In the Netherlands only posh assholes and wannabes join societies.
In Germany (and Austria, maybe Switzerland as well, dunno) it's all about the connections. There's heavy drinking and academic help as well, but mostly it's about connections. Many groups also still do the ritualistic fencing sessions for some sick facial scars.
Oh, and some of them are about keeping Germany pure because they're nationalistic, far right, backwards shit holes that in no uncertain terms glorify race purity and rail against 'political correctness' and 'multicultural societies'. Recently there was a row about an ethnic Chinese guy becoming a member in one and running for some important office there. A whole lot of other groups were against it and threatened to leave the umbrella organization simply because he wasn't actually German. Fun times. He's still there as far as I know, but I haven't kept up on the story.