University Initiations

Dear internet,

I am going to university in two weeks time and am not sure whether to join societies because i dont want to go through any stupid extreme initiation ceremonies. How bad are they if they existfor societies such as economics or political societies.

Thank you in advance

Reply 1

lilibeth

I think someone needs to stop watching too many films. As far as I know there aren't really any initiation ceremonies bar a night out.

Reply 2

River85

Original post by CharlieC987

I was never aware of any real "initiation" ceremonies. Not in the sense that you're probably thinking of (ie. those for US fraternaties as portrayed in film).

There will be events held at the beginning of term for freshers (people who are just starting) that will involve getting to know everyone but nothing extreme. Just events usually centred around the purpose/ethos of the society in question. For a political society this may involve a speaker or special lecture followed by a few drinks.

You are welcome,

The Internet ( :p:

)

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 3

Iqbal007

Original post by CharlieC987

Original post by lilibeth

I think someone needs to stop watching too many films. As far as I know there aren't really any initiation ceremonies bar a night out.

This loooooool :rofl:

watching too many of those US drama's and films for those societies haha

Reply 4

Jiraya Sama

American Brainwashing....

Reply 5

cdvdtz

In fairness, the initiation for rugby at my uni and others (I've heard) can be quite bad, but other than that you won't need to worry about it, and obviously what I've heard about rugby initiations could be (and probably are) a bit exaggerated...

I've never heard of American-style initiations for any academic society.

Reply 6

Greatleysteg

There are initiations in Oxford, but for the most part that's only for sports. Ahhhh, I remember our College boat club initiation... *shudder*.

Reply 7

tehforum

Original post by Greatleysteg

There are initiations in Oxford, but for the most part that's only for sports. Ahhhh, I remember our College boat club initiation... *shudder*.

Had to drink a gallon of beer from the inside of a boat?

Reply 8

Bushy123

Our Uni rugby initiations were pretty brutal. *Shudder*

Reply 9

fluttershy

It's usually the sport societies that have initiations, with some being worse than others. Academic and Political societies rarely do though. The size of the society will also play a part. More serious initiations work best when there are plenty of new people (as if there are only a few then it can come across as far more personal, and people are more likely to do daft or embarrassing things when in large numbers than small), and also when there are plenty of existing members to organise it (the bigger the existing group the large the sense of authority over the new members).

Reply 10

tara_mcevoy

Hi guys,

New to the forum, but I'm currently writing an article on this topic - was wondering if anyone would have any personal experiences of being pressured into initiation rituals (or refusing these) or know anyone who may have been?

Thanks in advance!

Reply 11

wise_owl

Hey,

I'm going through a similar situation now. In January we have our refreshers fair coming up and I'm a little nervous about joining new societies. Will they make us do initiations? Will they be worse now than if I had joined at the start of the year?

Any advice you can give would be really helpful, thanks!