College Life: Fraternities & Sororities

One definite support mechanism to help you cope with stress is fraternities and sororities. These will help you make considerable friends, meet interesting people and expand your network. It will also make you regret some exploits and pickle your liver.

Contacts And Connections

Fraternities and sororities are also helpful when it comes to finding employment once you graduate. Interviewers and recruiters that hail from a common ''house'' may give you a break and contact you. You are after all a brother or sister. The problem is that you still have to back up the interview with your own merit.

For better or worse, the factors that determine whether students get the best jobs often have little to do with grades, vision, skill or execution. Connections work in business as they do in school. Landing that first job is important and fraternities and sororities can definitely help.

Come Here Brotha!

As students try to juggle work, time for friends, family and school becomes scarce. The result is fraternities and sororities have lost some of their cachet. For this reason, some go to extreme lengths to attract potential pledges.

Sisters Come Correct...

As in relationships, never try too hard to join a fraternity and sorority. Show some interest but make them pitch to you. Some fraternities and sororities have wonderful reputations and serve as a gateway to fun in college, but fun can be had anywhere at school. Furthermore, remaining a free agent allows you to socialize with everyone at your own leisure instead of being forced to go along with others.

What Have You Done For Me Lately?

How long have they been around and what is their mission? What do others say about them? What are their academic, social and athletic records?

Fraternities and sororities should offer you something to satisfy all of school's benefits. They should be involved in the community. Also, find out which fraternities are involved with which sororities to get an idea of who you will be crossing paths with.

Hazing

Have you heard about hazing? Surely you have no intention of eating manure, sleeping in pickle juice and doing other crazy things. So do some research: if the hassles do not justify the benefits, chances are that you will fare better making friends from all walks of life and not just confining yourself to one fraternity or sorority.

Where Are They Now?

The main thing is finding out where some previous members have ended up today. Will you have sisters in high places? Have any previous brothers become famous or successful? If former members are now serving on death row, perhaps you should look elsewhere.

Fraternities and sororities help students come out of school with solid leads for jobs, great contacts for interviews and even potential partners in business. This is especially important if you decide to relocate to a new city and need contacts to get a new job.

Size Matters

Schools in large cities have so much to offer that joining a fraternity or sorority may not make sense. Imagine wanting to visit many places in such a short time but having to follow a schedule imposed on you by others.

In some small towns, there is not all that much to do for students. In these instances, joining a fraternity or sorority is great as it provides for a group to interact with.

One final consideration: how shy and reserved are you? If you are very shy and live in a shell, you will have to open up at some point. Fraternities and sororities are perfect for this. If you have too much personality though, no frat house will be large enough to contain it. So if you have no difficulty making friends and having fun, you may be better off as a free agent.