Penn: not quite ‘Animal House’

At Penn, Greeks can be geeks, too.

The average student entering the Greek system will experience a rise in GPA between the fall and spring semester, when Greek organizations formally recruit new members, according to the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs.

This has been the case for the past three academic years.

The trend may come as a surprise to many who believe that new member education — the process by which new members are initiated into the Greek community — prevents students from dedicating as much time to their studies, Interfraternity Council President and Wharton junior Christian Lunoe said.

OFSA statistics show that students’ GPAs increase slightly during the spring semester. In the 2008-2009 academic year, the average Greek GPA increased from 3.38 in the fall to 3.40 in the spring.

Panhel Advisor and OFSA Assistant Program Director Stacy Kraus attributes the increase to the fact that Penn students “are a bunch of overachievers.”

OFSA Director Scott Reikofski said OFSA has developed a new “academic enhancement plan” to ensure new member education doesn’t affect students’ academic performance. Currently, 29 new members with GPAs between 2.5 and 2.7 are required to meet regularly with a designated advisor from their undergraduate school.

A College freshman and fraternity new member who wished to remain anonymous said he was originally enrolled in five classes, but decided to drop one of his “less interesting classes” after two weeks of new member education. “I just felt overwhelmed,” he said.

He decided to meet with his pre-major advisor, who told him to take four classes since “it’s better to do well in four classes than mediocre in five,” he said.

“The stuff that we have to do is not difficult but incredibly time consuming,” he added.

Many fraternities and sororities hold mandatory study hours for new members.

“One big concern is making sure that pledging doesn’t get in the way of academics,” Kappa Alpha New Member Educator and Wharton sophomore William Beshears said.

Kappa Alpha offers tutoring services from older brothers in addition to weekly study sessions, according to Beshears.

“My GPA was the highest during pledging. Having more on my plate forced me to schedule in advance,” he said.

Panhel sororities also organize mandatory study hours for girls to “bond” and do work, according to Panhel President and College junior Darby Nelson.

Sigma Kappa new members, for example, are required to spend two hours per week at study sessions. Alpha Chi Omega requires new members to study together for at least three hours per week at Fisher Fine Arts Library or the Biomedical Library.

Study hours have received mixed responses from students. “It’s forcing me to do work,” College freshman and Sigma Kappa new member Megha Kosaraju said.

College freshman Alex Luzi and AXO new member, however, finds it difficult to focus during study hours. “I find I can do more on my own,” she said.