As a recent initiate of a Greek organization I have become interested in the affects that the organization will have on my life, both personal and study wise. Initially I believed that becoming a member of a fraternity or sorority would have no affect on my performance in school or work. I admit that I have had trouble managing my time since I pledged and I have spent less time on homework and other school projects. But because of my involvement in an organization consisting of more than thirty female students I have had plenty of opportunities to get help and to learn from every one of them. Yet, I have also had many distractions and had less time to get things completed. I know that I am only one of numerous students who choose to join a Greek organization and are affected by it. In all of the studies I have encountered, those students involved in Greek organizations had lower grade point averages and dedicated more time to outside activities. Being involved in a Greek organization hinders students’ ability to dedicate their time and energy to their studies while encouraging involvement in other activities.

The negative influences of Greek involvement are more publi

Government Has Influenced Their College Experience.” U.S. Mississippi. 17 pp.

Education 38.3 (June 1997): 17 pp. Online. OCLC First Search. ERIC. EJ547655.

shed than the positive affects. In a survey conducted by two colleagues and me, it was discovered that members of fraternities and sororities are very aware of the negative influences of Greek life. The main reasons of negative influence reported were parties, Greek interference, distractions within their sorority or fraternity, outside involvement, and other things going on such as functions, mixers, and fundraisers. Meredith, a nineteen year old female who is a member of a sorority, said that being in a sorority has had a positive and negative influence on her study habits. She said that she “[puts] off doing homework to do sorority work.” Yet she added that even though she has less time to spend on her homework because of other responsibilities her grade point average has gone up since she joined a Greek organization. Almost every sorority and fraternity has mandatory or proctored study hours and “most chapters require members to maintain a minimum grade point average” (Pudloski 1). Even with required study hours and grade point averages members of these organizations still “had significantly lower total scores on the College Outcome Measures Program (COMP)” than non-Greek students (Pike 118). This shows me that although Greek students have requirements they must meet, they do not necessarily benefit from them. When three non-Greek students were asked would they study more if their study hours were proctored, all three responded “no.” In fact two of the three said that they would study less. A Greek student was asked the same question and her response was that she “would study less if I didn’t have to write down my study hours.” Of course non-Greek students and Greek students have different opinions on this subject.

By suggesting that Greek involvement promoted alcohol use, Jodie and Colby raised another question on my mind. Do fraternities and sororities really abuse alcohol more than non-Greeks? If so, this would affect study habits and explain why Greek students had a lower retention of material and fewer study hours. Without thoroughly researching the subject I still found that alcohol use is more frequent among Greek students. Just by searching on ERIC FirstSearch for “fraternity” and “sorority” I found that most sources dealt with alcohol use as opposed to study habits as I was hoping for. As a follow up I started paying attention to conversations around campus I discovered that every party mentioned in my presence was either hosted by a fraternity or a member of a fraternity. And come to think of it, not once have I been invited to a party that wasn’t in some way Greek related, even before I joined a sorority. The obvious explains the low test scores, lack of class attendance, and fewer study hours. Being inv

Some topics in this essay:
Greek Involvement, Academic Proficiency, CAAP COMP, Richard Greek, ERIC FirstSearch, Texas A&M-Commerce, Jodie Colby, Program COMP”, Greek Jodie, Research Education, study habits, greek organization, greek students, fraternity sorority, non-greek students, reported studying, greek organizations, greek involvement, pp online oclc, sorority fraternity, grade averages, online oclc search, oclc search eric, 18 apr 2002, negative influences greek,