Greek Life Advantages and Disadvantages
Sidney Powers
English 101:099
Stephanie Metz
9 November 2011
College Greek Life Versus Non-Greek
The leap from high school to college is real and can be challenging for many students. In your first few weeks of college, the tasks thrown on you can be seen as overwhelming and difficult. Finding the perfect balance between social life, academics, community involvement, and leadership is not easy. The Greek life community is the perfect way to ease into your freshman year and figure out where you want to stand for your next four years. Others argue that Greek life can be a way students can lose track of schoolwork by becoming overly social and wasting money with only a slim glance at the campus and its diversity. However, I feel the Greek experience is beneficial to a college student—giving them a social life (something to do on the weekends), a support group for academic success, and a way to get involved in campus events through leadership. Other benefits include community service, intramural clubs, and a life-long group of friends you grow much closer with. Although the development of college students is promoted in many ways, the first of five constitutions in Greek life is scholarship (“The Torch”). Sororities and fraternities routinely show that they value academics by setting a minimum grade point average requirement, with each chapter adopting a standard. They often encourage (or require) class study hours and utilize both peer and upperclassmen tutoring. Upperclassmen that share the same major can give you advice on what they did as well as what they should have done. Having a group of friends with experience and a willingness to tutor you is always helpful – whether it is figuring out the chemical structure of a compound, finding the anti-derivative of an equation, or proofreading an English paper. Statistics at The University of Tennessee Knoxville prove that steps instituted to better the academics of Greek life are working. The
English 101:099
Stephanie Metz
9 November 2011
College Greek Life Versus Non-Greek
The leap from high school to college is real and can be challenging for many students. In your first few weeks of college, the tasks thrown on you can be seen as overwhelming and difficult. Finding the perfect balance between social life, academics, community involvement, and leadership is not easy. The Greek life community is the perfect way to ease into your freshman year and figure out where you want to stand for your next four years. Others argue that Greek life can be a way students can lose track of schoolwork by becoming overly social and wasting money with only a slim glance at the campus and its diversity. However, I feel the Greek experience is beneficial to a college student—giving them a social life (something to do on the weekends), a support group for academic success, and a way to get involved in campus events through leadership. Other benefits include community service, intramural clubs, and a life-long group of friends you grow much closer with. Although the development of college students is promoted in many ways, the first of five constitutions in Greek life is scholarship (“The Torch”). Sororities and fraternities routinely show that they value academics by setting a minimum grade point average requirement, with each chapter adopting a standard. They often encourage (or require) class study hours and utilize both peer and upperclassmen tutoring. Upperclassmen that share the same major can give you advice on what they did as well as what they should have done. Having a group of friends with experience and a willingness to tutor you is always helpful – whether it is figuring out the chemical structure of a compound, finding the anti-derivative of an equation, or proofreading an English paper. Statistics at The University of Tennessee Knoxville prove that steps instituted to better the academics of Greek life are working. The
Cited: "The Torch." UTK.edu. InterFraternity Council, 2008. Web. 1 Nov 2011. <http://fraternity.utk.edu/files/torch0809.pdf>. Rocker, Naomi. "Greek Life: Disadvantages." Campus Life. N.p., 16 Oct 2006. Web. 1 Nov 2011. <http://naomi-rockler-gladen.suite101.com/greek-life--disadvantages-a7899>. "7 advantages to greek." WebMisc. N.p., n.d. Web. Nov 1 2011. <http://webmisc.onu.edu/org/ifc/advantages.htm>.