Did you belong to a Greek organization in high-school or college?

[NurseJackie]

If so, did you enjoy the experience? Would you recommend it to others?

If not, why not?

48 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Yes... in high-school
	1 (2%)
	Yes... in college
	15 (31%)
	Yes... in both high-school and college
	0 (0%)
	NO ... I did not
	32 (67%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[leftstreet]

1. Possibly one the strangest DU polls yet n/t

[NurseJackie]

2. Thanks!

[Ocelot II]

3. Thankfully, my college didn't have them.

We were able to be drunk and obnoxious on our own, though.

[NurseJackie]

4. You made me smile with that one!

[rsdsharp]

44. I could be obnoxious without being drunk.

Still can!

[Dorian Gray]

60. Same

Catholic universities tend not to have frats/Sororities. We did well enough on our own, and I was super happy not to have it be there. There were still friend groups/athlete divisions/etc. But it wasn't as pronounced and movement felt free enough to go to parties wherever you wanted.

[NewHendoLib]

5. Greek organizations in school...

[jimfields33]

42. First of all, it's quite an expense to join one

Second they are very selective on who even gets first invitation and then the rush week of hell and then a year of chores. Sounds wonderful. Lol. No thanks.

[kcr]

58. I didn't get the appeal either

I didn't join one but some of my friends did and it was all they could talk about when we'd get together over breaks. It sounded like a PITA to me, but they loved it.

[Glorfindel]

6. I was in the Beta Club in high school. I guess that counts.

I did enjoy the experience, but that was a different era. I can't imagine my nieces & nephews of today enjoying it, even if the club still exists. I just looked it up; it does still exist.

https://www.betaclub.org/about

Thanks for an interesting question, NurseJackie!

[NurseJackie]

20. Thanks!

Apparently I'm not exactly at 100% approval on that front. Oh well. Ya can't please everyone.

[gratuitous]

7. No, but . . .

I think I drank Ouzo back in those days.

[jcgoldie]

8. University of Illinois had one of the biggest systems in the world...

... or so they claimed. Somehow they didn't seem like bastions of intellectualism to me.

[milestogo]

40. Yup. I went to fall rush once and quickly realized I couldn't afford it.

Lots of required extra expenses.

[Journeyman]

9. I was invited to join Phi Beta Kappa . . .

Didn't have the requisite foreign language classes and they wouldn't accept three years of Latin in high school.

I haven't missed it.

[DenaliDemocrat]

47. That's a collegiate honor society

Not really what I think they are talking about here.

[Ron Obvious]

10. I would never join any organisation who would have someone like me as a member

So, no.

[NurseJackie]

18. Hi, Groucho!

That's a great line!

[smirkymonkey]

11. I was a Kappa Kappa Gamma in College

I went to a fairly small school in the middle of nowhere, so it was kind of a big part of one's social life and living in the house was fun.

[DFW]

12. If I had, it would have been Lambda Lambda Lambda

But that movie was 14 years in the future when I entered college.

Therefore, the closest I got to a Greek society was the great avgolemono soup at one of the local restaurants in Philadelphia.

[NurseJackie]

13. ...

[obamanut2012]

14. My college actually banned them

As elitist and classist, and if anyone was found to have formed one off campus, they were expelled.

A private college.

[NurseJackie]

16. Interesting. I suppose any club could be "elitist" even without Greek letters.

A tennis club. A polo club. A golfing club. A cricket club. A classic-literature book club.

But, I take your point... a lot of the girls I knew who were in sororities were snobs. Karens before Karens were a thing.

[obamanut2012]

61. It was because not everyone could join

Everyone could join any actual club, but Greek societies are by default almost always exclusionary and elitist.

[JustAnotherGen]

15. school daze

?w=523

[ARPad95]

17. I was in Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity's "Little Sisters" sorority in college.

Last edited Wed Sep 15, 2021, 07:04 PM - Edit history (1)

No hazing whatsoever and I wasn't a drinker. I was only in it my sophomore year because I transferred to another college.

My husband was a Phi Beta Kappan due to his high GPA in college.

[ProfessorGAC]

19. No

I'm not a joiner, in that way.
At my undergraduate school, frats were allowed to recruit 2 players that weren't in their group for the basketball league.
I got asked by 8-10 frats each year.
I chose the one I played with based on 2 criteria:
1. The frat with the least guys that played HS football. In my experience, most football players aren't terribly good at basketball. That eliminated the TEKs, even though I liked one of them a lot.
2. Most importantly, the group with the least objectionable people. That pretty much eliminated all but 2 others.
Frat life just seemed like the last thing I'd fit in to.

[BootinUp]

21. Unofficial Delta Tau Chi

At the annual Christmas mountain retreat. The chapter was closed due to shenanigans.

Wink

[moonscape]

22. Yes. It was the 60's at a Southern Univ

and was a way to meet people. The women I met were terrific, many stayed friends, but I dropped out of it my Sophmore year because I was over it.

So yes, but wanting credit for the sayonara.

[NurseJackie]

23. Sometimes you don't know until you try it...

... it makes for a well-rounded college experience and understanding one's peers and having a clearer view of the world. (Or something.)

[getagrip_already]

24. Does family count? N/t

[NurseJackie]

26. I'd say... yes!

[getagrip_already]

28. In that case....

Food was great! Social pressures sucked......

[beaglelover]

25. No, never appealed to me. I went to a fairly large uni, about 40,000 student, and I was in

the marching band all 4 years, so I had plenty of friends through the band.

[LanternWaste]

29. Sig Ep's for about five months.

First semester of college I hung with 'em, but they were hard core drinkers of hard core alcohol, and I was more into smoking pot.

It was fun, and I met a LOT of girls (which was a big deal to the otherwise shy and nerdy little guy that I was at the time), but I'd kept my circle of friends from high school (and still do) and the crap we were into (D&D, movie weekends, getting high and pretending we smart. etc.) was more my thing; so I just kinda stopped going to the frat house until I realized I hadn't been in a month.

I'd recommend it to anyone to try (if it were the same as it was in the early 80s), just to see if it's their thing. I'd also recommend seafood to anyone to try, 'cause even though it's not my thing, it might be someone else's.

[edhopper]

30. Yes

I would not change it for anything. I still have friends from then 40+ years later.
Fraternities are as varied as the people in them. I hate the movie driven stereotypes people think they are.

[LeftInTX]

31. Not allowed where I went

[BornADemocrat]

32. Pi Tau Sigma

I initially thought "no!", but then remembered that they picked me.

I tutored some students, wasn't that much fun.

I should clarify that this was an honors type fraternity for engineers in college.

[NurseJackie]

33. I think that qualifies.

[Hoyt]

34. Frats were big at my college, but not my thing.

[Bettie]

35. Those things are for rich kids

I was not one of them.

[Totally Tunsie]

36. Lounge?

Sigma Lambda Theta signing in...

[Efilroft Sul]

37. I surprised myself by joining Delta Tau Delta, probably because I'm not much of a joiner.

The men in our chapter were hard to stereotype ("jock house," "geek house," "stoner house&quot ) because the house had all three of the aforementioned types, plus military, DJs and rockers, hunters, D&D players, etc. Half the guys were cool and half the guys were assholes (and still are), but I grew tremendously as a person taking on responsibilities and learning how to have a blast. It was a great experience for me and I wouldn't change a thing.

I'm not sure if I would recommend Greek life to my sons, who go off to college soon enough. But in looking at promotional materials from colleges and universities, and having written a lot of their websites in the last five years, schools have placed more emphasis on student life in the last 20 years. It seems as if many have broken the power of the fraternities and sororities as the center of social life. And I think that's a good thing.

[NurseJackie]

38. Great description and analysis/summary...

... I think (hope) you're right.

[Xolodno]

39. Nope.

Had a job during college.

[whistler162]

41. Nope... Groucho said it best

[NurseJackie]

46. That's a great line...

... classic... ageless.

[Klaralven]

43. I'm assuming you are asking about social, rather than honorary, Greek organizations?

[NurseJackie]

45. Yes... but, I'm interested in anything you'd like to share.

Which one/s were you a part of?

[Klaralven]

48. Tau Beta Pi

When academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa sought to restrict its membership to students of the liberal arts in the late 19th century, Edward H. Williams Jr., a member of Phi Beta Kappa and head of the mining department at Lehigh University, formulated the idea of an honor society for those studying technical subjects. Irving Andrew Heikes, the valedictorian of his class at Lehigh, was initiated as the first student member of Tau Beta Pi on June 15, 1885.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tau_Beta_Pi

[NurseJackie]

53. ...

[gldstwmn]

49. I belonged in high school. Our big event was a trip to NYC with just two chaperones.

It was the late 70's. We had our own hotel rooms, went to a legit disco, Tavern on the Green, stayed out late and had a blast. I think we visited the UN on this trip too. I still have my jacket.

[Retired Engineer Bob]

50. No, lived at my grandparents home

Took the City bus to school. Worked weekends, spring, and summer break. Wasn’t even aware of their existence.

[TlalocW]

51. Are you talking Frats and Sororities?

Because honor societies I was in like Kappa Mu Episolon (Math) and Alpha Mu Gamma (Foreign Languages) had Greek letters. Do they count? As for frats, a couple of fellow freshmen came to my dorm room looking for more recruits, and I laughed at them and closed the door before going back to my nap.

TlalocW

[NurseJackie]

52. Originally, yes. But I'm open to broadening the discussion.

[TlalocW]

55. There was a fake frat on my campus

Called I Tappa Kegga. Bunch of guys rented a house and put up ITK letters on the front, etc. Does that also count?

TlalocW

[NurseJackie]

57. I think it should! That's hysterical!

[Stallion]

54. Phi Delta Theta-Wow-26%-Pretty High Percentage for Us Liberal Socialists

there are both negatives but also some very big positives-depends who you looked up to in the fraternity-the drunks or the leaders. Generally a positive maturing and social experience for me

[tirebiter]

56. I joined a group known as Independents

It had no structure whatsoever. We essentially took over one floor of the men’s dorm. We were open with no card keys 24/7. Nothing ever got stolen. We were like Animal House without having to have double secret probation rules placed on us. It’s not like they didn’t want to.

[Owl]

59. Yes. College honor society.

[Tarc]

62. I went to a small but noted party college in the 90s, the Greeks were insane

Take every stereotype one can think of, every cliched scene from Animal House or Revenge of the Nerds, and it was done there.

I had a few friends within that were tolerable, but for the most part they were a bunch of insufferable clods. Male & female alike.