<p>Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what exactly are fraternities/sororities? I know they are groups of people that live in the same place on or near campus with group names of Greek letters, but what do the people have in common? Is it an academic interest or GPA or what? Thanks!</p>
<p>They are typically social clubs, although they may have minimum GPAs for membership.</p>
<p>Fraternities are associated with higher levels of alcohol consumption.</p>
<p>What about coed fraternities/sororities? That sounds interesting.</p>
<p>There are different types of fraternities and sororities. The oldest fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa, was started in 1776 as an academic society for young men at the College of William & Mary to come together and engage in debate and oratory (public speaking), as well as possibly to discuss Revolutionary politics. There are a lot of academic fraternities and then there are some fraternities and sororities that blend academic/professional interests and social ones. Two examples are Sigma Alpha Iota and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a sorority and fraternity respectively that were founded for serious music students to fellowship together.</p>
<p>The ones you are probably thinking of are primarily social fraternities/sororities. From the mid 19th to the early 20th century, a spate of Greek-lettered organizations were begun in the style of Phi Beta Kappa. Young men (and later, young women) would get together for various reasons. Many of them originally began to bring together serious young scholars at colleges and universities so that they could read and discuss literature together and engage in debate, like PBK, but eventually moved to more social and sometimes political issues. Sororities were often begun because young women were at co-ed universities and needed to band together for support. The Greek letters are usually the first letter of each major word in a motto that is kept secret, known only to members).</p>
<p>Today, the members may have something in particular in common or nothing at all, other than that they are members of the same group. For example, Alpha Epsilon Pi was originally founded by Jewish men on Jewish principles, but these days anyone can join. Alpha Chi Omega was originally started for students with connections to the music school, but later expanded to include any woman. Today, the way that the groups do intake (especially the NPC sororities) ensures that most of the groups don’t require any kind of thing in common ahead of time. Basically, it’s just college students who want to develop bonds of brother or sisterhood, engage in the deep and storied traditions a lot of these groups have, and establish some kind of network that often extends past college. Some join because it’s a family tradition (George W. Bush joined Delta Kappa Epsilon like his father, George H.W. Bush; Laura Bush was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta, and her daughter Jenna subsequently joined as well).</p>
<p>Many times fraternities and sororities have houses on or near campus, where some of the members live together. But many fraternities don’t have chapter houses. Sometimes they live together in suites in residential housing, and sometimes they don’t live together at all.</p>
<p>Oh, and I forgot - yes, there are coed fraternities. The biggest one I can think of is Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity - they focus on doing community service, particularly to youth programs. Another example is the Alpha Delta Phi Society, which is historically and technically a literary society but has fused a social purpose with their literary beginnings.</p>
I might add that there are also cultural fraternities and sororities, which may appeal to those not interested in the typical social fraternity and sorority structure
You’re thinking of NIC fraternities who are governed by the IFC at each school. They are organizations that pick members who share the same interests of the national chapter. The Fraternity GPA is almost always higher than the men’s average GPA, they also perform community service, participate in school and national events, and they also have a social aspect to network with others. I don’t know much about sororities.
Co-ed fraternities arent really considered greek. If you just want some kind of letters then go with that
In addition to alcohol consumption, other things that correlate positively with greek membership: GPA, graduating college, university donations, being a fortune 500 CEO, being a congressman/senator/president of the United States, being a supreme court justice, being an astronaut, being part of the presidential cabinet.
GPA is positively correlated because many fraternities and sororities have a GPA minimum to pledge (i.e. they won’t pledge new members who are close to being academically dismissed).
The other things are positively correlated because fraternities and sororities tend to be bigger presences at residential schools, which tend to have students who are both better prepared academically and from wealthier family backgrounds.
And smarter people are more likely to binge drink, so was your point that fraternities drink more because the people in them are smarter? http://news.discovery.com/human/higher-childhood-iq-means-more-bottoms-up-as-an-adult.htm
Okay, I think I get the idea people. This thread is kind of old, I’m not really interested in the subject anymore.