Graduation season is upon us. For upcoming college freshmen, this means excitement for this next important chapter of your life. Sorority life is an experience unlike any other and going through Panhellenic recruitment is one of the best decisions you could ever make. The week of recruitment and bid day is so fast paced, loud, and exciting, but what is life like once all of the glitter falls and you're now a sorority new member? Here are some things you should expect.
1. Instagram followers
Throughout your first few weeks in your new sorority, expect to gain a boat load of followers. Most of these will come on bid day, but you'll get a steady flow of follows for quite a while leading up to your initiation. You're going to have 300+ girls welcoming you with open arms.
2. Gifts
With bid day, new member meetings, big little reveal, and initiation, you'll be getting enough gifts to clothe a sorority army. These will include but are not limited to: T-shirts, paintings, picture frames, stickers, buttons, socks, and basically anything with your letters or symbol on it. You will definitely not have a shortage of accessories to wear to flaunt your new-found srat persona.
3. Lots of love
To the older girls, you'll be like a group of 100 little puppies that everyone wants to hang out with. You'll get lots of invites to events, shoulders to cry on, personal tour guides, and outfit guidance from the older girls. Most sororities have events and matching systems to give you the opportunity to meet sophomores that could be your potential big, so don't fret about having nobody to eat lunch with or show you around campus. You'll also get a new member mom to guide you and answer any questions you might have as a new member.
4. Jumping and screaming
If you thought that all of the excitement ended with bid day, you're wrong. Big little reveal is just as exciting, if not more, than bid day and has just as much running and screaming.
5. An instant group of friends
Adjusting to college and making friends the first few weeks is a pretty hard transition for most people. Luckily for you, as a sorority new member you'll have an instant friend group that are in the same boat as you who are looking for friends. You'll never have to worry about eating lunch alone or not having a friend to hang out with because you can just message in your pledge class group me and get a ton of responses right away.
6. Lots of meetings
Before you get initiated, you're going to have new member meetings about once a week to learn all about your sorority's history and values. This sounds lame, but I promise it's not and you usually get gifts at them. They're always pretty fun and a great way to get to know your pledge class and the sisterhood you are about to become a part of.
7. Meeting lots of other Greeks
As a sorority new member, you'll get to have swaps with fraternity's new member classes. This is an awesome way to make more friends outside of your sorority and meet some potential formal dates if you don't already have a boyfriend. You'll also get to go to socials with your whole sorority, which is usually a themed party between two sororities and two fraternities.
8. Themed parties
Make sure you pack up your Party City finds you have tucked away from high school spirit week because you'll probably be using them again. Both socials and swaps are always themed, so you'll be accumulating a lot of random accessories to fit any theme.
9. Endless photo-ops
Now that you're in a sorority, you'll be pretty busy all of the time. With all of the themed parties, chapter meetings where you have to dress nicely, big little reveal and initiation, your Instagram feed is going to be full. Good luck trying to stick to an artsy theme because that probably won't last through this season.
10. Pledge block seating
After meeting boys at swaps and socials, you might get asked to be someone's game day date for a home football game. This means you get to sit in the pledge block seating. Be prepared to surround yourself with lots of boys in suits and ties that are rowdy and standing the entire time. It's quite the experience, but it's pretty fun.
11. Encouragement
As you spread your wings and apply for other organizations on campus or start out in your college classes, you'll have a huge group of women cheering you on the whole way. If you need advice on how to answer questions in an interview or a ride to a club meeting, there will be a sister there to help you. You'll also have access to older girls in your major and a test bank to help you out with any questions you might have about your classes.
12. A lifetime of sisterhood to look forward to
As they say, it's not four years, it's for life. You are only at the beginning of your journey. Get ready to build life long friendships and grow as a person through your sisterhood.
