My Awful Experience With Rush And Sorority Life Only Made Me Better

I wanted to be in a sorority.

I wanted to join a sorority because I wanted to be surrounded by well-rounded, goal-oriented, and overall good women. I am a strong believer that you get out of something what you put in and I was ready to put my all into a sorority. Turns out, this is not what was in store for me.

I was so excited to rush.

I participated in formal fall recruitment at Auburn University at the start of my freshman year. I spent the entire summer before gathering letters of recommendation for each sorority and had at least two for every sorority. I even had six for some. (These ended up being entirely irrelevant). I am from a small town in south Alabama where all the women were in sororities and I was so ready to be in one! My mom was not in a sorority so I had no idea what to expect. I watched every YouTube video out there about rush and read every article that I could find. The topics of these articles and videos ranged from outfit ideas for each day to what to talk about or not to talk about during parties and even on why girls should join a sorority.

Formal fall recruitment, 2017

Before parties even started, all of us were told to "trust the system" or "you will end up where you belong," but, let me tell you, this was far from the truth. On day one and two I started with all 18 sororities. On day three I was shocked to see that I had only been invited back to four sororities. Then on day four my worst fear happened, I was invited back to one sorority. Everyone is told that the first round of cuts is based only on grades, this is not true because I spoke with a girl who was also only invited back to one who made a 34 on her ACT and she was super nice, so I do not believe for one second that the first round of cuts are made based off of grades. This week was by far the worst week of my life. I had never questioned myself until I participated in recruitment.

The one sorority (that I got out of)

I was only invited back to one sorority and I knew in my heart that I did not want to be a part of it. I accepted a bid anyway because everyone told me to "trust the system" or "it will all work out." This sorority was new to Auburn. It was incredibly unorganized and members of the sorority and other new members constantly spoke of inappropriate things that I did not want to be associated with. So I got out before initiation.

I had second thoughts.

I even thought of participating in recruitment again or signing up for continuous open bidding but after speaking to girls in other sororities I decided against it. One girl that I spoke to said that while she was in a room full of women she still felt entirely alone because of "cliques" that existed in her sorority. She also told me that if I rushed again, I should not mention that I had gotten out of another sorority because the girls would think that I had been kicked out! Others said that they were tired of all of the obligations and the drama that comes with being in a sorority. Also, why would I ever want to put myself through that again?

On the bright side...

Sorority life did not work out for me and I am better for it. Recruitment and being a new member of this sorority caused me so much unnecessary stress and I am happy that I do not have to worry about it anymore. I have gotten involved on campus in other ways! I am now the sweetheart for a fraternity and I absolutely love it!