#4988 This is in response to
#4976. I usually get a good laugh out of people responding to obvious trolls, so in that sense maybe responding is against my better judgment, but I was unable to really tell whether the post was serious or not. But if it was, my friend, jealousy is a great form of flattery. Do you think a member of greek life would throw out every resume of someone who didn't participate in Greek Life? Now I'm certainly not saying people in general are jealous of Greek Life. I'm not saying that at all. But anyone who is that naive and ignorant certainly reeks of jealousy. I also graduated in spring 2013 and by some grace of God have since managed to obtain a 6-figure job before the age of 23. I was also in a upper-middle tier social fraternity. I don't despise "GDI's". I hung out with a ton of non-Greeks during my time at UMD, and would make a point to get lunch with my non-Greek friends a few times a week, and go out on weekends at least a few times a month with them. Now living in the post-grad world, I certainly couldn't care less whether or not someone had a Greek affiliation during college. I don't look down upon non-Greeks like I have some sort of superiority. However, the fact of the matter is, I do associate more with people who were and are in Greek Life. Now much of that is due to the obvious fact while in Greek life you're going to hang out mostly with people in your fraternity, and have functions with other sororities and fraternities, so more often than not, you will be mingling with fellow Greeks. But at the same time, nearly all of my friends from home, from high school, and from my freshmen dorm hall are all Greek. I certainly didn't join Greek life to "buy my friends", since I already had plenty of great, loyal friendships. But I joined it to be associated with more people similar to me. I definitely didn't join it so that I could think I am better than a GDI. The friend that I have that aren't in Greek life are much like my friends in Greek life, and would get a bid to most fraternities. I'm friends with these people for the same reason that I'm not friends with many non-Greeks. It has nothing to do with "superiority" or "buying friends" but because I have a lot of similar characteristics to people in Greek life, and not as many similarities with most people that choose not to be in Greek life. We share similar cultures dating back to grade school years, as I noted that most of my friends from high school also joined Greek Life. Just because I don't talk to a GDI or hang out with them, doesn't mean I have disdain for them, and I definitely would never just throw out a resume of their's. I simply, at first glance, don't see myself having a lot in common with many non-Greeks, and therefore much of a flourishing friendship. Now look, I'll be honest, sometimes I'll see a non-Greek on campus and think "Haha what a weirdo." I know it's not right. But my mind immediately, unconsciously just creates the thought. They very well could be a great, friendly person. However, my mind creates an initial screening process that designates them as "different", so I'll never find out. However, if we see the cover of a movie or a short description of a book that looks undesirable, in the same essence, are we going to take the time to get to know it more? My guess is probably not. In the same way I initially, visually screen non-Greeks, I'll also see people wearing letters and think, "Wow, what an enormous douche. I can't ever imagine being friends with that guy" Once again, this is just an initial impression, and that guy could turn out to be a really great guy who's not at all the asshole that he appears to be. Unfortunately, you can't really get to know everyone you pass by or everyone you even talk to. It's unfortunate but it's reality. At the end of the day, a lot of people think Greek-life members are douchebags or bitches. However, aren't the same people who buy into that stereotype just as pretentiously douchey or bitchy themselves? First off, I can assure that nearly all members of Greek life are actually very pleasant to be around. There are definitely exceptions, but that should be obvious. There are exceptions to nearly everything. While I can't speak for everyone, the general consensus is that we don't care what non-Greeks do. Don't take that to mean, "we don't care about you" but instead that you guys can go around, play quidditch on the mall if you want to, ride a long board to class. No one in Greek life is really going to care as long as what you're doing doesn't negatively affect them. Really, we don't care. But how many more articles in the Diamondback have you seen written by non-Greeks criticizing "Greek culture" and fraternity stereotypes, than you do see articles in the Diamondback criticizing "GDI culture" and making silly stereotypes about them. The fact of the matter is that it's at least 20 to 1. It just seems odd that so many non-Greeks go out of their way to criticize Greeks, when at the end of the day, members of Greek-life really don't care what non-Greeks do. I'm sure most non-Greeks don't really care, but there does seem to be an uneven proportion of non-Greeks that get all riled up about Greeks. Why care that we may party 5 nights a week, perhaps may screw around a little more than advised, and that many come from a culture of previously going to prep-school, so our attire may be different than non-Greeks. Most of us come from different cultures, and that is reflected our current lives. I'm not gonna sit here and say one culture is better than the other, but they're different. Some people prefer to go to the bar 4 nights a week, while some prefer snuggling in and watching NetFlix every night. However, college only lasts 4 or 5 years, so why not spend it however you want, as long as it's not hurting anybody. Greeks keep their grades up (let's face it: facts are facts. Greeks do maintain a better overall GPA than non-Greeks) and most of us will graduate to the real world to successful jobs, and live lives very similar to post-grad non-Greeks. After those 4 or 5 years, everyone of us is going to go out into the real world and lead lives that are entirely different from our college lives, so why not do what we want now? Most of us, Greeks and non-Greeks, will be pretty successful in the post-grad world, and this whole greek vs. non-greek thing is going to seem so irrelevant. And also to original poster of
#4976 or whatever number it was, I am friends with and know of many engineers, both graduated and still in school, that are in fraternities and sororities are very intelligent and very successful in engineering. So I hope for the sake of your own job, that your original post isn't actually true. Since you are supposedly a graduate of the James A. Clark School of Engineering, I'm sure you know that James A. Clark himself was a very active member of a social fraternity here at University of Maryland. Best of luck. (And yes, post-grad life living at home is this boring that I just wrote a response as long as this.)