Although fraternities and sororities draw the most attention to themselves for breaches of alcohol policy and instances of sex discrimination, there is another side to the "Animal House" image of Greek life, club members say.

Living in a fraternity or sorority may actually help members in getting a job after graduation, students say.

At UPenn, "most sororities and fraternities have an alumni book that lists where they're living and working, for getting jobs and stuff like that," Benton says.

Networks are not the only way Greek houses help students get jobs. Benton says that sorority members usually perform better academically than their non-Greek counterparts.

"Usually the Greek grade point average is higher than the average grade point average," Benton says. "When you live in a house, you've got an impetus to work harder. You want to work harder so your house's average is higher. If you do badly, you feel like you let them down."

Membership in a Greek house also means taking on the responsibilities of leadership, which in turn provides marketable skills, some members say.

"I have a lot of opportunities for employment because I've had a position of authority and due to the fact that being in a sorority naturally involves you in many other things," says Fuller of her UPenn sorority.

But after the party is over and before the job hunt begins, members of fraternities and sororities often find time for community service work, members are quick to point out.

At Stanford, for instance, each house has its own community service representative to organize local charity work.

"Frats and sororities are usually pretty involved in community service," says Stewart K. Levy, Stanford's Intrafraternity Council chairman. "They can spend a weekend taking children out to a ballgame, painting houses for the blind and doing all sorts of charitable work."

Cornell's houses all belong to their own national philanthropies, says Carolyn Keegan, Cornell's Panhellenic Council rush chairman.

"The sororities spend a lot of time on philanthropic acitivites," Keegan says. "They coordinate their own activities with national sororities. For instance, Alpha Tau Omega sells daffodils for the American Cancer Society."