Why did you join Alpha Kappa Psi?
I decided to join because I wanted to get involved on campus. My mom had been in a social sorority when she was in college, and she looked at me all growing up and she was like, “You can’t join a social sorority.” I was like, “Alright, whatever.” I didn’t care. So then I came to school here and I was like, “That sounds like a good alternative.” It’s a great opportunity to not only get to meet girls but also guys that are like-minded individuals who all want to do the same thing and really get close and make a close group of friends.
What have you enjoyed most about serving as president?
Getting to see my brothers do what they want to do and giving them the resources and the opportunities to be the people that they want to be on campus and do the things that they want to do within the fraternity and on campus.
How would you describe your organization in three words?
Professional business leaders.
What should people know about Alpha Kappa Psi?
We don’t only take business majors. We take any major across the entire university. It’s an awesome opportunity to get to meet people who have different mindsets but the same ultimate goals that they want to be leaders and they want to go off and become professionals in whatever field that they want to do.
What experience in this organization has impacted you the most?
Pledgeship. What I’ve seen most is that going through this and being a part of this for six semesters, is every semester we have a new pledge class and the pledges bond with each other like no other. I love my pledge class. We were relatively small – there were only about 35 of us. We work together in such a way, and we just bonded so close together because we went through everything together, and at the same time and everybody had pretty much the same experience going through pledgeship, that’s what impacted me most. It made me want to be a part of this fraternity, and it made me want to be an active member of the community, and it made me want to serve and help and be the person that I could be for my brothers.
How do you become eligible to join?
We have a rush process. Each fall and each spring we have information sessions, which is where any person who is even thinking of joining AKPsi can come and learn exactly what we do. We talk about the history, we talk about the events that we put on and we talk about the next step in the rush process, which is to sign up for an interview. We interview our rushees. We also have opportunities for them to meet the brothers so that you know exactly what you’re getting yourself into. It’s always better to get to meet the brothers because the brothers are the ones who vote on whether or not to give you a bid to enter pledgeship. Then you go through your interview. The interview process is a little bit different than normal interviews, but it’s relatively the same as well, we ask a lot of generic interview questions and we ask for a resume, we ask for a cover letter, we ask for things that any interviewer or recruiter is going to ask you for. Then after all of that’s over the brothers vote on whether or not they want to give each person who completed rush a bid.
Do you have to have a certain GPA?
Yes. Pledges need to have a GPA of 2.75 or above. That’s the main eligibility requirement is that you go through rush and you have that GPA.
