Page:The Fraternity and the Undergraduate (1923).pdf/81

 best five fraternities in college, it is not at all likely that any two men would make the same list. The freshman need pay very little attention to the "national standing" argument.

Leaving out the point just mentioned which almost every fraternity emphasizes heavily, there is always a number of other details which each organization considers as fine rushing stuff. College activities of all sorts are made a great deal of. The fraternity that has the baseball captain or the captain of the football team among its members usually lays it over every one else when it comes to showing the importance of activities; but every sort of activity is dragged out and made to pass for its full value. The importance of a corporal in the regiment, or of a cub reporter on the college daily, is exaggerated beyond all reason when being used as a rushing asset. Scholarship, social prestige, moral standing, are all thrown into the balance, and made to weigh as heavily as possible. If a fraternity happens to lack any one of these, the fact is passed over entirely, or made to seem of little value. The freshman should not put too much confidence in the statements with reference to any of these points, as they are being presented to him at the time of rushing. They are all important, but their importance is mot infrequently exaggerated when the rushers are presenting them.