Campus Life: Should I Join a Fraternity or Sorority?

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If ever there was a college decision that rests on individual preferences, this is it. Despite its popularity on many campuses, the Greek system eludes a single description that all students agree on. Those who belong to fraternities and sororities almost universally espouse their social, academic, and personal benefits. Those who aren't members may be supportive"they have friends who are Greek, they sometimes go to parties, or their interactions have been positive. On the other hand, they may dislike the system's selective nature, costs, and occasional excesses.

As fraternities and sororities vary from college to college and within each campus, no single experience can be predicted for a school's Greek system. Current students say incoming freshmen are better off waiting until they get to campus and then finding out on their own if fraternity or sorority membership is right for them.

During the fall of his sophomore year, Jamie Simchik (Colgate University) participated in "rush" a period, at the start of semesters, of visiting different houses and sampling Greek life in hopes of finding a match. Jamie made a good impression, receiving bids from four fraternities, but he ended up turning them down.

"Socially, the Greek system is great for some people and limiting to others," says Jamie. "In my case, I felt it would have been limiting. I am currently involved in a variety of different activities and groups on campus and my social circle is almost campus-wide. I wanted to hang out with who I wanted to hang out with when I wanted to hang out with them." He's aware that fraternity membership, while by no means prohibiting involvement in other campus activities, can in some cases cut into one's time to get involved elsewhere on campus.

Jamie says his overall impression of the system is positive, and he remains close with many friends who are in fraternities. He's been able to see firsthand that Greeks aren't cut off from outside contact. And he knows they have a great value on campus, not only because of their parties, but because of the good things they do, such as volunteerism. But in the end, he decided that he'd rather not join.

John Andersen (University of Missouri"Columbia) is one of those students who came this close to writing off the Greek system without inspecting it firsthand. He received information in the mail before freshman year even started. "Coming from a small town, all I had heard were stereotypes and I threw the recruiting material away before I even looked at it," he says. But one day in October he saw a flyer on a bulletin board announcing a new fraternity and giving him the chance to be a founding father. "All it pitched was an informational meeting, so I figured, why not?'"