jeparlefrancais

whats the diff between say, a national pre-law frat, and just ur run of the mill social frat/sorority?

do they do the same sort of activities, or is it more of like a national honor society title on ur resume?

and if it is a title sort of thing, then can u join an actual frat/sorority even if ur in an academico ne?

Bigredmed

It's going to depend a lot on the school. You can join both though, and more than one academic/service (ie, I was a member of Omicron Delta Kappa and Alpha Kappa Delta along with my social fraternity). The only restriction is joining two social fraternities/sororities. I really only consider my social fraternity membership as something that identifies me, and the only one that I will ever give money to in the future.

But getting back to how they are similar/alike. Totally dependent on campus. At some schools, an academic (or more commonly a service like Alpha Phi Omega) may appear and operate exactly the same as a social fraternity or sorority (Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Phi Delta Theta, Chi Omega or Delta Delta Delta for example). They will have weekly meetings, regular parties, mixers with other chapters, service projects, formals, and so on. This is more typical at your smaller schools which lack Greek housing.

However on other campuses (like my large public State U) a service or academic fraternity is a joke, simply just another organization like a mock trial club, student government, or whatever. There is no confusion that simply because you belong to an organization that has greek letters that you are a "Greek". They don't have parties or mixers with other chapters, or anything on the level that would seem like a normal Greek Chapter. I think it has a lot to do with the noticeable lack of housing, since the "real" greek chapters have these huge, beautiful houses. I personally don't consider people who only have membership in academic or service greek lettered organizations to be real greeks. This ****es many people off if they go to a university that doesn't have the huge distinction between the two and they happen to be in an academic or service organization.

fendergirl

my college roommate was in an honors frat, and i remember right after she joined they had their yearly social and she came home amazed that everyone got drunk at it. she was like "these are honors kids!".. I just thought it was funny because she seemed to have this stereotype that smart kids don't drink.

theslammer

At UVA, both our service (Alpha Phi Omega) and honor (Phi Sigma Pi) frats operate much like a social fraternity, with formals, parties, and the like as Bigredmed described. UVA is a school with a vibrant Greek scene, too, so it's not like the two can't coexist.