Some people would argue that Alternative Greek Life (also known as Alt Greek) isn’t true Greek Life (AKA Panhellenic and the Interfraternity Council organizations). However, there are quite a few incredibly good reasons for joining an Alternative Greek Organization on campus, both with or without another organization’s membership under your belt.
Why do people think of Alt Greek as fake greek? Part of this is because typical greek life is considered social in nature. The values have to do with interpersonal connections and conversations, as well as the focus of sisterhood and brotherhood via specific gender similarities. Alt Greek has mostly (but not entirely) non-gender specific groups, and it is common that their values are less focused on social aspects of life, but more so on academia subjects. Here are three cool perks to joining an Alt Greek organization.
1) It’s a big resume booster for specific fields
Any Greek Life will look great on a resume, as it shows not only your character, but also indicates you spent much of your college life volunteering in the community and being an involved member on campus. However, academic/interest based organizations can help you more when applying for jobs within your specific field. For instance, being a member of Kappa Pi as a Digital Arts major will look great when applying for jobs in graphic design or teaching art, as it shows your commitment to your passion alongside the other implied traits of someone who is Greek.
Photo Courtesy of Alpha Kappa Psi Fraternity
2) There’s less rules
I’m not kidding. In social Greek orgs, not only does your Chapter & Nationals have a ton of rules in place for ritual and risk management, but Universities are naturally cautious of you. There’s an entirely poor reputation surrounding fraternities and sororities. Alt Greek, however, has done a spot on job of staying out of that negative light. No one talks shit about Chem frat, and the service fraternity isn’t known for throwing out of control parties (not that they don’t, but they’re good at not getting caught). Alt Greek organizations are typically a lot more lax than social greek in that you don’t often feel as though big brother is looking over your shoulder all the time.
Photo Courtesy of Nu Gamma Gamma – Alpha Chapter
3) You get to be a part of the Greek community in any capacity you want
Most social sororities and fraternities are strict about involvement from its members. There are a lot more mandatory things requirement of members, and the fines for missing things is a bitch. Alt Greek, however, tends to meet less often and require less involvement of it’s members. Now of course, this isn’t always the case. This is just a generalization of what the standard is for most orgs. If you’re looking to be involved in Greek Life, but also don’t have as much time to dedicate to a singular thing, this is the route to go.
Photo Courtesy of Alpha Phi Omega Fraternity
The important thing to remember is that Greek Life is Greek Life, no matter what the size or title is of the organization. Greek Life’s purpose is to unite people of similar values and interests in order to further themselves as human beings, comrades, and scholars.
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