Why Join Triangle?
Triangle Fraternity is a national social fraternity for engineers, scientists, and architects that was founded in 1907 at the University of Illinois, with 37 nationwide chapters and more than 26,000 alumni. Triangle is unique in the North-American Interfraternity Conference as we limit membership exclusively to STEM majors, which draws together outstanding men with similar coursework and career goals. By placing similar students with similar majors and interests together, students can grow from each other’s ideas and experiences both personally and professionally.
Our national alumni network can share job and internships opportunities at their companies often before the jobs are listed to the general public. Triangle supports career development and professional growth for our members before and after graduation.
Triangle is serious about academic excellence and leadership development. Our chapters often rank in the top-10% of fraternities for grade-point averages and we supply support materials and programs to help our Brothers succeed academically and graduate with honors. Additionally, Triangle offers national leadership development programs and support for the Executive Leadership of our local Chapters.
Many people ask, “What are Triangle’s Greek letters?” Unlike most other collegiate social fraternities, we do not use a Greek letter name. This helps differentiate Triangle in contrast to other fraternities on campus and helps reinforce our position as the only national fraternity for students in STEM majors
Why Join the Purdue Chapter?
The Purdue Chapter was founded in 1909 as the second chapter of Triangle Fraternity. For more than 100 years, we have been one of the leading fraternities on the Purdue University West Lafayette campus.
Chapter House
Our Chapter House features a prime location on the Purdue West Lafayette campus at 103 N University Street and allows easy walking distances to most classes – shorter than that from most university dorms! The House was built in 1963, with an addition added in 1968, and underwent significant updates for both exterior and interior spaces during the 2023 “Summer Refresh” project. The House has a maximum capacity of 72 Brothers and features a private parking lot.
Academic Excellence and Support
Triangle Fraternity has a long history of requiring and supporting academic excellence for our Brothers. Our Purdue Chapter has placed in the top-10% of fraternities during many years since our founding. To support the academic success of our Brothers we organize study groups among similar majors and many of our senior Brothers can help provide tutoring for those that require some extra help.
All campus fraternities are required to have a “Faculty Advisor” employed by Purdue University to serve as a mentor for members. Purdue Triangle is very fortunate to have a world-renowned expert in the field of nanoelectronic devices – Dr. Gerhard Klimeck – who is the Elmore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Purdue University and leads two research centers in Purdue's Discovery Park.
Campus Activities
Purdue Triangle Brothers are active in many campus extra-curricular activities including Purdue Grand Prix ,intramural sports, College Mentors for Kids, Boiler Gold Rush, and many more. Additionally, we participate in several local philanthropic events each year.
Career Building Alumni Network
One of the most unique and beneficial advantages of the Purdue Triangle fraternity experience is the amazing depth of talent and expertise of our Alumni network. Many of our Alumni have volunteered to provide career mentoring for our Active Brothers and recent graduates. Also, we have started a monthly series of “Alumni Guest Speakers” during our Chapter meetings where Alums share their career success stories, answer questions, and offer network connections for internships and jobs.
Build Lifelong Friendships
Another amazing benefit of joining Purdue Triangle is the lifelong friendships you can form with your Brothers as you live, study, eat, and socialize with those of like-minded interests and career goals. Many of our Alumni organize annual reunion meetings with dozens of Brothers joining every year – some after more than 50 years since graduation. Truly, you can form some of the best friendships of your life during your experience at Purdue Triangle.
How much will it cost?
Many potential members ask if it costs more to live at the Triangle house than in a dorm or an apartment. The answer is that it costs about the same to live at Triangle as elsewhere on the campus. Purdue students have many housing choices and Triangle must keep its total costs in line with the competition in order to attract new members.
SCHOLARSHIPS
The Triangle Education Foundation (TEF), through the generosity of alumni brothers and others, is able to award scholarships to deserving active members of Triangle Fraternity who excel in the areas of academics, Chapter leadership and campus/community involvement. Over 20 scholarships worth over $50,000 are awarded annually to Triangles who will be undergraduates in the year following the award. Three of the scholarships worth a combined $5,000 managed by TEF are preferentially awarded to Purdue Triangles each year. For details, visit the Triangle National website in the following link:
Scholarships | Triangle Education Foundation
Additionally the Purdue Chapter offers several scholarships and financial-awards to academic success for Brothers residing in the Chapter House. Four scholarships (the Sabbaugh, Henderson, Troup and Hook Scholarships) total over $15,000 and are awarded annually to brothers living in the house the following semester.
For Parents of Potential New Members
We are pleased you and your student are taking time to learn about the Purdue Chapter of Triangle Fraternity. We truly believe Triangle can enhance your son’s college experience and can help develop leadership skills and networking opportunities that help advance careers.
We know that some of you may have reservations about the college fraternity lifestyle with the negative Hollywood movie depictions and social media posts. However, Triangle is not a typical “social” college fraternity. As our non-Greek letter name suggests, we are different than other men’s college fraternities. We support scholarship and the attainment of a degree first and provide social outlets to complement the academic experience. In essence, we take smart, focused men and enhance their social and leadership skills to make them more-well-rounded graduates.
Triangle was founded in 1907 and accepts only young men enrolled in leading universities with academic majors of engineering, science, or architecture. From our core founding, helping our Brothers achieve academic excellence and providing a lifelong professional network for career advancement is an integral part of our mission.
Our Triangle alumni include CEOs and Executive Officers of some of the most successful companies in the world, such as Shell Oil, AT&T, and Blizzard Entertainment. Other Alums have pursued successful miliary careers rising to ranks of Colonel and Admiral. And others have contributed to technology breakthroughs with patents for items we use every day such as the aluminum beverage can, the self-cleaning oven, color television and the instamatic camera.
As your student pursues an engineering, architecture, or science degree, he will have the ability to network with our alumni – from those who are running international corporations to those in start-up industries in his field of study. With our focus on academics and professional development, Triangle brothers take their studies seriously and regularly place high in GPA rankings among their peer organizations. We also graduate at higher rates than non-fraternity men.
One of our Alumni Board members, Mike Silver (Ret) U.S. Air Force Colonel, graciously recapped his experience and thoughts of how Purdue Triangle positively contributed to his career, lifelong friendships and family life. You can download his personal letter using this link.
Recruiting Contacts
We host multiple recruiting events during the year so you can informally meet our Active Brothers to see for yourself what a great experience Purdue Triangle is all about! And most recruiting events feature food and entertainment, so they are also fun to attend.
In addition to our recruitment events, we also welcome you to stop by the Purdue Triangle Chapter House during the day to explore what everyday casual life is like. Triangle observes an open-door policy for potential new members, welcoming anyone to stop in and hang out.
If you have questions about joining Purdue Triangle, please fill out the Recruitment interest form or email the recruitment director. We would be happy to hear from you!
Email: recruitment@purduetriangle.org