deal considering you have 7 more semesters to make up for it. But once you join, you can't use it as an excuse for not doing the far more important ECs...no one is going to accept binge drinking as a valid substitute for volunteering. Being in a frat is purely social, so you probably won't get a huge amount of sympathy if you use it as a reason why anything else is lacking.

As apumic noted, you should also be very careful about academics. As an example, my old roommate got horrifyingly poor grades his freshman year while in a frat. He dropped out of it, and got somewhere around 3.8-4.0 every semester after that, and fought to bring his GPA up to a 3.5. I think it's easy to get caught up in the shenanigans, so you need to be pretty diligent and responsible.

 

[Keem]

If you find the right frat, then yes. Often times fraternities will have the pledges (and occasionally its members) do a lot of community service. Which you can thus claim you are credited for as a member of the fraternity. Fraternities are kind of like a giant pyramid scheme, where you put your time in early so that you can reap the benefits of someone else being on the bottom later...

 

[cfx]

If you find the right frat, then yes. Often times fraternities will have the pledges (and occasionally its members) do a lot of community service. Which you can thus claim you are credited for as a member of the fraternity. Fraternities are kind of like a giant pyramid scheme, where you put your time in early so that you can reap the benefits of someone else being on the bottom later...

Huh? Are you suggesting he claim other people's volunteer hours as his own?

 

[JoshuaGuit]

So, you're a freshman? I can't imagine putting some ECs off for one semester during your freshman year would be that big of a deal considering you have 7 more semesters to make up for it. But once you join, you can't use it as an excuse for not doing the far more important ECs...no one is going to accept binge drinking as a valid substitute for volunteering. Being in a frat is purely social, so you probably won't get a huge amount of sympathy if you use it as a reason why anything else is lacking.

As apumic noted, you should also be very careful about academics. As an example, my old roommate got horrifyingly poor grades his freshman year while in a frat. He dropped out of it, and got somewhere around 3.8-4.0 every semester after that, and fought to bring his GPA up to a 3.5. I think it's easy to get caught up in the shenanigans, so you need to be pretty diligent and responsible.

I think you might have misunderstood my OP. I meant to say that I am currently a sophomore and I was a freshman last year. AXP isn't really a community service frat, so I guess you are right in saying that it is at least mostly for social reasons.

I know this sounds like a really dumb question, I just wanted to make sure that putting off some EC's for a semester solely for the reason of joining a fraternity wouldn't look too awful.

 

[cfx]

I think you might have misunderstood my OP. I meant to say that I am currently a sophomore and I was a freshman last year.

Okay, well I still stand by my post. I wouldn't think temporarily suspending an EC for a couple months if it's a particularly busy time for you would do a huge amount of damage, as long as you get back into things once you're through the rough patch.

But, what do I know? I'm no adcom.

 

[Keem]

Huh? Are you suggesting he claim other people's volunteer hours as his own?

No, but as part of a fraternity if you are fraternity say gets an award for being involved in the community (which many do) you can mention something like that.

Don't get me wrong, a fraternity wasn't for me. But it can be used as a stepping stone to business connections and involvement in the community. That of course beside the obvious social benefits.

 

[cfx]

No, but as part of a fraternity if you are fraternity say gets an award for being involved in the community (which many do) you can mention something like that.

Don't get me wrong, a fraternity wasn't for me. But it can be used as a stepping stone to business connections and involvement in the community. That of course beside the obvious social benefits.

Ah, okay, that makes more sense. I interpreted it as "well, each of the 20 bros did 10 hours of service each, so I can say I did 200!!".

 

[Eggs]

You can pledge and still do fine in classes/do extracurriculars. Tons of people have done it before including myself.

 

[Meerkatology]

I know this sounds like a really dumb question, I just wanted to make sure that putting off some EC's for a semester solely for the reason of joining a fraternity wouldn't look too awful.

if you put of EC's to join a frat that say does alot of community service or even possibly medically related frat (i dont know even those exist?) then it would be fine.

but if you put off ECs in ur sophomore year for a frat is a purely social... this would look bad IMHO

 

[LizzyM]

5 clubs... no loss if you don't join up in your second year.


I have seen some people with interesting leadership roles in their frat... I even interviewed someone who was in liaison with the frat's food service people and had a hand in interviewing and hiring a new chef. I thought that was pretty cool and showed a lot of maturity and responsibility.

 

[tweek125]

There's nothing like shotgunning 7 beers and then slipping a roofie into a girl's drink.. GREEK 4 LIFFFFFFFFFFFEEEE!!!!!!!