Fraternity Networking and the Strength of Alumni Connections
In a stressful college environment, connections and support from others are key to success. College life is about overcoming obstacles and solving problems. One thing that many students overlook in their first year at school is that attempting these pursuits on one’s own can be daunting, difficult, and sometimes impossible.
The typical college student will develop many weak ties, with only a handful of strong ties in their career. Fraternity members, on the other hand, will develop more than forty strong ties in their first year as a brother. It is these strong ties that are invaluable to both academic success, and success in one’s respective career field.
Typically the strong ties a fraternity member develops with his brothers are spread throughout many areas of campus, providing the potential for support in countless ventures that one may choose to take part in. While a student who chooses not to take part in Greek life still has the ability to generate many strong ties through both friendships and acquaintances, the individual is not guaranteed the same number of connections for the next three years of his college career.
In addition to this advantage, there is also the added benefit of having weak ties to fraternity alumni. Many fraternities will have alumni groups, on websites such as LinkedIn, providing contact and employment information. With these connections, many active brothers will develop strong ties with alumni in their respective fields.
It is these strong ties that are key to the development of the overall network of the fraternity. Following the creation of these strong ties, and keeping with the property of strong triadic closure, many brothers individual alumni connections will result in the development of weak ties between the alumni and other brothers. The active fraternity makes many attempts to bring their alumni back to campus, in order to maintain these connections. At these events it is extremely important that there are preexisting strong ties with each alumni. These ties allow active brothers to introduce alumni to other brothers in their respective career fields, immediately creating weak ties and possibly even fostering strong ties in the future.
As a result of this strong triadic closure, those who choose to join fraternities will not only be joining an organization that provides a network of strong ties throughout campus, but also a vast network of both strong and weak ties throughout the country, and potentially all over the globe. In a world where connections are key to success, it is clear that joining a fraternity is a lucrative advantage, allowing for students to ensure their advancement in the social scene on campus, hopefully also translating to success when one ventures out in the business world to start his career.
Source:
-nrd24