“Without friendship and the openness and trust that go with it, skills are barren and knowledge may become an unguided missile.”
Finding Your Place
1 • Are fraternities for you?
What do you want out of your college career? Are you intellectually curious and ambitious? Are you interested in growing as a leader, citizen, person? Do you want more than classes and clubs? Do you want to find a home at Cornell and a set of deep, meaningful friendships that will be part of your life in Ithaca and beyond?
Every kind of student can benefit from fraternity life. “Greeks” have flourished at Cornell since the very beginning, because fraternity life takes people from all walks of life and gives them a sense of real belonging. There is no club or team, no dorm or apartment, that offers the leadership, service, and social opportunities a fraternity does as a student; few that can match the kind of bond across generations and around the world you feel as an alum.
Sign up and we’ll keep you posted on upcoming recruitment information, activities, and events. You have everything to gain by registering for recruitment.
2 • Check them out.
All Greek to me? It starts with just a bunch of Greek letters but soon you’ll begin to distinguish among the thirty-some chapters at Cornell. There will be “Meet the Greeks” events open to all, where you can meet members and learn about their chapters. Information about their houses, academic performance, costs, and disciplinary history is public. But what’s most important is finding the chapter whose values you support and where you feel most at home.
What’s important to the members? How do they spend their time? Do they take their academic studies seriously? How active are their alumni as academic and career mentors? What is their reputation among fellow students, faculty, and staff? Do the members treat each other, and their house, with respect and care?
Importantly, do houses focus solely on social activities, or are you also invited to creative activities that involve academics, programs, recreation, and community service?
3 • Narrow it down.
Before and during the first couple days of the formal recruitment period, you should get a sense of where you might belong. Don’t worry about popularity, or their physical house; the greatest benefit of membership is finding your home at Cornell.
Do the members know you—do they make an effort to learn about you and how you think? Do you feel like you can be yourself? Does the house actively embrace diversity in its members? Is there that sense of comfort that lets students know they’ve found the right place for them? And make sure you let the members know that you are interested in them, too.
In the later part of formal recruitment, you’ll spend your time with two or three chapters looking for the best fit, and if you choose each other, you will receive a bid—an invitation to membership. If not, there’s an additional round called continuous open bidding (COB) to give you more time. And you will have some time after you receive a bid or bids before you make your final choice.