Right around this time 4 years ago, I was entering my first semester of college. But little did I know, I was also entering the wildest, most stressful, but also most fun semester of my college career. Pledge Semester.
I just graduated from college a few months ago after lasting all 4 years in my fraternity. And with Frat rush season being in full swing right about now, pledge season is right around the corner, so I thought I’d give my best advice to any freshmen who are about to enter the hell storm that is pledge semester.
But before I begin, let me just address the elephant in the room. Yes, you will get hazed. No matter what fraternity you are in, it’s going to happen in some form, that’s just the reality of it. If the older guys told you during rush that their frat “doesn’t haze” I hate to break it to you, but they’re lying straight to your face. I’m not saying it is right, but i’m just saying if you can’t accept this fact, then a fraternity probably isn’t for you.
However, if you take one thing away from this post, it should be this. You should never be forced to drink any alcohol or take any drugs that you don’t want to for your hazing. If the brothers are trying to make you do messed up shit like this or anything else that can put your life in danger while you’re a pledge, you should never tolerate it. Trust me, I know how the peer pressure feels, but you won’t look like a loser if you say no, if anything, the brothers will respect you for it. And if they drop you for not doing some bullshit like that, then you don’t need to be in that frat anyway. Good fraternities don’t do these things. Pledging is designed to be hard but fun, it’s not so supposed to put your life in danger. Those things are never worth it just to look cool in front of the older guys and initiate.
But with that now being addressed, here are my top 5 things that will get you dropped from your fraternity as a pledge:
#1: Drinking & Driving:
If you do this, even if you aren’t in a frat, you’re already a scumbag. So just don’t do this in general. But I promise you, if you even take a sip of alcohol before you get behind the wheel, you will be dropped from your fraternity faster than you can blink. Something you’ll learn throughout the years is that fraternities think in terms of liabilities, and if they see you as one, they will not hesitate to lose you.
#2: Being creepy to girls:
Again, don’t do this even if you aren’t in a frat. But this is by far the most common way I’ve seen people get dropped in the past 4 years. The moment you make a girl feel uncomfortable or scared, you’re a goner. And rightfully so. Don’t be a weird ass, if you’re trying to hit on a girl, treat them with respect and always pay attention to their boundaries.
#3: Pissing off an active brother:
Another thing you need to understand about fraternities is that, although they work in a group, each brother is an Individual that has their own opinions. And if just one brother doesn’t like you, he has the power to get you dropped if he really wants you to. Yes they’re going to treat you like shit and yes it sucks and it’s annoying, but everyone above you has been at the bottom of the barrel at one point as well. Think of it like a drill Sergeant, they’re going to be mean to you but they secretly like you and want to see you stick it through
#4: Not getting close with your pledge brothers:
What a lot of guys don’t know as they move through pledging, is that at the end of the semester, the fraternity allows the pledges to vote on if they want to drop anyone in their class. And it happens more than you think. In my pledge class, there was one guy who only talked to the older brothers, never hung out with us, and didn’t show up to any of our pledge class meetings. And you guessed it, we dropped him, because we hardly even knew the guy after a whole semester.
#5: Getting bad grades:
In the schools eyes, fraternities aren’t rated on the “best parties” or the “coolest dudes”. They see each fraternity as a cumulative GPA number. And the fraternity’s do everything they can to make this look as best as possible. If they see your individual GPA weighing them down, they’ll drop you even if they love you as a person. Every fraternity has GPA requirements in order to initiate. But to be honest, you shouldn’t even be failing your freshman classes, they are the easiest ones you’ll take in college. Work on time management and using your fellow pledge brothers to help you in your classes, it goes a long way. In most cases, the fraternity and your pledge brothers will do everything they can to help, but ultimately it’s up to you to do well.