Pledges, PNMs, and rushees, this is your Recruitment Chair speaking. Today I’m here to answer the age-old question that I’ve received every single semester during the rush process, so obviously I’m taking to the internet to settle this issue once and for all. Without fail, during every rush, I had at least one nervous PNM approach me with some version of the following question: “I’m a pre-med/nursing/engineering major, and I have to stay focused on my grades. Do I really have enough time to rush?” This question is always asked slightly timidly, but with a hint of superiority.
PNMs, I’m here to answer this question once and for all. First, you’ve been in college for approximately two weeks, so the likelihood that you actually know what you want to do with your lives and end up keeping your major is pretty close to zero. There’s a ridiculously high chance that you’ll change your major at least once, but even if you don’t, your first semester looks almost exactly like everyone else’s. While you may have one or two electives, Chemistry I and Intro to A&P aren’t actually that hard, and you’ll be getting the rest of your credits in Communications and American Literature just like every other freshman. By the time you get into classes that actually do take up way more time than other majors, you’ll be a junior, and you should have your time management skills pretty much on point after two years of college experience.
Now that I’ve hopefully taken you down a notch, let’s move onto the heart of the issue — you’re a busy person. I get it, I was too. On top of being a molecular biology major, I was also taking 19 credit hours, working 20 hours a week, and getting involved in various volunteer and social organizations both on and off campus. In other words, I was your typical type-A overachiever, and I also wondered how rushing would fit into my busy schedule. However, I managed to make it work, and I guarantee that you can too.
Here’s what you need to know. Yes, rushing a sorority takes time, but so would your social life outside of the Greek system. No matter whether you rush or not, you’re going to make friends in the hall of your dorm or in your major, and you’ll spend countless hours hanging out with them watching movies, chatting in the food hall, and skipping classes together. The difference that comes into play when you go Greek is that the time you spend with your sorority is more structured than the social life of a non-Greek. As a pledge, you’ll have rush events to attend, weekly meetings, weekend events, and other pledge duties that you can’t avoid, and while on paper it seems time-intensive, your non-Greek friends probably spend just as much time hanging out with their suitemates, just not in an official setting.
On top of this, while sororities may be viewed from the outside as primarily social organizations, we actually do want you to succeed academically. Many states require pledges to meet a required number of study hours, ensuring that your education actually does come first, even while you’re jumping up and down memorizing pledge class cheers. Additionally, almost every sorority has a minimum required GPA for our members, and having a high number is a source of pride. Finally, in a group of 100+ girls, it’s inevitable that you’ll have a combination of pledges and actives with your major, and you’ll be able to bond with those sisters even more over late night study sessions. Some of my closest friends in my pledge class were also molecular biology majors, and our sisterhood only grew that much stronger through dissecting frogs and cramming for organic chemistry finals.
Finally, I’m going to throw the most over-used phrase in recruitment back at you to answer your question: you get out of the sisterhood what you put into it. At the end of the day, you’ll have a mandatory number of required events and a whole lot of optional ones. You will absolutely, definitely, with no question, have enough time to make all of the mandatory events with a time-intensive major. When it comes to the optional events, you’ll have to make some decisions when it comes to which socials, mixers, and formals to attend, but the more you do, the more you’ll gain from the bonds you form. There were some times that I skipped a sleepover for a physics exam and other times that I took the C to drive to a concert three hours away on a weeknight with my pledge class instead of hitting the library.
You can always make time for what you care about the most. If you have a time-intensive major, you’re likely a super intelligent, driven individual, and you’ll make your studies a priority no matter what, so don’t worry. Rushing a sorority won’t make you fail out of school or crush your dreams of becoming a high-powered attorney. If anything, you’ll be surrounded by hundreds of other smart, driven women who also want success, and what could be more motivating than a core group of girls committed to lifting each other up? Go ahead and rush your sorority, build friendships that will last a lifetime, AND graduate with a 4.0 — it can be done. Trust me. .
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RecruitmentChairTSM
RecruitmentChairTSM (@TheRecruitChair) is a contributing writer for Total Sorority Move. This current grad student and ex-sorority girl survives solely on Diet Coke and the tears of the pledges she personally victimized. She's a Monica, a Marnie, a Miranda, and a Regina. Her favorite hobbies include drinking $14 bottles of wine and binge-watching season 2 of Grey's Anatomy until she cries. You can send her annoying e-mails at RecruitChairTSM@gmail.com
@TheRecruitChair
