My school was obnoxiously Greek, probably a strong correlation with the overwhelming white student population there. Suburban white kids who couldn't handle life outside of high school. I guess some people did get benefit out of it years later, but for most people on campus it seemed like their prescribed friend group mostly. I had some friends who almost forgot they were in a frat by the time 3rd or 4th year came around, they were living off campus and barely did anything but work on bringing up their neglected GPAs.
For me, there was no good looking Asian girls at my school for me to play with, and nothing else to do, and I was drinking too hard and fucking up - I just left and took a study abroad and kept extending it after I'd gotten over there, for 2.5 years. Worked out much better because I left a midwest college town and exchanged at a women's college, and lived in the middle of the city. Plus the economy was way in my favor and I had more than enough money to do anything I wanted for several years. If I had to choose between expending resources on a frat vs a serious study abroad (not a semester long thing where you're back in 3 months, I mean really getting lost) - study abroad, hands down. Get away from your school, collect pass/fail credits from people who will only pass you, and put neutrals on your GPA. I took a studio of Korean celadon pottery for 9 hours, for fuck's sake.
Frat boys who think they're swimming in pussy and beer wouldn't be able to fathom what my life was like at 19 - I lived in an all-women's dorm at the world's largest women's college, in a city that truly doesn't sleep. I got to enjoy myself, didn't have to worry about flunking out, enjoyed the attention. I regret not being able to appreciate being the king of all men at the time.
