Members of Fraternity and Sorority Life use past and current brothers and sisters to keep high grade point averages in their houses.
As a whole, FSL generally sees high grade point averages within the community. According to FSL’s website, for spring term 2014 the average GPA for all Panhellenic Council sororities was a 3.21 and in the same term for all Interfraternity Council fraternities was a 2.98. In the same document it shows Delta Tau Delta with the highest cumulative GPA of 3.19, and Sigma Mu Omega (local) with a 3.31 GPA for that term.
Earning good grades in the community starts from the beginning. For some houses, possible new members need to show that they have previously had good grades whether that’s a high school GPA if they are a freshman, or their current college GPA if they’re going through recruitment later in their college career.
Rush chair for Delta Upsilon, Kyle Wizner, explains why this is a crucial step in the recruiting process.
“The number one reason we’re all here is for school, so grades are a top priority for our house. If we recruit members who have had previously bad grades, then we can’t be confident that they will get good grades while being in the fraternity and that can cause problems in the long run,” Wizner said.
Fraternity and sorority members are held to a high standard to maintain a certain GPA every term. But with high expectations also come resources within the community to keep up with the demands.
Vice Archon of Pi Kappa Phi, Erik Knaggs sees fraternities and sororities using resources such as study tables, test banks and other members to help their members maintain good grades.
“We work together in groups and study at the house using those resources, and when you join a house there’s also going to be plenty of other members in that house who share the same major as you, and basically you can use those members as resources,” Knaggs said.
One of the most important aspects to maintaining good grades in this community is the accountability that houses bring.
Cameron Marsella, Sigma Nu’s Scholarship chairman, explains that his house takes a hands on approach with their members to ensure that everyone maintains good grades even if they see members struggling academically.
“If you’re under a certain GPA, you either have to proctor a certain number of study tables or attend a certain number of study tables, and that helps with accountability when it comes to actually getting in the library and actually getting things done,” Marsella said.
If the trend continues, they take the approach further.
“Every time that there is a repeat of people showing up for not making grades, I will meet with them, or whoever is the scholarship chair will meet with them, make a study plan, kind of increase accountability by actually being there for them and trying to make sure that you’re doing everything in your power and really try to help them out as much as we can,” Marsella said. “We wanna make sure we can help guide and be as useful as we can.”
Beginning of winter term we can expect to see fall house GPA rankings released along with cumulative averages for fraternities and sororities.
Follow Lauren Garetto on Twitter @laurengaretto