Until recently, I was a proud, initiated sister of a sorority at my university. I can still remember the appalled expressions of my friends and family when I initially told them of my decision to go Greek in the fall. I could easily read between the lines of their hesitation. I would never last in an organization that prided itself on conformity, they thought. I wasn’t the sorority girl that you saw in movies and for that reason alone, everyone thought that I would never make it through recruitment.
But they were wrong.
For eight months, I was a sorority girl. I had brunch with my sisters, I attended chapter, I wore my letters, and my best friend was someone in the same house as me. I clapped and sang and sratted my heart out like the other 200 girls. To the dismay and pride and amusement of the people who knew me and didn’t, I was by all intents and purposes a sorority girl. I loved it.
During those eight months as a sorority girl, I was thrilled to discover that the stereotypes were nothing like reality. I met hundreds of kind, intelligent, ambitious women all striving to be their best selves. I saw the difference that sororities and fraternities made in their local communities. Above all, I learned that there is no one “type” of sorority woman as everyone has her own shining personality.
However, it didn’t end up working out, and I’m not a member anymore. Even if Greek Life didn’t work out for me, that’s not to say that it won’t work out for you. I’m taking this opportunity to encourage you to give Greek Life a try. It’s a surreal college experience.
You’re (hopefully) only in college for four years, so it really is like a “now or never” type of situation. Even if you don’t see yourself as someone who would normally join Greek Life, give it a try! I swear on Taylor Swift and cute dogs everywhere that it’s not just binge drinking and Instagram pictures. My motto has always been to give everything a shot and if you don’t like it, then at least you did your best. I wouldn’t trade those eight months for anything in the world. In that time, I learned about myself, my values, and what I was and wasn’t willing to sacrifice. College is the time to find yourself and I promise you that you won’t regret stepping outside of your comfort zone if it means discovering yourself along the way.
You’ll find some of your best friends. I found my best friends in college through Greek life. I reunited with someone from my high school when we were paired up for homecoming and have been inseparable since then. I befriended girls from other houses because unlike the movies, people are a lot more welcoming and open-minded than portrayed. Frat boys didn’t turn out to be the worst people in the world, and I’ll leave it at that. In a community of 5,000 people, give or take, you’re bound to find someone to love all of your weirdness and quirks and ticks. And in the grand scheme of sisterhood, isn’t that what matters?
Plus you’ll get a lot of t-shirts..
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