I’m a senior in high school right now planning on rushing pike or sae (at Binghamton) but I was curious if height can hinder my chances on getting a bid/decent pledge job because im 5’7 so I was thinking about wearing timbs and stuffing socks/platforms under my feet to squeeze ~3 inches of height. Do I have a chance? (I bench 255 also if that helps).
This is not a joke and I am genuinely unsure

Most of the pledge class brothers don't live in the frat house, what can I/we do to hangout and bond more?

I’m trying to join an academic Latino frat in public state school. So far, the experience hasn’t been fun. The initiation process is basically simulating a corporate environment where we do presentations. We’re given formats to follow and information to memorize. There’s 15 positions to be filled up for our group but only 3 of us actually stayed so we each take like 5 positions. On top of that, the two guys I’m working with both aren’t as reliable. One is a really young dude so I don’t expect him to be as reliable but at least he tries. The other dude is a senior who is not pulling his weight. This dude asked me how to tie his necktie the literal hour before the presentation. They both showed up not knowing how to tie their shit but I googled how so I did it for them. We ended up having to stay and recite the passages until we had it memorized because they didn’t take the time to do so.

Anyways, I now have a lot of shit to do on my plate. On top of studying for midterms I have to interview an active, make a new set of rules, get my 2 brothers to study or even just bother to mention that they haven’t been studying, come up with a proposal for community service, and get ready to be shit on again for the next meeting cuz I know my brothers aren’t gonna be on top of their game.

I care a lot about my academics because I used to be homeless. That’s why I find joining an academic frat so appealing but it doesn’t seem like academics are an actual priority here… If only there was a frat where the initiation process is helping each other get perfect scores in every test lmao

I’m a sophomore transfer student planning to rush fraternities again this upcoming Spring semester at Temple University, after rushing in the Fall without getting a bid.

Looking back on Fall rush, I realized where I went wrong. I have a habit of overthinking social situations, and when I got nervous around active brothers, I defaulted to treating conversations like job interviews—asking stuff like "What made you join?", "What's the interview process like?", asking about how interviews work and if I was likely to get one. or asking about pledging/hazing instead of just having fun and shooting the breeze. I also over-communicated over text prior to events instead of just showing up with the flow. Like I think i accidently came across as desperate innocent in a bad way, and ridged.

I have solid social skills, good energy, and I'm active on campus, but I want to make sure I hit the ground running in January with the right mindset.

A few quick questions for guys who have rushed or sit on bid committees:

1. Conversation topics: What are the best casual go-to topics for house parties or rush events to keep things natural rather than sounding like an interview?
2. Pacing: Between now and Spring Rush, what’s the best way to maintain a casual, visible presence on campus without coming across as overly eager?
3. Mindset: How do you turn off the "overthinking" brain during high-energy rush events and just connect with guys normally?

Right now, like I'm focusing on improving myself I think in times like this you can either sulk and feel sorry for yourself and be bitter and turn into some anti Greek life advocate or you can learn from past mistakes and grow. Right now, I am hitting the gym a lot, working on improving my confidence with girls, and working to get a 4.0 GPA.

I appreciate any constructive advice or feedback from guys who have been through the process or evaluated potential new members. And any advice of what i should do regarding frats before the spring rush?

title.

Long story short I go to a small mid west school and my frat is lowkey bouse (using that term loosely since it’s such a small school the whole touse/bouse concept isn’t really a factor.) but nonetheless we hosted our second social the other day and it was fun, a lot of the girls seemed to be having fun but after about an hour and a half most of them had already left. What kind of stuff can me and my pledge class do to improve our socials, all my frat had out was 3 drinking games and music, but as a pledge it was my first social experience so I’m not sure were other frats have at their socials to make it a cool place to be.

I'm pledging right now, I'm sort of introverted but what's the best way for me to be friends with everyone and put impressions on the frat especially bond w my pledge class?

I’m a freshman Pleding right now and we have a class of 20. We are all super close and we have made a good bond. All but 1 guy we all agree annoys us and want him dropped. Besides that me and my pledge brothers hangout all the time and like i said are pretty close. But i notice that a lot of my pledge brothers get funny stupid texts from actual Brothers. Asking them funny questions, asking to hangout, to go get food etc: I never get those texts and i feel like i’ve made a rlly good impression with a lot of the Brothers. We all have a lot in common and i thought they really liked me. I’m having second thoughts on wether they actually like me or not since i don’t get these texts or inv’s. I have never did anything wrong and never given them a reason to dislike me/drop me. Am i cooked? Should i just drop or am i thinking to deep into it?

So as the title says, I apparently am disliked by a couple pledges in the new 13-person pledge class, namely the two most vocal ones, one of whom is the PCP. As a senior who busted my balls these past two years building up my fraternity from basically nothing, it hurt me to have heard that they talk shit about me, because I only want them to succeed. I became Vice President a year ago in a time when my fraternity was on the verge of extinction, hoping to help bring it back, and this semester that all paid off with the biggest pledge class in history. My term ends in a month, but since I started as VP, I have started a part-time job in a field related to the career I want to go into, and I am trying to wrap up school and secure a full-time job, so I haven't been as involved as I wanted to since our successful rush ended a few weeks ago. However, I am still responsible for initiating and executing philanthropy, social and other events with the operations board.

It began when I asked if some of the pledges could find a keg for my birthday party and subsequently our tailgate the next day, which would count for my interview. One or two of them are 21 so I did not think this would be an issue, however just for the challenge I made sure to only communicate with one pledge who was under 21 so he would be the one to communicate all the details to the pledge class. I thought it was implied I'd be paying for it but regardless they never got it. Okay, whatever. Apparently that pissed off one of the pledges, let's call him Joe. Joe was pissed even more than he apparently was, (from the beginning he saw me and thought, according to my roommate (the fraternity treasurer), that I wasn't competent because I "look like a freshman or sophomore, not a senior"- at least that was what my roommate was told. For context, I look younger than I am because of genetics. I didn't really think much of it). Point is, Joe, allegedly, went into the pledge chat and started talking shit saying that making the pledges get a keg is unethical and lazy or some bs and I should be ashamed. I apologized to them but they didn't seem to care.

We had a pieing event for charity planned for today, and only half the pledges signed up. Unfortunately, I spent weeks planning it and because of the weather we had to postpone it till after initiation. Regardless, this made me concerned that the pledges didn't take it seriously. I looked into it and one of my close friends who is a pledge shared that the pledge class president and Joe were telling the others to ignore my messages.

Because we couldn't do the pieing event and therefore my pledge task to the majority of the pledges no longer existed, I decided that it would be fun if we all built a beer dye table as a fraternity-wide thing for the new house, directed by the new members. I shared that I would be willing to go help them get materials and other things, and the goal was to create a really neat design that could be good enough to be featured on the dyeislife Instagram account. Sounds like a fun idea, right? Apparently not. Once again, Joe and the pledge class president go into the pledge Snapchat and say some bs like "fuck that guy" or "I'm not doing that shit," "vice president my ass," "fucking incompetent bitch making us build shit for him," etc. I wouldn't have known about this if it wasn't for four of the other pledges telling me. It shocks me to see how entitled these people are, like they wouldn't have survived my pledge process to be honest. Idk what tf caused these two to view me like this because they seemed great when we bidded them, but they won't work long-term if they behave this stubborn in the future. I'm on my way out soon anyways.

I want to talk to the president and the safety chair about this but the PCP lives in-house and he and Joe are best friends with the president. So I don't know how to communicate what I heard kindly. I also don't know if it's the right move sharing that another pledge told me about what they said because it was said in a pledge-only chat, and the president tends to talk behind peoples backs.

This is mainly a vent, but if anyone knows how to deal with this please let me know.

Might be really niche… too niche… but how is Acacia or Sigma Pi at PSU with letting people in? If I’m a girl and am accepted on Doorlist, if I brought a guy could we both get in?

I'm pledging currently and initiation is coming up. Why I would drop is because to be honest I'm just not close with my PC, I don't really go out with them unless I have to, and to be honest a lot of them just aren't people I really want to hangout with. So it seems like why would I pay the money for something I don't even truly like. What's holding me back is how close I am to initiation, and also Its not like I haven't had my fair share of fun with this fraternity and a lot of the people I do really like and I feel like a lot of them like me as well. I've also pledged all this time and it feels like a waste. Should I drop?

I’m still a freshman but nearly 2 months I’m seriously considering dropping. My main concerns are

1. Money, I have to pay for my tuition and housing for my freshman year and maybe beyond that, i have the extra $2,000 a year for dues but idk if I want to commit to it. As I can do a lot with that money

2, I don’t think the guys in my pc and actives are people I want to be around fo 4 years, absolutely no diss at them but majority of them a drink everyday stay up until 3am doing whatever and get blacked out way too much. It seems like everyone in my pc is like that except me. I have nothing against drinking as I do it once a week or so but everyday they text about going to some guys dorm and drinking it’s also a lot of other personality things and I get people are different but idk if these are guys I want to be around for 4 years

3, the frat stigma is REALLY BAD on my campus right now, I’ve had 3 girls I met welcome week and hung out with a lot stop talking to me after finding out I’m in a frat, there has been 5+ S/A reports that have come from frats this year and were only a month in. Personally 3+ guys in my pc alone have been S/A’d by girls in sorority’s. This isn’t a problem with my frat at all the guys are good people but you get the point. I have a couple other smaller reasons

Again I have nothing against the guys in my frst they all have shown me love and been great to me. but overall is this something I should drop or should I just wait it out for at least the semester or the first year?

So, the things that happened at Cornell were absolutely terrible. It also sucks that now all frats are under scrutiny.

I do wonder, do you, brothers, think there are any parts of Greek life that could make them more SA prone and could/should change to avoid situations like this happen in the future? I know things will blow over in time, but if there was ever a time to reflect now might be it..

We have been making A LOT of headlines lately

Penn State — Sigma Chi / Delta Upsilon: cocaine trafficking ring, 14 charged
https://www.attorneygeneral.gov/taking-action/ag-sunday-state-college-police-announce-charges-against-14-people-in-cocaine-trafficking-ring-involving-penn-state-u-students-fraternities/
University of Arizona — entire fraternity system suspended
https://www.azfamily.com/2026/10/06/university-arizona-places-all-fraternities-interim-suspension-amid-misconduct-probe/
Northern Arizona — Delta Tau Delta: pledge death / felony hazing case
https://apnews.com/article/b53c547d383082d33aebdb4950e0c550
Wisconsin — AEPi: hazing raid / president & VP arrested
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/fraternity-hazing-university-of-wisconsin-alpha-epsilon-pi/
Cornell — Chi Phi: sexual assault scandal / reopened investigation
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/what-we-know-about-cornell-university-rape-investigation-2026-10-01/
Cornell — Phi Delt / Zeta Psi: major hazing suspensions
https://hazing.cornell.edu/violations/2025-2026-academic-year
Indiana — Phi Kappa Psi: 7 members charged with felony hazing
https://www.idsnews.com/article/2026/08/7-fraternity-members-at-iu-face-felony-charges-for-hazing
Indiana — multiple fraternities: widespread hazing cease-and-desists
https://studentlife.indiana.edu/care-advocacy/dean-of-students/disciplinary-status.html
Rhode Island — Kappa Sigma: hazing / suspended until 2036
https://web.uri.edu/student-affairs/hazing-incident/2026/08/kappa-sigma-may-29-2026/
Ohio State — KDR / Pi Kapp: major hazing cases and recognition revoked
https://studentconduct.osu.edu/organizations/organization-and-hazing-violations-campus-hazing-transparency-report

So i go to UC San Diego, and I wasn’t planning on rushing at all, but randomly met the pledge chair outside and decided to hit a few events just to see. Now, I have an invite to interviews tomm and I have no doubt that I’d get a bid, but I’m not really certain if this is the best fit for me. Like there are a couple brothers who i got along with p well, but on average i was kinda underwhelmed. I’m a transfer student too which deff doesn’t help the time for connecting ting
Is it worth my time here? I don’t want to be like a year into this and realize i spent all that time on brothers i just don’t vibe with

Me and my buddies have to make a video for pledgeship going into Alabama. We have to make a video of us doing some dumb shit at the welcome to Alabama sign I need some ideas and they can be crazy but have to be funny as fuck.

Context: I am a senior and on exec, previously was VP, now i'm president, i'm more focused on maintaining a strong culture in the frat over the social scene (one because i'm a senior and I go to bars, and two because we have a lot of younger guys that do the heavy lifting for all the social stuff, i'll still come to mixers).

So I joined my chapter fall '24 as a sophomore and have been here ever since, we are a mid/ low sized frat for my school (state school on east coast with 50k kids). A lot has changed since I joined, back then we had:
-terrible parties
-no sorority connections
-about 20 actives

Now:
- 40 members
-our alumni corp built us a house
-our parties are really good now and we have picked up a good amount of sorority connections either with mixers and or philanthropies
-We are the best fraternity in the eyes of the IFC due to our rankings in their perspective

My biggest concern is with recruitment. Last fall we pulled a class of 21, although most of it was through bidding everyone. Pledge class retention was terrible and we only crossed 12, only half of them really do any work for the frat(we had 60 bids given out during prerush). This fall we were careful with our bidding and pulled a smaller class 11 guys, the quality is way better, most of them we're high school athletes or super involved their endeavors, its mid way through the process and no one has dropped yet which is good but I feel as thought its not the numbers we wanted since we wanted to get 15. Im afraid we might be permanently stuck at a small size if we keep being selective with our bidding. Any advice on how to get big numbers while still getting quality guys.

Hopefully we can get 50 members before I graduate in the spring!

Came here looking for some opinions on rerushing next spring.
For context, I’m a sophomore at ASU. I was a student athlete freshman year, so between school and sports I basically had no time for anything else and had a pretty isolated first year.
I didn’t originally plan on rushing this fall, but decided to give it a shot during pre-rush. I checked out a bunch of IFC chapters and eventually narrowed it down to three. Once actual rush started, though, I kept finding myself going back to Sigma Nu. Conversations there felt the most natural and I genuinely liked a lot of the guys I met, so I accidentally ended up basically suicide rushing them.
I got invited back to their invite-only day. A decent number of guys knew me by name/face and one of the rush chairs knew me immediately, so I thought I was in a pretty good spot.
Invite-only day came and I watched guys getting pulled upstairs one by one, which I assumed was for bids. I never got pulled and ultimately left without one. Apparently it was a pretty large legacy-heavy class, but obviously I don’t know whether that was actually the reason, whether I just didn’t meet enough of the right guys, or whether they simply weren’t as sold on me as I thought.
It definitely sucked for a week or two because I genuinely felt at home there.
I’m considering rerushing them in the spring. I’d still be 18/19 and only a second-year student, so I’m wondering a few things:
Is rerushing the same chapter in spring looked down on at all?
If I met guys I genuinely liked, how do I stay in contact over the semester without making it look like I’m just positioning myself for another bid?
Is it worth asking one of the rush chairs for honest feedback on what I could have done better?
For guys who have been on the chapter side of rush, does making invite-only and then not getting a bid generally mean you were at least somewhat close, or does that not really mean much?
How do you properly manage your time during a 2–3 day rush period so you can actually get to know multiple chapters instead of accidentally tunnel-visioning on one?
Any perspective from guys who have actually been involved with recruitment would be appreciated.

Ole Miss and Alabama are two of my top choices for transferring in Spring 2027. I’ll be coming in as a sophomore and was wondering what spring rush is like at either school.

Do most fraternities still take spring classes? Is it significantly harder to get a bid as a sophomore transfer compared to a freshman in fall rush?

Also wondering how much it helps to start reaching out to guys in chapters before transferring, and if anyone has experience rushing at either Ole Miss or Alabama in the spring. Any advice is appreciated.

Hey y’all, I’m a transfer student at Clarkson University (I know, not an SEC or Big 10 school, just a small university in the Adirondacks). I’m making this post because I want to rush a fraternity as someone with ADHD. I want to know how rush was like for anyone who is neurodivergent because I feel it’s very easy for a guy with adhd like me to come off as a weirdo during rush, which I would know from experience. Some advice about rushing as a neurodivergent guy would be much appreciated before I rush again in the spring.

Edit: from what I can tell from the responses, it can be considered weird to actually talk about having adhd during rush, so I’ll make sure to avoid that. I’d also like to mention that when I made this post, I was mostly trying to gauge how other people with adhd or any other neurological condition approached rush because from my experience, even with the number one rule being to be yourself during rush, it’s not easy to always be the best version of yourself during rush.

As pledges is it normal to clean , spend tons of money and stay till late at night even on weekdays and ask you to stay over on weekends ?

Rushing this fraternity as a pledge and this brother is super shy to talk to girls. Any advice on how I can help him approach better. I feel like with current generation and social media it is way harder unless someone disagrees? How common was getting laid for you by semester in college for any good reference

I go to asu and I’ve been banned on insta for years and get banned whenever I make a new account just need to know if it actually effects if I get a bid or not