balance

The best bets for good fraternities who throw good parties and are cool but who are also into academics are Phi Delt, SAE, and Beta (to a lesser degree on the academics). Phi Delt has a lot of Moreheads in it and SAE is usually one of the top fraternities GPA-wise.

Chi Psi is notable because they're really into academics but they only have a handful of parties during the year and are a complete mix bag when it comes to the coolness of the guys. I rarely, if ever, go there but they are really into school.

I don't know about pledging but it seems to be a lot of time.

Phi Delt/SAE/Beta all have decent GPA's for being good fraternities

DKE/Phi Gam/Chi Phi all have the expected GPA's for being good fraternities lol

If you're really into academics, look into Chi Psi.

You asked a two part question. Based on the first part of your question, avoid Chi Psi. Little fun to be had there. Based on the second part of your question, avoid Phi Gam. Little studying to be had there.

Phi Delt, SAE, Beta, and DKE are good places to consider for what you want. If you didn't know, you can look up each house's GPA on the Greek Affairs website and how they compare to one another. SAE had the best spring semester of the "good" houses, but you'd be in good shape at any of these four.

With the solid ranking of worst GPA in the IFC, you should probably not look into Phi Gam if academic success is one of your worries.

whoever mentioned dke is seriously dumb. dke chi phi and phi gam all have terrible gpas. honestly it sounds like phi delt or sae would be good for you

what about sig chi?

Time commitment: the answer is that it obviously varies by house, but for any house worth joining, pledging will be a very substantial time commitment. If you're worried about your grades, I would take as few credit hours as you can the semester that you pledge. You can always take more the next semester, make up during summer school, etc.

Two cents on the other part: if you want a house that's well-regarded and consistently does well in school, I'd certainly rush SAE and Beta. But don't limit yourself, look around and find the best fit. There are guys in SAE with bad grades and guys in Phi Gam with excellent grades. The IFC Grade Report isn't everything, it is an average. It's really about how hard YOU work.