A few friendly pieces of advice to the legacies, from a legacy.
With recruitment quickly approaching, I think sometimes people forget that for some of us, there is (or was) another component in the process and that is whether or not you are a legacy.
If you are a legacy, this means that some female in your family whether it be your mom, sister, grandmother or aunt, was in a sorority. The same goes for men and the men in their family.
Both my parents were a part of Greek life and growing up I always heard the stories and all about their “brothers and sisters”. I didn’t realize that when you went to college, you didn’t necessarily have to go Greek. I thought being a sorority went hand-in-hand with going to classes…you had to do it.
When I started looking into Greek life at ECU the summer before my freshman year, I was happy to see that ECU had the same sorority that my mom was in at WVU. But, that didn’t mean I necessarily wanted to be in the same one she was in. Every sorority is different at every school and I wanted to go in with an open mind.
I know each situation is different and some people may be set on joining the same sorority that say, their older sister was in, especially if it’s at the same school. For me, if anything, I didn’t want to join the same one as my mom. I wanted to do something different and branch out. But, as I went through recruitment I slowly fell in love with the same one. I called my mom every night and told her about my day and she never pushed me one way or another. She always said, “Keep an open mind. Do what’s best for you.”
In the end, I ended up becoming a part of the same sorority and “following my legacy”. I can honestly say I could not see myself anywhere else looking back today. My mom never said anything on the matter until I called her and told her my choice...which then led to some happy tears.
If I had to give another legacy any advice, I would say the same thing my mom told me. It’s important for every single person to go in with an open mind and see where they feel like they fit. It doesn’t matter what your mom or sister did, or what Greek Rank says. It matters where you feel “home” and who you want to be running to on bid day. Just because you are a legacy, you are not guaranteed a bid. Just because you go in with your heart set on one house, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go in with the same smile and attitude to every single other house.
At the end of the day where you decide to go is up to you and in the end it will all be worth it. Go in with your best foot forward and don’t end up regretting your choice because you let people around you influence you and push you one way.
