Dating a boy who isn’t in a fraternity does have a few pros. For example, you never have to worry that his shorts will be shorter than yours. You won’t accidentally wear matching oxfords and be labeled twins for the day. He won’t show favoritism to another sorority and you sure won’t wear clashing pastels on any given day. But despite these pros, there are definitely some cons to dating an independent.

1. He will never understand the Lilly Pulitzer obsession. In fact, he doesn’t know who Lilly is.
2. He does not own a single bow tie and doesn’t get why you’re so into them.
3. When people ask what fraternity your boyfriend is in, he doesn’t understand the awkward silence that follows
4. You’re pretty much out of luck if you want to run for sweetheart of your favorite fraternity.
5. In fact, he’s probably super jealous of your favorite fraternity.
6. As much fun as your formals are, everyone knows the real party is at fraternity formals. Unfortunately, you can’t go to one, and unfortunately, he doesn’t know the difference.
7. He severely judges you for the fake-laugh, skinny arm photos you take with your sisters.
8. He asks why you always call them sisters instead of friends and “Are you really that close?”
9. He struggles to appreciate the concept of monograms and insists they are overrated. He may be right, but there’s something special about plastering your initials on everything you own.
10. His wardrobe is lacking. You have to help pick out his clothes. The Adidas Sambas he wears on a near-daily basis aren’t exactly acceptable for a semi-formal event.
11. You know those adorable colored chinos and khakis from J Crew? Yeah, you won’t be seeing too many of those. He wears jeans more often than you wear black leggings.
12. When you try to describe your lineage, he gets confused by terms like “grandbig,” “twin,” and “cousin.”
13. He doesn’t understand the significance of Comfort Colors T-shirts.
14. You have to explain to him the meanings of simple, everyday terms like “PNM,” “rho chi,” and dare I say it — “GDI.”
15. Standards, executive board, and all the inner workings of your sorority are just slightly beyond his grasp.
16. When you complain about Greek Life, he asks why you don’t just quit, as if you could simply walk away from your entire life. Just listen to my rant, please.
17. You do not share a mutual love of Starbucks.
18. You have an entire pinboard of fraternity gift ideas, painted coolers, and letter shirts. Unfortunately, you cannot use these ideas on your letterless boyfriend, and he doesn’t understand why it upsets you not to have to do extra work.
19. Even after, like, a million years of dating, he could never drop you, no matter how serious it is. There’s just something about the whole “I come before your letters” thing.

Being an independent doesn’t mean he isn’t worth dating, by any means, but it does mean it isn’t worth it to talk to him about any of your strictly Greek obsessions. Thank God you have a hundred sisters to turn to for things like that..

Nice Move455

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Between cheering for basketball games and studying for her art ed degree, SoSratSoCollege enjoys sarcastically using the term "srat" and making others feel uncomfortable. Her hidden talents include rapping every word to every Eminem song ever written and devouring a Taco Twelve Pack by herself.

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