Frat Boys

[reverendflash]

I was just watching the History Channel's docco on Fraternities, and I was wondering how many of the Kirupalvanian community is a member of a Fraternity?

What are your feelings of Frats?

For those puppies not yet deemed ready to ingest large amounts of alcohol and learn the Greek alphabet, do you intend to join a Frat?

What about you foreign types? Do you have Fraternities?

Revhttp://www.aulman.com/rev.gif

[reverendflash]

but if you were there, would you do that?

Revhttp://www.aulman.com/rev.gif

[reverendflash]

but then again, you follow the leader pretty good on some points, you know...

I know you would jump at the chance to be a member of the "skull and bones"

Revhttp://www.aulman.com/rev.gif

[blackpulp]

well, as one of the few frat daddys that probably visit this forum, i feel its my duty to stand up and say that i once partook in the festivities and brotherhood of phi delta theta fraternity....

and what i have to say is this:

what a waste of my time and my parents money...

i dont know any of my "brothers" anymore...i dont participate in anything with them, and really the only thing i got out of it was a lower gpa...

oh hail the fraternity....if you want to seriously be successful, unless you attend an ivy school, steer clear of the beer kings...

oh yeah, and take into consideration this was the testimony of an insider with some experience

[RelandR]

Thank You Sir ... you may have another

[Kajinku]

We have "student clubs" over here... every college and university has one, which involves drinking games and a place to go to when you got nothing to do in the evenings after school. Yes, they have a symbol (a logo) on a Tshirt, but that's it. I mean, it doesn't make you more successfull or anything.

So, those Kappa Delta Crap Delta V and all that stuff... what is it for? I hear they have their own houses and uniforms and things like that... and do you actually have to pay to become a "brother"? What's the point?

[kirupa]

I've been bombarded with offers to join frats here, but I refused all of them. My room mates, on the other hand, have agreed and pretty much decided to stay up all night carousing a few miles away with the fraternity brothers. Since policy here at mit is that no first year student may join a frat till his second year, most still decide to sample a taste of the frat life now so that they will have it easier when "rushed" next year.

BP - most frats are the same regardless of the caliber of the school you are looking at. There is a reason many students join frats, and those reasons are pretty much the same; partying, alcohol, and food. While some may claim to do good things, for the large part a frat would not offer anything that any academic club would not offer.

1. No, I do not find frats usefuly in any academic sense. If anything a frat only removes you further from the more normal people on campus :)

2. Never ever ever in a million years nope.

3. Don't know - not really a foreign type....well actually I am haha.

Cheers!
Kirupa :beam:

[teet]

I think most frats are just glorified drinking clubs. I would consider joining one if:

A. I wanted to pay $500 a semester to be in one
B. I drank a lot of alcohol
C. I wanted to be treated like crap for a whole semester while pledging
D. I had a lot of extra time to worry with one

With that said, I probably won't be pledging anytime soon.

-teet

[pinx]

ugh, i am repulsed by frat boys and sorority girls. they are so friggin annoying and the parties that they throw aren't even fun.

in short, they make my hair stand on end.

[thoriphes]

Kappa Alpha Rho

:thumb:

[SureShot]

I was never a member of one, but I did have a few friends that were and as such, attended a lot of the parties. I wont lie - many of them were fun and a great time was had. But the "frat life" is definatly not for me. I had to pay for my eductaion (still paying in phact) and if I had joined one, it would have been just a huge waste of money. I really see no reason for these things. I mean if they were done right than I suppose they could be a good thing, but most just turn out to be beer drinking orgys with lord knows how many girls...... wow - what was I saying? ;)

[Soul]

Don't have them here

[prstudio]

Academic Fraternity

Phi Theta Kappa

member of that - should be getting into another academic one soon hopefully

[reverendflash]

I feel frats are a major reason the world is in the shape it is...

JMO

Revhttp://www.aulman.com/rev.gif

[pinx]

you mean, the U.S. is in the shape it is because of frats.

[reverendflash]

yes, and therefore the world...

Bush, his father, and his father are all Frat boyz...

Most of the "bullies" in the US have come from a Frat life...

Frat life teaches you to separate, and to give favors to people you don't know, just because they attended the same drinking club...

Revhttp://www.aulman.com/rev.gif

[BadMagick]

Penn State has TONS of Frats, but I partake in none. You're buying friends, and I think that's kinda low, even for most selfish rich people (who always seem to join frats).

Frat parties are stupid too ... It takes forever to get 2 cans of beer, and more times than not, they play some crummy music. Stuff I'm not all that interested in. Frat life is for some people, but not me...

[Whippersnapper]

UNL has a pretty good number of frats, and they don't really impress me. Usually when you get a large group of guys together stupidity occurs. I don't know about buying friends but it does seem like that it is just a $500 a semster social club. If you live in a frat I think the price is comparble to dorm living. There is a lot of frat bashing on Campus, as well as people who are actually in them. For those who join they argure that Frats have a higher GPA than the student body, but they also have old tests, cheat sheets and the like in their own Frat Library.

[Digitalosophy]

sry my school wasn't cool enough to have frats :)

[pinx]

you're lucky.

[Digitalosophy]

yea frats are for people from like west bubblef@ck (no offense) with nothing cool to do

[Digitalosophy]

Originally posted by prstudio
Academic Fraternity

Phi Theta Kappa

member of that - should be getting into another academic one soon hopefully

that's something to be proud of and to be in

[asphaltcowboy]

Not sure we have frats over in the UK *shrugs* :)

[reverendflash]

Frats are a USA invention...

they began about 1820 or so, as a rebellion against tyranical universities.

Revhttp://www.aulman.com/rev.gif

[asphaltcowboy]

they sound pretty stupid from what I've heard :)

can't everyone just get on and drink together? (like here) :sure:

[Kitiara]

We never had them at the University I went to. It was all just "let's go down the SU and see how many pints we can down in a night" kind of thing. :P

We had clubs, but that was more in the line of "Martial Arts Club" or "Trainspotters Anonymous", rather than any of this Greek letter weird **** that the Americans seem to have going on... :)

[Niann]

Phi Mu Alpha (Sinfonia)

It is a professional music frat. I did not join a social frat. I enjoyed my time spent there. it was fun to be around peers that had similer interests as me. I met some very cool people through my frat, although I must admit I do not see nor hear from them anymore. I do think it was a good experience and I would join again if I had it to do over again.

Cheers!
-Niann

[prstudio]

Right there are other frats and "societies" out there besides the freeloadin' ones.

Each College division usually has one to represent your major(degree)

Honor Frats

Music Frats
so on and so forth

[BadMagick]

Slightly off topic, is it me or do ALL sorority girls look and sound the same?!

"And he was, like, so hot, so I was like, 'Hey,' and he said 'hey' back, and it was, like, totally amazing!"

[thoriphes]

they're not all like that :sigh:

[prstudio]

not all of them..

its amazing how they act when they aren't around the rest of them too...they act normal...

!

[grandsp5]

my school has different residential houses as well as frats. ie - an engineering house, a bio house, an asian house, lots of random topics like that. They also have frats but most people looking for a group to join head to those dorms instead of frats. I am an incoming freshman but I don't plan on joining one

[awligon]

I was a Pike (Pi Kappa Alpha) at nc state. I would say that overall, there are both pros and cons to being in a fraternity, just like there are two sides to everything in life. I played a lot of intramural sports and held about every position available as well as serving on student senate for a semester, *remembers and pukes*. But for every good event, there were like fifty bar nights. I think I was actually a bad influence on the fraternity. Long story short, of course there are pros and cons, but please don't turn this into just another ignorant frat bashing thread. I'm so sick of seeing that kind of crap. If it's not your bag, then fine, don't join up, but there's no sense in getting on the internet and talking about something you're not going to do.


Originally posted by BadMagick
Slightly off topic, is it me or do ALL sorority girls look and sound the same?!

"And he was, like, so hot, so I was like, 'Hey,' and he said 'hey' back, and it was, like, totally amazing!"

It's stupid stuff like that... What in the hell is that supposed to be? It's not the movie clueless, and as a matter of fact, I don't think I've ever heard anyone actually talk like that. It's just stereotyping to take cheap shots. I normally stay out of these threads because of that simple reason but I met a lot of great life-long friends in college, some from the fraternity, some not, point is, do what you want to, check out the options and decide for yourself. Just don't become the sticky-keyboard having internet douchebag that bashes things they know nothing about on vb forums all over the web just to get some sort of thrill from the safe confines of your parents basement.

[BigSilly]

I was in a local frat at college and all we were concerned with was drinking! I think i had to pay like $30 to join plus the weeks of hazing - but after that is was a total party - i dont think we paid or collected dues - i dont really remember any of that. We didnt help make the college look better - we didnt even pretend to.

My college was fairly small, so all the frats got along...i know at some larger schools, frats are discouraged from hanging out with other frats. Whatever. To each his own - we just liked to cause trouble and get drunk.

For me it was worth it - jeeez only $30!

I know some frats charge hundreds of $$$ a semester - that is rediculous. But i guess if you have the money and the will, then do it.

[reverendflash]

awiglon:

take it easy, this is just a topic of convo. No one is making this personal, so don't take it that way.

Things get bashed. Both on the internet, and not.. it's part of life.

I asked the question, and am fairly happy with the results.

My brother (abzoid) was in a Frat most of his college life, and it was a good experience for him...

I don't think I would join one, but he had a good experience...

Revhttp://www.aulman.com/rev.gif

[SureShot]

Originally posted by BigSilly
I was in a local frat at college and all we were concerned with was drinking! I think i had to pay like $30 to join plus the weeks of hazing - but after that is was a total party - i dont think we paid or collected dues - i dont really remember any of that. We didnt help make the college look better - we didnt even pretend to.

Sounds almost exactly like the movie "Old School" :)


One of my favorite movies ever! :P

[BadMagick]

WTF awligon?

Like I said, I dunno how it is for everyone else, but I've found that the girls here at Penn State all talk that way ...

I'd appreciate if you didn't jump down people's throats without knowing the whole story. I'm not sterotyping anyone, but I've just found that pretty much every sorority girl I've come in contact with is like that.

Dead honest to God truth, word for word, standing in line for dinner one night last year this girl said, "I like, don't want a lot, so could you give me, like, a little bit?" "Tell me when," the lasy said who served her food. She says, "That's, like, enough right there."

I overhear their converstations all the time cause most of them are obnoxiously loud, and it all seems to be the same kind of banter to me.

Stuff I don't know, right? Well I'll tell you something awligon, you don't know me and where I've been, and what I've seen, so I suggest you keep "outbreaks" like that about me to a minimum, ok tiger?

[BadMagick]

My apologies to everyone for my previous post, but I will not tolerate ANYONE calling me a "douchebag"

And for the record, I live in 22 Simmons Hall at Penn State Univeristy, not my parent's basement }:Op

[comicGeek]

I loathe fraternities! Here in the Philippines, fraternities model drug addiction, lust, sex, violence and vanity! Most members are in trouble with the law, school and family. I see fraternity members here as people who can't stand ontheir own two feet. People who are lost when they are alone.

[Digitalosophy]

lololololol you called him "Tiger" lololol omg. that's better than "Turbo". yea ali, dude you flipped out for no reason, notice this is in Random, meaning people shoot the sh@t about Random things like Frat's. anyway i still think a frat is a negitive experience. usually what happens is people who are shealtered their whole life go away to college, join a frat, and let all hell break loose. i think if your looking to learn frat is not he way to go.


BUT - BUT - BUT -

not everyone is the same, if you handle it without going overboard then enjoy, and if you can't, well.... then enjoy as well :)

[pinx]

nothing wrong with the lust and sex part comicGeek, if you don't mind me saying.

and you so hear sorority chicks saying stupid stuff in a stupid way.

"like, oh m' god, that is so, like, ruuuude" etc.

[Digitalosophy]

funny you should see the girls where i'm from. it's either a bubbled butt too much makeup britney spears lookalike or a JLo gun toaten blunt smokin graffiti writin ghetto chick. where are all the normal chicks you see on TV? *I crack myslef up*

[Jubba]

It really depends on where you are. I'm in Binghamton, NY and there are a lot of girls from Long Island here and they are mostly the stuck-up "valley-girl" type and they actually do talk like that and it drives me nuts. Its difficult to not make stereotypes when 90% of the students at my school reinforce those stereotypes every single day.

[reverendflash]

Another reason I like San Francisco...

I don't hear the Valley Talk... could be my circle of friends tho, I don't really hang with college age people much, but I haven't heard it in a bar or club yet... not even at UC Berkeley a couple weeks ago, I don't remember hearing Valley Talk. The Frat guys stood out like a roach in the rice tho.

The worst I have ever seen was a Jimmy Buffet concert... Old Frat Boys trying to relive the only past when they can remember they were "cool." Drinking way too much tequila, passing out on the lawn on the way <i>into</i> the show...

actually, they made the show for me, since I really don't like Jimmy's music that much (a friend produced his tour)...

Revhttp://www.aulman.com/rev.gif

[awligon]

Originally posted by BadMagick
My apologies to everyone for my previous post, but I will not tolerate ANYONE calling me a "douchebag"

And for the record, I live in 22 Simmons Hall at Penn State Univeristy, not my parent's basement }:Op

I did not call you a douchebag, nor did I imply that your live in a basement, I simply used your previous post of an example of frat bashing and stereotyping. I'm sure that you are a great person, and I did not mean to offend or to draw attention to you. I only meant to express my annoyance with the constant cheap-shotting that goes on in these types of threads.
Rev started the thread for a discussion like he said, and it took no time at all for that kind of stuff from a lot of people. I'm sorry if I offended anyone with my post but after seeing like 100 of these threads around and the same stuff, it gets very old.
Like I said, I don't care personally what anyone thinks about it, I've been there and done that, and I would reccommend that anyone interested check it out and decide for yourself after your freshman year. It can make or break your college experience getting tied up with the wrong crowd. That's all. :sigh:

[BadMagick]

... humm ....
"apology" accepted :)

[Black_Lightning]

i'm from belgium to and like someone said we don't have frat's here but clubs.

Like our system better actually. From what i seen on tv, and what you guys told, frats pretty much stick to theirselves... how social yay.

Here in belgium you can join as a member of a club, and there is also a baptism (guess quite similar to hazing). This baptism is only obligated when you want to be part of the group that runs the club (called a praesidium) later on.

Been part of many clubs, we even had one ourselves for a short while.... whole lot of fun :)

[asphaltcowboy]

yeah, I have to say - surely it's not that good to be stuck socialising with the same group of people? it's much nicer to go out with lots of different people? :)

[Black_Lightning]

amen to that, the more ppl the better the party :)

unless you got limited beer supply


:bad:

[comicGeek]

I can't help but wonder what's so cool about drinking and getting drunk in the process. I mean, what's so cool about showing others that you have no control over yourself? :-\

[awligon]

a: It was an apology bm, so I humbly ask your forgiveness. :beam:
b: ashpalt, very true, the people I associate with today vary from 15 to 70, from broke to shamefully rich, and I love it and it brings me joy and wisdom to learn from all walks of life. That's one of the downfalls of fraternity life or any other such organization, professional or otherwise. That's why I said if you are interested, wait until you've been in school for a while and understand that you don't need to "buy friends" to be accepted and happy. Although, I am not conceding to the fact that paying membership dues is buying friendship... it's for buying beer! JK, see, I can take a joke Rev. (the mystery mod?) :sigh:

[Black_Lightning]

Originally posted by comicGeek
I can't help but wonder what's so cool about drinking and getting drunk in the process. I mean, what's so cool about showing others that you have no control over yourself? :-\

well it's not so much the drinking part, but the social part... drinking is part of it... and for me personally getting drunk is not a goal, but unfortunate IF it happens. Ofcourse there are ppl that have the goal to drink till they are drunk... their problem, not mine :)

[comicGeek]

Black_Lightning: I think most people (college) out there drink because they think they are cool doing it and that girls dig it! But also they want to prove they are man enough to do it! Me, I love beer and wine (red, dry). But I drink moderately to enjoy it. I don't drink to show off. I drink to show I can control myself.

[Black_Lightning]

i fully agree with you on what you said: the majority falls under the category you describe. Ahwell their problem, know enough ppl that did some things they regretted under influence :)... glad to say i'm not in that category. I like a good drink from time to time, but i don't need to drink.... especially not to show off.

[comicGeek]

Glad we agree on something! :)

[awligon]

Originally posted by Black_Lightning
i fully agree with you on what you said: the majority falls under the category you describe. Ahwell their problem, know enough ppl that did some things they regretted under influence :)... glad to say i'm not in that category. I like a good drink from time to time, but i don't need to drink.... especially not to show off.

Actually, the majority of college students don't drink in excess at all. By that I mean more than 3 drinks in one sitting. That's on average, nationwide, but the ones who do abuse drugs or alchohol go way overboard, but that's the minority, statistically.

[Jubba]

I have two types of drinking habits and they are determined by the people I am with. When I am with one group of friends we drink in moderation, about 4-6 drinks just as a social gathering. The other group is a bit more overboard and we just drink. Its not about "girls digging it" or "being a man" its about having fun with your friends. We have fun together when we don't drink but drinking makes the video-tape more interesting in the morning...

[SureShot]

Video tape is too incriminating... you cant hide from the truth if it's right there in digital format ;)

[BadMagick]

Originally posted by SureShot
Video tape is too incriminating... you cant hide from the truth if it's right there in digital format ;)
i.e. Tonya Harding, Pam Anderson, etc.

[coreyem]

In my opinion, college serves 2 purposes:
1. Education
2. Socialization

The education bit is great, it's always good to learn.

The socialization bit (and I'm not referring to the "partying together" kind of socialization, I mean it in the "to make social; especially : to fit or train for a social environment" sense, i.e. brainwashing) is not so good. There wouldn't be any billionares in this country without masses of college-educated serfs willing to spend 45 hours a week for their entire lives working towards a retirement/401(k) and a few more square feet in their "custom" manufactured homes. That group mentality is a natural human instict, we all want to find somewhere we belong, and people we belong with. Unfortunately, that tribal instict impedes an individual's path towards enlightentment, since we only grow when exposed to new ideas/memes/environments/people.

In that sense, the frat is the most evil component of the American higher education institution. It encourages wide-eyed kids to find a niche and stay in it, to stick to your buddies, to band together and form a tribe, and to resist change and experimentation, in my opinion.

On the other hand, if you just need some study buddies, that's cool. If you're looking for somebody to go out drinking with, go drinking with that weird Czech kid, I guarantee it'll be a lot more interesting than doing keg-stands with Bobby from Alabama.

BTW Jubba- I used to live in Binghamton, for like 6 years! My whole family's from there. small world...

[awligon]

Well, you make a valid point, but just like I said before, there's a good and bad to everything. You can use a hypodermic to inject heroin or to get insulin. The entity itself has no control over its use. So we're once again back to it being a personal choice. On the otherhand, not all fraternities are the same, some are strictly social, and others are social in nature but more focused on academics and commeradery. Mine was more of a social thing, but hey, if life was keeping score, I'd be thrown of the game by now. ;)

PS. I talked to Alabama Bobby and him and his frat buddies are coming to kick your ***! :beam:

[awligon]

haha, oddly enough, I think you're the first person (that I've noticed at least) that's thought to use an aim buddy icon for an avatar. I guess everyone just likes making their own. Kind of an ego trip around here.

[coreyem]

Originally posted by awligon
[B]Well, you make a valid point, but just like I said before, there's a good and bad to everything. You can use a hypodermic to inject heroin or to get insulin.

Yup, I totally agree. I'd love to go back to college given the right time and circumstances, and probably will at some point. Not to make money or become part of the machine (I am already an established undercover operative in The Man's capitialist regime), but to pick up a foreign language, get formal schooling on some things I'm interested in, learn how to weld, write, etc.

I just hate seeing kids from Iowa go into school with an empty head, and come out a Process Engineer with a car loan and a business degree. It seems like this big grain mill, but instead of milling grain into flour, they're milling people into the future of Corporate America. It is definitely what you make of it, however, not everybody comes out of school with a business degree, after all...

[awligon]

Originally posted by coreyem
not everybody comes out of school with a business degree, after all...

Thank God. The world would be one crooked place.

[awligon]

Phil,
Just read Inferno, climbing mt purgatory as we speak. I like to read the italian and then the english. I know a substantial amount of Latin, so I can catch some of it, but not really. I think Italian is an elegant and inspirational language, and I would love to learn to speak it. So yes, it is somewhat dante inspired, something about me being halfway to heaven but just a mile out of hell. I actually love my footer and the way it turned out. I think it's extremely over the top but in and of itself is a statement of my inner struggle with daily choices and my deep rooted desire for faith and the belief that every day, and every situation is a step on the path to such.
sorry for the hijacking.

[awligon]

Nah, don't believe you're sorry. I'll leave it just because everytime I change my title, it gets changed like ten mins later to something else. It's kind of funny that my own profile changes and suprises even me. You could have added a little color to it though?.?... ;)

[kirupa]

For the past few weeks, every Wednesday I have spent the evening at one of the more social frats near campus that my room mates pledged to, and I have to say that I have had quite a good time and gotten majority of the work due on Thursday done.

Why would I be spending half the night in a frat? Free coffee. Nothing excites a student here more than free coffee or anything that enables maximum amount of work with minimal amount of sleep.

So, I was mistaken in my earlier statement about frats. The frat experience varies from college to college, and it was bad of me to categorize all frats as bad. With that said, I haven't really "joined" a frat, but I have become an unofficial member without having to do any of the frat works like attending the mandatory meetings, planning for parties, cleaning up, etc.

....life as a leech is good ;)

[thoriphes]

Originally posted by kirupa
Why would I be spending half the night in a frat? Free coffee. Nothing excites a student here more than free coffee or anything that enables maximum amount of work with minimal amount of sleep. Are you sure that wasn't Irish coffee they were giving out? ;)

Anyway, the image people get of fraternities is that of a group of drunkards who throw parties every Saturday night with cheap beer and a cheap DJ. Not all of them are like that. There are definitely those that actually aim at a specific goal, such as a better working/studying ethic or something. Others help in the community. They're not all really that bad.

[kirupa]

No, it's not Irish coffee....it would be kind of tough to go to classes or do the classwork. That would defeat the point of going there for me :) But yeah, some frats are pretty good. I'm not saying that the frat I'm attending doesn't have the usual alcoholic's'R'Us nights, but those happen on days when I'm not there ;)

[Black_Lightning]

Originally posted by kirupa
No, it's not Irish coffee....it would be kind of tough to go to classes or do the classwork. That would defeat the point of going there for me :) But yeah, some frats are pretty good. I'm not saying that the frat I'm attending doesn't have the usual alcoholic's'R'Us nights, but those happen on days when I'm not there ;)

still if you plan well those nights can be fun ;)

[kirupa]

I have actually never had alcohol before....and I don't plan on it either. Besides, why get alcohol when you get free coffee =)

[Black_Lightning]

yeh well, i like a beer from time to time... don't need alcohol to have fun. Anyway parties are mostly fun, get to know some new ppl and such.

[Whippersnapper]

So I was almost sXe for like a couple of months, grew out of it, just one less thing to get hung up about.

[Black_Lightning]

Originally posted by Whippersnapper
So I was almost sXe for like a couple of months, grew out of it, just one less thing to get hung up about.

well if i would stop drinking i'd be sXe, but it doesn't appeal to me that much :)