Whether you admit it or not, you have most likely felt indifferent about sororities or let the different stereotypes of them get to you. Well, I will admit, I didn't know much about sororities other than they could get you friends. I only knew what I saw in movies and from what I saw from my older friends who were in sororities before me. Going through the rush process, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. Admitting what I thought about sororities and what I have learned and gained from experience will help the ones who are thinking about joining a sorority or just want to become more informed on what they actually are, and not what they are made out to be.
1. Before rush starts, the girls you talk to already know who you are.
Preference night, I remember being handed a cupcake out of nowhere with my name on it, and I felt so great. I felt like I was wanted from the other members. The sorority I loved the most knows my name, I felt that they knew me already. Kind of creepy, right? That's what I thought, but really, the active members just want to see who is coming into their sorority house and who they think they might be interested in. Planning recruitment takes a lot of time, and part of the planning time is figuring out the girls who are coming into the house, just to get familiar faces. When I met my big, I asked her if she knew who I was before recruitment and she said yes, but said some of the other girls in my pledge class she didn't know before. When you go through rush, you are not randomly put with someone in the house, you are planned to be talking to that member, and that particular member knows who you are already. They may know nothing about you, but they definitely are expecting you to walk through the doors of their house, which is something I was blown away by when I figured that out.
2. Not every house is a white mansion.
The white pillars, the green grass, the gated fence are not the ideal look for a sorority house. I am from Kentucky, and I am used to hearing about southern sororities and seeing friends who are older than me pose in front of these huge house that must be worth millions. Coming to the University of Cincinnati, none of the sorority houses are million dollar white mansions, and I really like it that way. I feel like it is more personal that way. I mean, when all the members are packed inside the house at one time, we very much feel closer. My sorority house is just a normal sized house that can have about 15 sisters who can live there. Other sorority houses at UC vary, though, some are bigger than others and some may be the same size. But one thing that stands out is that UC has a very close greek community, none of us have major sized lawns or huge homes to where we can't be close to another sorority or fraternity house. We are all in the same area, and that is one things that stands out about UC Greek life to other Greek schools.
3. There is a passion for philanthropy.
Before going Greek, I knew there were philanthropies each sorority and fraternity supported and raised money for, but that is really all I thought it was. I figured having some philanthropy would be the only way for Greek organizations to keep their letters or to stay on campus. During recruitment, I realized the girls I was talking to all had something to say about the philanthropy of their chapter; some of them had experiences with the philanthropy and some just felt that it was a very great cause and wanted to get more involved. Either way, being involved in a philanthropy is a great honor, and being in a sorority, I have realized so much more how I have made an impact by doing small things. My sorority does different things for our philanthropy, even outside of assigned events, which definitely shows a passion for our philanthropy, and that is something I greatly cherish. I can't wait to show the love I have for my philanthropy to the potential new members during recruitment this fall.
4. There is a GPA requirement.
Yes, school is very important for sororities. Not only to get a bid, but to continue being an active member of the sorority, you must keep the GPA requirement. When I was going through recruitment, I remember going to nine different houses to talk to all the girls in the different sororities. Out of the nine, I got called back to five houses. The reasons I only got called back to five vary, the girls in that house maybe didn't think I was a great fit, but some of the ones I didn't get called back to I realized had a GPA requirement that I didn't have coming from high school. Not just in recruitment, but if you are under the GPA requirement in your chapter, you could possibly be on probation or even get kicked out. This is definitely a way to keep the sisters motivated to keep studying and keep the GPAs up.
5. We aren't running around to EDM music during our free time.
Running through a field with a flag that has our letters on it, cliff jumping into a lake and our hair flowing in the wind as we throw up our high sign – sorry to break it to you, but sororities are not all they seem from the YouTube videos. I am obsessed with the videos, though. I think it is so cool how all the girls can come together to make such a great video to that has pumped up, dance music in the background. And honestly, I want to make one. I want to be in one because they just look so awesome! The videos are typically made around recruitment time or bid day. The bid day ones are great because they capture all the fun of bid day! But, recruitment videos do not make sense to me. How are potential new members supposed to understand what the sorority is all about whenever I am just looking at you, smiling, throwing up your sorority hand sign. All that may be thought is that a sorority is all just a fun filled dance party. I know that isn't what the videos are supposed to come off as, but it might look better if there was some talking in the videos about how much the sorority means to a member or why they chose the sorority they are in. Just an idea that comes to my mind.
6. You probably will not know every single person in your chapter.
"But wait? We are all sisters, aren't we all best friends forever?" No, as much as that would be amazing, to be best friends with every person in your chapter, it just probably will not be that way. Being a new member this year, I have met a ton of girls, became close with many girls, but there are sill some girls I have yet to meet and some I just figured out who they were. Once I was on Instagram, going through the popular page and clicked on a photo I thought looked nice, I went to the profile of this person who posted the photo and in the bio there was the same sorority as me and the same school as me. I have never met this person, and this girl doesn't even look familiar to me. I don't know how this happened, but I figured I would at least be able to recognize everyone's faces. In some cases, this probably won't happen because there are smaller chapters than mine, some people may know everyone in their sorority chapter. I wish I could know everyone and be close with everyone, but at the end of the day, that isn't how it will be for every single person. But, we are all sisters and will always have each others backs and always be there where there is a shoulder needed to cry on. I love this about sisterhood because you may not be close with everyone, but your sisters will be there for you if you ever need somebody.
7. Social media is a huge deal.
Taking it back to my high school days when I was a cheerleader, I remember my coach lecturing us about what we put on social media. What we put on social media very much reflected the reputation of the cheerleading team. Not that we had bad girls on the team, everyone was well-behaved and had great attitudes, but if one girl posted a photo that had something inappropriate in it, that would reflect the cheerleading team as a whole. This goes along with sororities. Like the cheerleading team, there will always be stereotypes with sororities, and not god stereotypes. Even though sororities are not what they are made out to be and not how they would be portrayed in a movie, one girl can ruin it all for the rest of the sorority. On the executive board, there is a person in charge of looking over the members social medias, just to make sure everything being posted is not harmful to the reputation of the sorority. Some members hate it when they are asked to take a post down and fight it, and some will respectfully take it down. All sororities want better reputations and keeping a good reputation requires for social media to be portrayed nicely and not with inappropriate posts.
8. Safety is a huge deal.
Safety may actually be the biggest concern of a sorority. It is very important that each member is safe and not doing anything that would put them in harmful situations. One of the main ways I see a lot of effort go into the safety of our members is when there is a semi-formal or a formal. This is because we have the events off-campus, and we want to make sure everyone is sticking together and making it to the event safely. At least at my sorority events, we hire buses to take us to and from the event, and we assign buses to certain grade levels, so no one is trying to find a seat. This makes it very efficient to make it to the event on time and safely. There are also sober monitors at every event, which means there are a handful of girls who stay sober throughout the entire night just to keep an eye out for everything and to make sure everything is running smoothly. The week before an event is coming up, a member of the chapter will do a module during meeting to go over safety and different kinds of rules and expectations of the members at the event. Nothing in a sorority is a free for all, and we try to keep everything as under control as possible. If our chapter does not enforce safety or rules and a member gets hurt or gets put in a harmful situation, the whole chapter could be punished, which is not fun at all for anyone.
9. Not everyone is into the party scene.
I have known a lot of people to join Greek organizations for the social aspect, maybe not just the party scene but to make friends. One thing I wanted was friends, not technically to party, but to meet people I could call my close friends throughout the college years. Coming to college, the first couple of weeks even before I joined a sorority, I thought if I didn't want to go out and party sometimes, I wouldn't have any friends. I am just not the kind of person who wants to go out every single night. I like my Netflix nights, laying in bed snuggled in a blanket. The great thing is, if I want a Netflix night, there is always someone willing to join and watch movies with you. I really enjoy the bonding times all the sisters have together at the house because you really are building those true real friendships. Sometimes, I feel if you are just going out, getting drunk, I believe fake friendships form, and I really enjoy the times where there is the opportunities to build the strong friendships. College isn't about partying, it is about having fun and making life long friendships during the journey.
10. Being a legacy doesn't guarantee a ticket into the sorority.
For those of you who don't know what a legacy is, it is a family member who was in a sorority or fraternity, and it could be easier for you to get into that organization because you were raised by the values they learned in the Greek organization. It is false that you will be automatically be in the sorority or fraternity. You still have to go through the rushing process to see whether or not the members like you and feel you lived up to the legacy. I have known people who have been dropped in the rush process by their legacy because they felt that they did not live up to the expectations of the legacy. This can be very much a disappointment to the one who is going through rush, but it could also be a good thing because they have the opportunity to start their own legacy. I was a part of one legacy, but the University of Cincinnati did not offer a chapter of what a was a legacy for, but I like how I can start my own legacy and teach my kids and other family members the values of my sororities chapter.
