off campus
by: OffcampusI’m rushing this fall but I’m not looking forward to pay a lot of my ones just to be in fraternity. Off campus frats are cheap and they seem so nice. I’m not a party animal, but still want to have a group of friends that I can hang out with for life. Should I consider off campus?
#1 by: Strat
I think you should really consider the pros and cons to being in an off campus frat. Yes, they're significantly cheaper but that's not necessarily a good thing. With on campus frats, the main bulk of dues goes to the house, food, and party fees.
1. Are you interested in living in house on campus? A huge pro to on campus frats is having the option to living in house, being in the heart of everything, being able to walk upstairs after a party, being able to have your meals downstairs, and living in house is usually cheaper than most off campus apartments. Off campus frats have no official, university sanctioned houses. Most off campus frats will have their parties at the house of one of the brothers. However, that means you have no meals and no official recreational space for game days/between classes/etc. In terms of meals, you will have a dining plan if you're not Greek which covers you for the school year but are you going to be eating at a dining hall every day? So have you considered the cost of groceries and what you would be spending vs. the 3 meals a day you would get in an on campus frat plus the 55 extra dining hall swipes.
2. You will not have swaps. I mean you will, but they will be rare and with other small sororities, such as SDT and ADX. I know you mentioned you're not a big partier but this is a big part of the frat experience.
3. You will not have not have big parties/darties. Like swaps, you will but they will be rare and small house parties. And I know you're not a big partier but, again, it's the experience. You don't even necessarily need to drink at events but it's just fun being able to see people enjoy coming to your house. A pro for on campus frats is that they have the budget and space to host big musical performers, Beta had Lil Yachty 2 years ago, Pi Kap (I think) had Chief Keef last year, and other most frats bring in other rappers and DJs for partiers throughout the school year.
4. A harsh reality is that a lot of off campus frats are looked down upon. Most have poor selection processes, letting almost anyone who wants to join in - because they're small frats and want to expand, ultimately hurting their reputation.
There are a lot of other aspects that I could get into but I guess it comes down to why do you want to rush. Do you just want to make friends easier? If so, have you considered joining clubs or organizations that are of your interest? I think Greek life is amazing and I know guys who have become very responsible over the years because their frat has held them to certain standards and/or they got exec positions. You'll get life long friends with whatever type of frat you want, so it comes down to the other aspects.
Commentby: harsh yesJun 26, 2018 7:32:06 AM
not to be cruel but most definitely yes i'm in a sorority and i know myself and my friends would walk away from a guy in an off campus fraternity it shouldn't be like that but it is i even know some girls who walk away from guys if they're in a fraternity on jefferson
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by: StratJun 26, 2018 12:18:27 PM
I wouldn't necessarily say "ruin" but it may be harder to meet girls who aren't snobby about things like this. Obviously you see someone above has an opinion and unfortunately that's the way some girls do feel towards men in off campus frats. However, there are still a lot of girls who don't care. I'd say that Old Row girls tend to stay away from men in off campus frats and honestly sometimes Jefferson as a whole. And it seems that New Row girls tend to be more open minded. However, I do know AXO's and ZTA's dating men in off campus frats... So your social/dating life isn't necessarily completely cut off, it'll just be harder. I'm in a NR house and I actually went to a Nola formal with a guy in an off campus frat and I can honestly say that he was one of the nicest guys I've met in Greek life and his friends were also very nice people.
Every girl will have her preferences though, and honestly every girl would ideally want to date a DKE or Sigma Chi or something. But that's just something you'll have to understand moving forward. I think an off campus frat will be a good choice for you if you understand about the various aspects of Greek life you will be missing out on. And if you're okay with that then I say go for it. The guys I've talked to in off campus frats about why they chose an off campus frat say that they chose it because they felt the guys were more genuine... And mind you these are also guys who were legacies at very prestigious houses on campus. And overall, I would agree that men in off campus frats tend to be nicer and more sincere.
I'd suggest rushing both on campus and off campus frats when school starts, get a feel for both of them and then decide. You'll probably find some other guys who are in your same shoes.
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by: .Jun 26, 2018 7:12:03 PM
by: prob notJun 26, 2018 1:50:17 PM
junior year maybe, if they're still in their sorority and surrounded by sisters dating frat boys, yes, senior year probably not but keep in mind this school is 60% out of state, any girl that you meet your senior year of college will not be looking to start dating at that point in their life (unless she's from your state) chances are she'll be planning to move back home and start her career, she won't be worrying about guys
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by: tbhJun 26, 2018 2:01:05 PM
all the hype is in freshman and sophomore year, freshman year especially. you're coming to THE university of alabama, that's known for having a huge and wild greek life... freshman girls get swaps almost every week for the first semester. meaning, freshman girls are surrounded by on campus frat boys, they're encouraged to talk to them from the older actives in the sorority, and these girls want attention. every girl wants to find some special guy that's in a cool frat so she can brag about it to her friends. and sophomore year is sort of like this but without the swaps. by sophomore year, you have your set friend group and to meet boys you begin going out to bars as opposed to going to swaps.
by junior and senior year this hype has died down immensely. by this time, in all honesty i'd say the biggest thing on girls' minds is getting good grades. but i think fraternity status does begin playing less and less of a roll. of course, there will always be girls who are snobby but there are a lot of girls who are open minded. for a lot of girls, especially OOS ones, they're open minded to different types of guys.
also by junior and senior year, girls start to drift a part from their houses, not necessarily in a bad way though. girls start to realize that greek life isn't the end all be all and as you move up in the house your responsibilities lessen, unless you hold a position.
but i wouldn't agree with what the person above said. i think the majority of people are always looking for relationships. my grand big started dating this guy in the middle of her senior year and they're still together and actually planning on moving in together soon. i guess the best piece of advice i could give you is that things aren't so rigid here. are you going to meet snobby people? yeah. but you're also going to meet a lot of really sincere people. take it for what it is and try to make the best of the situation.
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by: AgreedJun 26, 2018 6:00:33 PM
I also think that the people saying girls will ignore you are way exaggerating. Are there some? Sure, but I have sisters who are dating guys in lower frats, off campus frats, long distance relationships, GDI;s, popular frats, and everything in between. If you meet a girl and hit it off, I don't think that MOST (Yes, there are some) girls actually care.
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by: noJun 27, 2018 4:07:53 PM
STOP! STOP! STOP! DO NOT FREAKING RUSH ALPHA SIG!!! They are THE BOTTOM of Off campus. They are NOT getting a house and have around 30 active members..... Who have they swapped with this past fall? They have been off campus and in the same standing for the past 13 years..... These are alpha sigs self ranking and trying to get you to rush them. Beware of off campus fraternities bamboozling kids into accepting bids.
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#5 by: go for it
there are definitely some girls that are turned off by the idea of guys in off campus frats, but to be honest by reading your posts it seems like you'd get along better with the type of girl that doesn't care. Lots of girls in old row sororities like guys in old row frats etc. But theres tons of girls that don't care either way. You seem open minded so don't pay mind to those girls that are close minded
by: .Jun 26, 2018 8:10:58 PM
Its hard to rank them because they don't have huge reputations but this is what I know of as far as most well known to least known:
Alpha Sig/Alpha Delt
Sigma Tau
SAM/Phi Tau
Those are the only ones I've heard of they're might be more
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by: awJun 26, 2018 8:32:29 PM
that's sweet. rush different kinds of houses this fall and see what you look. frankly, there are a lot of guys who don't like the vibes from on campus houses thus they go to off campus ones. also, you may find that you don't like greek life in general. but bottom line, ALL frats have groupies. it's crazy but there are groups of girls that fawn over the boys in every house. also you're not just limited to your frat in terms of your social life. you can go out to bars, join clubs, talk to other girls in classes... it's college, meeting new people will not be an issue. that being said, pledge the house that you like the most not the house that has the most status.
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by: Awesome Jun 26, 2018 1:54:02 AM
Thank you! But paying 3000-4000$ a year on top of my out of state tuition is going to cost my parents arms and legs. But would being in an off campus ruin me a chance to talk to girls at bars or parties?
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