College is full of new experiences and challenges. As a freshman, for many people it will be their first experience living away from their family home. There will be many new opportunities to grow and learn, but on that should be avoided your first year is pledging a fraternity. It’s been quite a few years since I was a freshman, but I still remember the experience quite well. I went to school at a small to medium size college in a town that was only about half an hour from the beach. There were many new activities that appealed to me, and one of them was the idea of pledging a fraternity.
To be perfectly honest when I arrived at college, pledging a fraternity wasn’t on my list of plans. Yet, I attended an open house night at one during pledge week and fell into the peer pressure of the fraternity and others in my classes to pledge. I later realized that as a freshman I was easily influenced and it did not take a lot of work for the fraternity to sell me on pledging.
During the course of pledging the fraternity though I realized it was a mistake. Finally, about half way through the pledging process I realized my mistake and withdrew my attempt to join the fraternity . Hopefully some things I realized will help you realize why it is not a good idea to pledge your freshman year.
The first realization was that pledging is much more time consuming that you might expect. The brothers in the fraternity can call you at any time to perform a pledge task. They will tell you they are concerned about your academic progress and will consider it, but in the end they really don’t. Keep in mind your grades are not considered into the fraternity’s GPA until you are officially a brother. They will tell you during pledge week how they have to keep the fraternity GPA up because of school regulations and that might be true, but at the same point they know that your GPA means nothing to them during your pledge period.
Despite what many fraternities may tell you, alcohol is part of the pledging process at any fraternity I have ever been involved with or know friends that have been involved with. Remember, you are under the legal drinking age your freshman year of college. This means you are running the risk of getting yourself into legal trouble. The fraternity will not come to the support of a pledge, as you are not an official member of the fraternity. Many of them will even have it written into their pledging rules that drinking is not required, but that is to protect themselves. Keep in mind they can turn you down for membership in the fraternity for any reason they wish, they might tell you it’s another reason when the true reason is you did not participate in the drinking activities for pledges.
Many fraternities will tell you that they are a “non-hazing fraternity”, be careful with this, as it all depends on your definition of hazing. Also remember, even if you go to the college with a complaint about hazing while you pledge it will not benefit you. The fraternity is not required to make you a member, and if you make a complaint against them you can bet that you will not become a member.
As a freshman at college away from home you are learning how to handle your own scheduling without parental influence for the first time. You need to learn how to set a schedule to study, eat your meals, and socialize. If you are pledging a fraternity you will not be able to accomplish this. Your schedule will be highly dependent on what the brothers in the fraternity have you do and when they want you to do these activities. Many times they will not take into consideration your class schedule and when you have exams in your classes.
The other thing to consider is the dues that you owe the fraternity. After joining these can be quite substantial. Money management for a freshman away at college is another key skill to learn. If you blow a large part of your budget on fraternity dues if you make it into the fraternity your first semester you are likely to have to cut your budget elsewhere. These cuts may be detrimental towards your college experience. Also keep in mind you are paying to join a group of friends, who may be further along in their college experience than you are. You may not have a lot in common with your new “brothers” other than the fact that you all pledged and paid your financial dues to join the fraternity. You are more likely to form friendships with college students experiencing the same challenges and benefits from the classes you attend that you would from pledging.
This is not to say that pledging a fraternity is an entirely bad idea. It’s just not a great idea your freshman year of college. Give yourself a year to get comfortable being away from parental supervision and being responsible for your own schedule and successes. After you feel comfortable that you have a good base schedule for this, then maybe your sophmore year might be a better time to consider pledging if you really want to become part of a fraternity while at college.
