A follow-up to "Imposed Brotherhood"

I realize that my previous post may have raised more questions than answers due to the nature of the content.. I will admit that I also found it quite lacking, and so will do this next article to clear the air and drive certain points home which I want to get across. So, lets get to it, shall we?

I was a neophyte once, and I didn't like it. I quit after 3 days. The stuff I said about not experiencing any form of physical assault was 100% true. I cannot speak for the rest of the inituations (since I quit already)  or the experiences of neophytes from other med frats whether they were physically hazed or not, so I will just leave it at that.

Why did I quit? To tell you frankly, it was so exhausting, and I began to see my grades suffer. I was flunking the easiest quizzes. My family knew what I was going into and was worried sick every night, and though they did not physically prevent me from going through it, I knew I had to stop. My tuition wasn't being paid for me to join an exclusive society, but to train to become a doctor. I was deviating from the goal.

I had a tongue-in-cheek comment about regretting not getting the frat swag, but in all seriousness, I may have felt a bit of regret at first since I was somewhat invested already. As time wore on and I climbed the proverbial ladder of the hospital hierarchy, I began to realize that it was just a foolish pursuit all along, and that membership in these organizations is NOT NECESSARY AT ALL for future success in training and practice. Though it may be true that it would give some minor advantages at certain points, you will do just fine without them. ;) Given the current state of things regarding fraternities in general, I would like to say that I am glad and relieved that I didn't push through with it when I was still a student (as are my parents).

It is definitely NOT something I would recommend to try "just for the experience". You never know what goes through the minds of these people, especially those in leadership positions during their time. So be smart, be safe, and just stay away from membership. These people can still be your friends outside the context of the org anyway. If not, then they probably aren't really meant to be your friends to begin with. :)