Hi all, resident Lord of Coffee checking in. Every semester around the first two
weeks, I always get at least one message asking something along the lines of “Yo
Kevyn, I heard you were in a pre-med frat? How do I join / why should I join?” It’s
definitely a valid question: it will take up quite a bit of time, and it’s definitely not for
everyone.

So for starters, what is a premedical fraternity? At its most basic, it is a professional
fraternity centered on developing its members into highly competent pre-medical
students, and preparing them for the journey that is medical school. They are
different than both social fraternities and sororities, which are usually gender-
exclusive and tend to focus more on the social scene than on professional
development, as well as different from many professional organizations, insofar as
the recruitment process and the social dynamic goes.

For context, I joined my pre-medical fraternity Phi Delta Epsilon (PhiDE) in Spring
2014, or a little over a year ago. I joined for a variety of reasons, ranging from the
fact that I wanted more pre-med friends who knew the struggles I was going
through (most of my friends were CS and Business/Econ at the time), to developing
myself better as a premedical student. During my pledging process (which is a
semester long “trial period” for which you are an associate member of the
fraternity) , I learned much about many topics, ranging from professional
development, what was necessary to be an effective pre-med, and insider
knowledge about certain classes.

But most importantly, I met a group of people that I would call my best friends, and
still are to this day. First coming into college, I was a very introverted person: I
didn’t have that many friends in high school, and college was a very different
atmosphere than what I was used to. Yet despite my awkwardness (even as a
sophomore), my fraternity was very inviting, and my pledge class, though were all
very different people, all meshed together effectively and became very good friends
over the course of the semester. Because of all these things, I can easily say that
PhiDE was one of the best choices I have made in my college career, in both
professional and social development.

Again, it’s definitely not for everyone: if you already think you know everything
there is to being a pre-med, or if you’re looking for a very strong party atmosphere,
or if you’re concerned with the cost that it might entail, then I might advise you to
reconsider. But if you are or were anything like I was in freshman and sophomore
year, then I would definitely recommend you come out to one of our rushes, at the
beginning of every semester!