re: Opinion of the board on Greek life? I think it’s a mixed bag.

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Fraternities are great the problem is simply the cohort that is 18-22 year old guys at large state schools


If you get a large group of these same 18-22 year old guys ANY where doing ANY thing with some money and no supervision, you're going to get a shite storm

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Pretty much this. They vary from school size to state, but mostly the same.

I did it at LSU and mostly enjoyed it. However it was large and there is always some bad apples in any group. I didn't want to party with those guys and damn sure didn't want to fight other frats over those guys.

My son is experiencing it now at different university and damn it sounds like the times have changed. Tracking locations, consuming 20 hours of their time out of a 24 hour day. Some stupid stuff. I told him I wouldn't put up with that crap.

Overall I think they can be good for networking, but getting past the 18-22 stage of frat life is the hardest part.

In most of the SEC (excepting perhaps schools like Missouri or UF) I imagine I'd still encourage it for my boys. In my experience it provides a reasonably good foundation for a mostly-positive (and in many ways, wholesome) college experience. The same would be true at SEC-like schools - SMU, etc.

I can't really speak for the present state of SEC greek life, but I recently watched family member go through it at A&M, and he has come away confident, well rounded, doing better academically, with good job prospects and having now had lots of opportunity to do things never offered to him by his own family life (he duck hunts, is good golfer, works on his truck, etc.).

Not to say other A&M kids don't have similar experience sans greek life, but I think it can be a boost/accelerator for a lot of the interests and values many of us on this board have and would like to see promoted in our kids. I do think there are bad fraternities even in our footprint, and there are certainly things I'd advise my kids to avoid within greek life (without discouraging it outright). But I don't really know anyone who was in a fraternity who it hasn't helped somewhat and who would recommend against it (including me).

I think it's especially useful for a lot of middle class, suburban kids in the Southeast who didn't grow up hunting and fishing or hanging out with their grandad on a farm for whatever reason - but appreciate those things and would like to "catch up" on that stuff and be able to offer some of it to their own kids eventually. You'll have those opportunities (and more) in a southern fraternity - it's an ideal setting for those kids.

I loved everything about it. Many members have gone on to great success in life. I wouldn’t even know them were it not for the fraternity.

Was never in a frat during my time at UGA, however, I may have attended a couple at a sorority house...

Newsflash - you still have to make friends within a fraternity or sorority. People don't go to lunch or on trips with you because they're contractually obligated to do so. It's really not much different than your dorm or apartment complex or major probably becoming a pool from which you draw your closest friends.

But for many of us, picking the right fraternity/sorority gives you a much higher strike rate for finding folks likely to jive with you. Which will be similar to the type of community selection you'll do for the rest of your life.

They are a social club co-op and a great way to meet people.

Unless you would otherwise be a hermit, they don't actually cost much, because much of it is expenses you would be spending anyway: room, board, parties, etc.

I am very pro-Greek life, especially for large schools, or out-of-state students, where it may be difficult to meet people.

Also, rush is a great way to quickly meet a group of like-minded people, rather than just randomly meeting people in your dorm or classes.

I would hate greek life in the social media age

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Frats vary a ton at most major universities. AGR, Kappa Sig, FIGI are all different groups of people at LSU.

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One one level that's true. On another level, in talking to guys in other chapters, I would recognize certain archetypes that were present in my own chapter. The premed guys who didn't do anything but study. The perma drunks. The ROTC clique. The guys who dipped Cope and drove lifted trucks. The one or two guys who had dropped out of school but still hung around and hadn't told their parents. Etc.

Never understood the fraternity thing until I got to my sober house. I’ve made some good friends with the guys in it and we’re all going through the same thing so gives us that bond. We obviously don’t have the alcohol fueled parties in it but it’s fun and I can see the benefits of living with a bunch of guys etc

I was in one of the top fraternities at LSU. We had some wild parties and I fricked a lot of hot chicks