Well, the general sentiment here seems to be "brothers are d bags". Well, I'm not going to lie, that is true in a lot of cases. However, that's just not true everywhere. I'm sure if you go to penn st, fsu, or other party schools like those, that is probably generally true. It is possible for a brotherhood to be down to earth. Not all brotherhoods are large groups of assholes. I'm pledging right now at Sigma Chi, and I'm going into initiation week now. I'm not pledging because I want to be accepted, or to make myself look cooler. I'm pledging because I believe in the qualities of brotherhood. All of the brothers in my chapter are good people, and I've had a really good time just being a part of that and hanging out at the house. It's all about the brotherhood. And the girls are a perk too.
In short, there are many different kinds of brotherhoods. Some are genuine, and some are assholes. But don't ignorantly bash fraternities and greek life in general based on a few douchebag chapters.
To get back to the OP's question. I can't tell you specifically what pledging has consisted of, but for me, everything has been fun. I've been having the time of my life during pledging. Sadly, that is unusual for most fraternities. Most places do at least a couple things during pledging that would be considered hazing. There are some fraternities on my campus that are known to do elephant walks, and a couple others that are known to be fairly harsh and abusive to their pledges. They will remain anonymous.
The purpose of pledging is to teach the values of the fraternity, instill brotherhood, and to have fun. Unfortunately, a lot of fraternities don't stick to those guidelines.
And BTW, please refrain from the use of the word "frat". It has negative connotations that give fraternities a very bad image. Just type out the full word.