Any organizations after undergrad that are like fraternities?

[Carbohydrated]

I know you will never get anything close to partying hard and being able to hook up with hot sorority girls but I am asking in terms of brotherhood. Are there any organizations after undergrad that have pretty much the same system of a brotherhood that fraternities do?

[TakeruK]

Yes, some schools have the old British "residential college" system where grad students live in a small community (takes meals together, live in the same building etc.). For example, at UBC, there is St John's College: http://stjohns.ubc.ca/ 

 

I tried to search for these type of college communities online but it seems like the majority of them are undergraduate only. There are only 3 graduate residential colleges in Canada (2 at UBC, 1 at Toronto) and in the US, there is this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_residential_colleges#United_States_of_America but it's not sorted by undergraduate vs. graduate population. 

 

These are formal "brotherhood" type communities but there are also less formal ones. For example, many schools will have graduate housing and there's usually some kind of community built around that as well.

[spunky]

I know you will never get anything close to partying hard and being able to hook up with hot sorority girls but I am asking in terms of brotherhood. Are there any organizations after undergrad that have pretty much the same system of a brotherhood that fraternities do?

 

 

kinda like out of curiosity more than anything else... the three posts i've read from you (including this one) are all about fraternities. how to get into one if you're in graduate school, how do you think the people in them would perceive you, etc.

 

is this like part of a research program you're interested in?

[spunky]

Yes, some schools have the old British "residential college" system where grad students live in a small community (takes meals together, live in the same building etc.). For example, at UBC, there is St John's College: http://stjohns.ubc.ca/ 

 

I tried to search for these type of college communities online but it seems like the majority of them are undergraduate only. There are only 3 graduate residential colleges in Canada (2 at UBC, 1 at Toronto) and in the US, there is this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_residential_colleges#United_States_of_America but it's not sorted by undergraduate vs. graduate population. 

 

These are formal "brotherhood" type communities but there are also less formal ones. For example, many schools will have graduate housing and there's usually some kind of community built around that as well.

 

 

you mean Green College @UBC? i dunno... like, would you say it feels like a "community" ? i've spent a few weekends there and it really feels more like just people living in a condo sharing some space. heck, it's actually quite easy to just move around there without anyone noticing you (with the sole exception of when new people come in). 

 

i really don't think there is much out there after undergrad in terms of having "brotherhood"-type relationships... unless you're a freemason or one of those "secret societies"  (ok, not-so-secret, maybe) and even when they do those get-togethers they seem pretty boring, to be honest :/

Edited August 16, 2014 by spunky

[TakeruK]

From the way I hear some residents of these colleges describe their experiences, it does sound like a "community" but maybe the experience is different for each person. Perhaps you still have to really put in a ton of effort in order to get the "community" feel. 

 

My idea of community is eating meals regularly with other people in a group setting and perhaps deciding on communal matters. My usual is to live in apartment buildings where I almost never interact with my neighbours so even sharing a living space with some common area is "community" to me. But perhaps this is not what the OP meant at all!! I definitely wasn't thinking "secret society" type stuff.

 

I've never been part of a fraternity before so I don't really know what that's like. The undergrads at my school are "sorted" into 8 different houses and they seem to have a pretty strong community within each house, and it sounds a lot like St John's College at UBC. But it's probably a lot like "you get out what you put in" in terms of how each individual experiences the community?

Edited August 16, 2014 by TakeruK

[VulpesZerda]

The undergrads at my school are "sorted" into 8 different houses

Reminds me of Hogwarts :-)

[spunky]

From the way I hear some residents of these colleges describe their experiences, it does sound like a "community" but maybe the experience is different for each person. Perhaps you still have to really put in a ton of effort in order to get the "community" feel. 

 

My idea of community is eating meals regularly with other people in a group setting and perhaps deciding on communal matters. My usual is to live in apartment buildings where I almost never interact with my neighbours so even sharing a living space with some common area is "community" to me. But perhaps this is not what the OP meant at all!! I definitely wasn't thinking "secret society" type stuff.

 

I've never been part of a fraternity before so I don't really know what that's like. The undergrads at my school are "sorted" into 8 different houses and they seem to have a pretty strong community within each house, and it sounds a lot like St John's College at UBC. But it's probably a lot like "you get out what you put in" in terms of how each individual experiences the community?

 

 

well, i am not a member of any fraternity either, but i do know a few guys in the Beta Theta Pi local chapter of UBC to sort of get an idea of how it is and i guess in terms of whether St John/Green College would offer the same sense of "brother/sisterhood" as one of these fraternities (which i'm guessing it's what the OP is going for) i would have to say it's not really the same. i don't really know St John but i used to date someone who lived @Green College so i know the inner works of that one a better. and i mean, sure, you do eat with other graduate students and you could sort of get involved in things like, i dunno, the  Holidays dinner and stuff like that. but unless you made a decent effort, like you said, to reach out and meet other people it was pretty much like living in any other apartment. the guy i was seeing at that time just knew the person he lived with and his next-door neighbour and he had been there for 5 months when i first met him. every now and then we would have casual, 15-20min conversations with a few other students during dinner and that was about it.

 

but those fraternity thingies... oh wow... those people really get into it. like when they do that "Storm the Wall" event they usually sign up together and go to the gym and train together and just to do stuff together all the time. i do get why undergrads develop brother/sister-like bonds. you just do a lot of stuff together with other people. my guess is that us, in graduate school, are just super busy with research and teaching and grant applications and conferences, etc. so we don't really have much time left in the day to sort of work on developing the bonds that fraternities/sororities foster by the very virtue of just having a lot of time to do so. i guess it's just a natural part of becoming an adult... developing and fostering relationships just becomes a lot more difficult the older you get. that's just a fact of life.  

 

i tangentially referred to the "secret society" stuff because i remember hearing that people like freemasons referred to each other as 'brothers' and stuff like that. so i kind of assumed something like "oh look... it's like a frat but for older, more 'professional' people". although i'm darn sure they don't have toga parties

Edited August 16, 2014 by spunky

[EliaEmmers]

well, i am not a member of any fraternity either, but i do know a few guys in the Beta Theta Pi local chapter of UBC 

 

I thought you had mentioned in a previous post that Greek life in UBC was "super cliquey"?

[spunky]

I thought you had mentioned in a previous post that Greek life in UBC was "super cliquey"?

 

yeah, it is. but when i said "cliquey" i didn't quite mean "they lock themselves up in their frat houses and don't emerge until they graduate"  

 

i didn't do anything to actively pursue their friendship. they just happen to  work in one of the labs i do data analysis for and since they collect the data, i have to supervise them very closely. they're nice guys, for the most part. experience has taught me that the douchiness factor is directly proportional to the number of fraternity 'brothers' they're with. when in isolation, they tend to be quite approachable. 

[spectastic]

marine corps

[booksnlooks]

Some Greek organizations have alum initiates, so you would be a part of the local alum chapter/group.

[juilletmercredi]

Judging based upon your previous posts, it looks like you didn't have the kind of undergraduate social experience you want, so you're looking to improve that on the graduate level.  And since your undergraduate college's social scene is somewhat dominated by Greek life, that seems to be naturally where you're turning to.

 

I'm not Greek, but I have some friends who are, and there is nothing quite like Greek life on the graduate level.  Even alumni chapters of fraternities is not quite the same; nothing really replicates the collegiate experience.

 

That's not to say that you can't experience brotherhood, cool parties, and dating - you just go about it in a different way.  Graduate social life is much more chill.  One of my closest friends was the president of her university's Panhellenic and the way we chill is drinking wine on her rooftop and having dinner together  If the graduate students at your university skew a little younger, or if there is a range, you might find a group that you want to go out and party with.  I started graduate school when I was 22, and I found a group in their early to mid 20s that still wanted to do the partying and drinking thing and so I hung out with them.  But it's still not quite like undergrad...you go out a lot less, you try not to get as drunk so you won't be useless the next day.

 

I joined some student orgs and found tight-knit groups there.  I'm African Americans, so I joined the Black and Latino Student Caucus and found a lot of friends there.  I also worked in residential life and some of my closest friends I met through that.  Most universities also have other grad student organizations like the SGA, or the general grad student org, or maybe science students or whatever.  You can join some grad student orgs, join some Meetup groups in your community, and find other creative ways to meet folks (i.e., I joined a social sports club - kickball, to be exact.  It was fun!).