I decided to go to The University of Alabama because of the school spirit and because it has one of the largest Greek systems in the country. While still in high school I was taunted by some of my "friends" who would say that all sorority girls are dumb, they only party, and that I was just going to be paying for my friends. I ignored them and excitedly signed up for rush in the fall. I was the first person in my family to decide to go Greek. My mom went to The George Washington University and was in ROTC, but her roommates all four years were in sororities. My dad, on the other hand, went to a Military school in Vermont that did not have a Greek system.

As my dad and I made our way from Virginia to Alabama to move me in, he looked up anything and everything he could to help me prepare for classes, football season, and of course Greek life. He read articles from all over the country about hazing issues and crazy rituals that happened in both sororities and fraternities. He started to freak out and told me to be careful and not become a part of something crazy. I reminded myself that joining a sorority was one of the main reasons I came to Alabama and I needed to keep an open mind.

I moved into my dorm and rush began the next day. I met my Rho Chi group that morning and they hurried us along to our first house. The judicial board, or J-Board, called all our names out alphabetically and we lined up on the porch of the house. One of them yelled “Five minutes!” and banged loudly on the front door. The girl next to me leaned over and introduced herself, she was an in-house legacy at a different house and asked if I was ready for the door songs. I looked at her and said “What’s a door song?” she smiled and said, “Oh, just wait.” The J-Board yelled, “Go!” and gave one loud bang on the door. All of the sudden the doors flew open and over 200 girls started yelling a song about their house. I jumped back a little and tried to smile, the legacy next to me giggled a little and said, “I told you.”

I went into rush really wanting two houses and I eventually got dropped from both of those houses. On preference night I went to my final two houses and ended up getting a bid from my now top house. A good portion of girls that go through rush at Alabama dropped their house on bid day because it was not their top house going through rush. I had gotten my top house from preference night and was still a little scared, but was told over and over again to trust the process and I believed that everything would be great. I met a few of the girls in my pledge class and were not super excited, but then I met my Bid Day Big and it was a match made in Heaven. We both even have the same first and middle name.

Many people that know me may not know this, but I considered dropping the fall of my freshman year. I was very overwhelmed by being over 600 miles away from my family and friends, classes were harder than I had expected, and my sorority was taking a lot of time out of my weekly and even daily schedule. I thought it over and decided that dropping was not in my best interest. After my small break down, I found a lot of great friends and an amazing big sister (my Bid Day Big). However, some people still taunt me and say that sorority girls are dumb, party all the time, and that I am paying for my friends. But I know that my sorority is my place; I have some of the most amazing sisters that are also my closest friends and we are one of the smartest sorority houses on the row with an average GPA of 3.51, higher than both the all women GPA and the overall student GPA. I have never been more happy, than when I am at my sorority house and with my sisters.