Spring recruitment is right around the corner and if your college is anything like mine Greek letters and flyers are posted everywhere around campus in lieu of the big week! The entire process can be overwhelming, scary, and of course fun. But, there are many things to consider and remember before jumping in.
Sorority life is a huge time commitment—even after you've "made it." Of course rush week is going to be a huge time-consuming event on your social calendar; I hardly saw my roommate at all last year because of everything the pledging process required. So, before you jump in, make sure that you'll be able to balance your new Greek social life with school. Because as fun and exciting as it is to gain a whole new family, school comes first.
You're going to need friends outside of Greek Life. There are going to be times when the busy schedule of pledging and keeping up with your Greek family gets to be too much and you just need to vent about the things to clear your head. But talking about these things with your pledge class or sisters could be a bit difficult.
So, having a few people to just hang out with whose main focus is just on college life rather than Greek life will be a great thing. Keeping up both social circles will help make the process a little easier to cope with—plus you get to enjoy the best of both worlds!
You may realize that the entire idea of Greek life isn't for you—and that's OK. Maybe you feel pressure from friends to begin the pledging process and decided to do it just because it's what they are doing. But, once it all starts you may realize that none of the sororities are a good fit for you. Not every girl was cut out to wear Greek letters and there's no reason to feel bad about not wanting them.
If you do realize that Greek life isn't for you, it's easy to feel left out. Especially if most of your friends are rushing. There will be days when they are all getting dressed up and you are just sitting and eating a bag of chips or doing homework and watching the whole thing play out and kind of wishing you had a reason to wear something other than sweatpants and food-stained shirts.
Watching the whole thing from the outside creates this air of mystery about the whole pledging process and may spark feelings of regret for not getting in on it. If this is the case, you can always decide to rush next time around—and if you are 100 percent sure that sorority life isn't for you, try branching out by joining other clubs. There's always a way to meet new people on a college campus other than joining Greek life!
