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7 Things You Don’t Want To Accept About Sorority Life

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1. It is likely that not everyone in your sorority likes you.
Is this even really a bad thing? If you had nearly 100 girls texting you asking to hang out on a regular basis, you would never have any free time to do necessary activities, such as indulging in an entire bottle of wine in a bubble bath, or binge-watching an entire series on Netflix.

2. If you are president or on your chapter’s executive board, people will hate you.
You will make decisions that your sisters will hate, and you will make decisions that you’ll regret. You will make a massive amount of mistakes, and you’ll probably make a really huge one that makes you question if you should ever be in any position of power. Apologize when you are wrong, and do what you can to move forward.

3. You will rarely ALL be on the same page.
Unless, of course, you have less than five women in your chapter. Then it’s possible. But when you have a sisterhood of 80 or more girls, goals, dreams, and ambitions for the chapter will obviously vary. Accept that. Don’t fight against it. Yes, you all promise to share the same values, and yes, you are all sisters, but there will always be women who want to focus less on looks and more on philanthropy, and there will always be those who want to spend more time on recruitment and having more mixers with hot fraternities. Focus on being well-rounded–you don’t always have to be the best at everything. (Unless you are, you know, the best at everything. In that case, the rest of us are dying to know your secret. Literally. Dying to know.)

4. There will always be that one girl EVERYONE loves who you despise. Ignore her, and focus on the ones who matter.
There will always be that sweet, fake-innocent girl everyone loves who you secretly despise. One day, she might even block you on Facebook–or HEAVEN FORBID–Twitter! She may hate you for a good reason or for no reason at all, but either way, it’s only your job to focus on how you can be better. Plus, if you ask me, anyone in college who ignores you via social media? OOH you showed her. *cough* NOT *hairflip*

5. Keep. Moving. Forward.
Sororities are based on tradition and values, and those two things are incredibly important. Seniority matters, but if it’s the only thing that matters, you are doing it wrong. Remember that when things go wrong, traditions go haywire and you’re suddenly no longer the number one house on campus like you have been the last eight years in a row. The best (and worst) part about sorority life is that it’s always changing. The absolute worst thing you can do is to try to halt that movement.

6. Fight like sisters, forgive like sisters.
If you think that aside from sleeping with your boyfriend, there is something a sister can do or say that you are unable to talk through and eventually forgive, YOU DO NOT BELONG IN A SORORITY. End of discussion. “But what if she calls me a bitch?” “What if she lies to me?” “What if she–” NO, NO, NO, NO. In the real world, you are allowed to cut people out of your life. You can ignore them, hate them, and pretend they don’t exist. But when one of those people is your sisters and you are in a sorority, if she tries to apologize and you don’t forgive her, you are officially in the wrong. First time, every time. (See the above point.)

7. This is not life or death.
I saved this one for lucky number seven. If you are anything at all like me, your sorority has changed your life. I have grown, become stronger, and challenged myself more than I could have ever expected–but I’m going to say something that will really piss you off. It doesn’t really matter. Seriously, it doesn’t. In five years, are you going to remember the T-shirt design that you were soooo pissed off because it’s on a bro tank AGAIN? Are you going to remember the time when you got stuck being a sober sister for formal two years in a row? (Kidding. You’ll probably remember that.) Are you going to remember the time you felt like your chapter’s e-board was doing nothing? Are you really going to remember the petty fights you got into with your sisters who made you cry and question your worth in life? Okay, maybe you’ll remember those. But it’s not about who wins Greek Week or how many awards your chapter wins. Sure, those things matter, but if you ask me, if you have found ONE person who you know you will trust and be friends with for the rest of your life, then our work here is done and your sorority has succeeded.

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crownedjewel

U of I

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