“Greek Life” Possible Pros/Cons
Hello again everyone,
In this blog post, I plan to discuss the possible pros and cons of being involved in a greek organization. The word “possible” is in here, because the outcome all depends on the specific individual.
Joining a greek organization can be a fun, rewarding, enriching part of college life. You have the opportunity to meet new people, make new friends, and in the process learn how to be sociable to new people. This was one of the most important lessons I learned when I joined a group my second semester at college. I am the most sociable I have ever been, and that not only helps me to better communicate with friends, but with new acquaintences and professors.
The other skills you can learn is management. Most organizations have a executive board or a board of directors. My specific fraternity has a executive board that has offices such as President, Vice President, Secretary, etc. Any person who is elected to these positions by the members of the fraternity/sorority have certain tasks they must complete, such as completing paperwork, setting up various programs or events, etc. So in this respect, this can be a tool to learn how to better manage time, and work.
As with any pro, there is almost always a con, and the above mentioned is no different. As much as the above mentioned can serve to be a learning tool to better oneself, it can also be quite the opposite. Just like with anything, if you become too involved you can lose sight of other important aspects of your life at the same time. Specifically, if you spend too much time focused on a greek organization it could serve to lower academic achievement. Most organizations have required academic standards to remain in the group, but a lot seldom keep up with students academic standings.
There are others pros and cons, which you can read about in this article posted at http://www.collegeandfinance.com/going-greek-the-pros-and-cons/
dilgermathias said,
November 22, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Hey Jeff,
thank you for your blog and the effort you put in it to give us the chance to learn something about the american way of studying and especially greek life. As I have heard, the greek life is much more popular in America than it is in Germany. The students who decide to join an organization like that are usually very closed to all other students beside their greek community.
Nevertheless, we have something like that in an other way. We have students councils, which are organized through a hierarchy and a board as well. It is more common to join them due to the fact it is a very opened community. I like to be a member of such a students council, because I think you really can learn some useful soft skills, get to know a lot of other students and you learn how to deal with the responsibility you have, talking and acting for other students by being elected by them.
Of course there are some cons as well. The lower academic achievement is only one of it. An other is becoming frustrated, if things don’t work out that well how you would like to have them.
But in general, i think it is important to gather the experiences you can get from those organizations and it is a good way to prepare oneself for the future in a company, where you have to deal with some equal kinds of organization and structure.
ciftciismail said,
November 30, 2010 at 6:20 pm
hei ;
I am ismail , ı am exchange student from Turkey . Thank you for your writing , as you said , being sociable is important factor for student’s life . because ıt facilitate us to meet lots of new people and improve oneself . in addition , ıf you are in a group or work for some organizations , ıt brings prestige for you . ı often face same issues in my country .
thank you
Best regards …