I am extremely proud to say that I am a member of a sorority, and one of my biggest pet peeves is when people who are not in the Greek community talk negatively about them. Unfortunately, most of the time, fraternities and sororities remain under a microscope because the general public loves to focus on the very few people in Greek life who have made mistakes. To go along with this, there are tons of stereotypes that surround these great organizations.

So, in hopes of shedding some positive light on sororities, for those of you who are not involved in our community, I have created a list of nine common myths that are not true at all.

1. We all throw parties in our house.

You know, I don’t think people realize how strict sororities actually are. My particular chapter isn’t even allowed to do a hayride. A freaking hayride. If a wagon pulled by a tractor is too much of a liability, I can’t imagine how much a party in our house would be. In addition, absolutely no alcohol is permitted in or around our property, and possession of alcohol (regardless if you’re 21 or not) can result in a meeting with the standards board. If that’s not strict enough for you, we don’t allow boys past the first floor of our house, and they have to be out of the common rooms by 1 a.m.

2. We're all obsessed with frat guys.

While many sorority girls are attracted to men in fraternities, just understand that a lot of us are not. Personally, I prefer the athletic, muscular, jock-type guys, and I know several of my sisters feel the same way. I don’t mind hanging out with frat guys, but I could never date someone who’s more fashionable than I am; I’d take a guy wearing a pair of worn down sneakers over brand new Sperry’s any day. Sorry, I'm not sorry.

3. We all have sexy, lesbian fun.

Although it may come as a disappointing shock to some, sororities are nothing like those disgusting pornos where we partake in naked pillow fights or whatever that fantasy is. Actually, it’s pretty much the exact opposite. You’re more than welcome to come over and watch us stuff our faces with a double pepperoni pizza and chocolate ice cream, while wearing baggy sweatpants and yesterday’s mascara. Sounds fun, right?

4. We're all constantly dieting.

Did you read what I said above? We love pizza, burgers, ice cream, cookies, candy, and just about every other form of junk food, and we’d choose these over a mere salad any day. Being healthy and working out is great, but we sure do know how to pig out and we’re not ashamed of it.

5. We're all rich.

Trust me, most of us don’t have access to daddy’s credit card whenever we want. I’ve worked all the way through college and I pay for almost everything on my own. I’m in debt up to my eyeballs with student loans, but I couldn’t be more proud of myself for working hard to get my degree, while pursuing several leadership positions on campus.

6. We all went to private schools.

Although many of my sisters did go to a private school, many of us also went to a public school. My public school was incredibly small. I only graduated with about 140 people, and we didn’t even have a soccer team. My friends from private schools and I laugh because I didn’t have a choice for lunch; the lunch lady handed you a tray and that’s what you ate. There wasn’t a salad bar or pizza always available. Your only choice at lunch was white or chocolate milk.

7. We're all airheads.

Many of my sisters are in nursing, engineering, biology, and other very difficult majors. Did you know that sororities require their members to maintain a specific GPA, and if you do not meet this requirement, you can potentially be removed from the organization? In fact, at my campus the Greek GPA is actually higher each semester than the overall University GPA.

8. We're all white.

This is a huge misconception about sororities, possibly resulting from the movies where every member is a white, blonde girl. In my chapter, we are lucky to have sisters of various races and ethnicities, and we even have some who are from different countries.

9. We all haze.

People don’t believe me when I say that I was never hazed when I joined my sorority. I’m serious; it didn’t happen. My sorority does not tolerate hazing whatsoever, and neither does my campus. In fact, if my campus finds out about any chapter that hazes (either active members or new members), they have the authority to kick the chapter off campus. Sororities understand that hazing can harm women physically, mentally, and emotionally, and we don’t believe that anyone should have to “prove” their worth when they join. We recruit women based on their personality and values in order to create lifelong friendships; so why would you want to hurt your new friends?

Honestly, I’m so glad that these are myths are not reality. Although being a part of Greek life comes with some old stereotypes, I am honored to be a member of such an incredible community, and I wouldn’t trade my sorority experience for anything in the world.