Gone Greek: The Benefits of Greek Life

In today's competitive economy, it's important to get the upper-edge to ensure success in life. Rushing and joining a fraternity or sorority can help you get that boost, and I will explain why.

Once you have joined a fraternity or sorority, you will find a group of the most supportive, loyal, and reliable people you have and will ever meet. You guys will work with each other to help each other accomplish goals, both group goals and personal goals. Need to pass that exam to pass that class to graduate? There's probably a brother or sister who has already taken the and will sit in the library all night helping you understand and learn the material. Psychology and sociology studies have shown that the greatest influence on success in life is your social support. By surrounding yourself with supportive, successful people you are molding yourself to be a supportive, successful person yourself. On top of this, it gives you a sense of belonging, which encourages psychological health.

By joining a sorority or fraternity business, you will attain leadership skills and essentially learn how to run a corporation. Fraternities and sororities are set up were an executive board (with sub-committees underneath) plans and runs the organization, this setup being modeled after a business or corporation (In fact, many Greek organizations are incorporated). By being an active, involved member you can attain executive positions and learn the leadership skills required to run a board or committee. Businesses look for these sort of skills when hiring, and having something like "Vice President of ______" or "Head of _____ Committee" are very impressive things to have on your resume and show that you know what you are doing and have strong leadership qualities... this leads me to my next point:

By going Greek and being involved, you show you are someone who does work. For a lot of businesses, GPAs and intelligence aren't the most important qualities. Although they are nice, they'd rather have someone who does their job hard and does it correctly than some genius that has a poor work ethic. Also, by having a large social support, you have more connections for jobs through alumni who are usually in high places that will help with recommendations and finding jobs. I have yet to meet an alumni in my fraternity who did not get a well-paying job that they like straight out of college, even if they continued to go to graduate school. And those alumni love to share their success and help others start their own successful lives.

Besides all the hard work you will put in and the skills you will learn, being in Greek life is fun. You make your best friends that you will have for the rest of your life, and meet so many people. You will throw the craziest parties, know the most people, and be part of something that influences campus life. It gives you the opportunity to make the most out of your time at college by giving you the resources to do so, and it is fun. Even when you're doing work, it's still a "party" in that you're working with people you love and it's always fun! Going Greek is the best decision I ever made, and I've never worked harder or had more fun in my life!

Most fraternities pair up with sororities to hold "formals", which are essentially parties between the two organizations. This makes you meet and mingle with people of the opposite sex, opening up a lot of opportunity for romance. Going Greek introduced me to my girlfriend, and I've never been happier with anyone. Often times, people even meet their "soulmates" within Greek life, starting to date in college and then marrying after graduation. By meeting so many people, it allows you to be more picky about your standards and who you date, increasing your chances of success.

By being in a fraternity or sorority, you have given yourself access to multitudes of people who have had the same classes or are taking the same classes as you. This gives you a large choice of study buddies and tutors, increasing your motivation and chances for academic success. It also makes you accountable to others for your academic expectations, and your peers can help you stay focused on your studies.

Going Greek can give you the opportunity to directly change campus life. Greek life is often highly involved in student government, either being in it themselves or by having very strong and influential relationships with those in it. If you want to make a change, going Greek can offer you the resources to do that.

If you were considering rushing, hopefully I just convinced you. If you were against it, I hope I at least opened your mind to the idea of it. Rushing and joining a fraternity was the best decision I ever made, and never have I been part of something that taught me as many life skills, gave me as much loyal and reliable friends, or offered me as much fun as Greek life.