Picture a sorority house: a beautiful mansion housing 60+ girls with a chef, a kind and caring house mom and countless other resources. What a grand place to live, you would say. However, there is a secret competition going on behind closed doors – points, a.k.a. the death of every sorority member. They determine different things for different sororities, but every one needs them. For my sorority, the more points you have, the better chance you have of living in, getting a good room, having a parking spot and various other things. This year, my house decided to allow out-of-housers to receive meal tickets for every 20 points they collect, and trust me, you would do anything to eat at the house.
There are countless ways to get points, going to philanthropy events being one of them. This is actually mutually beneficial because most houses also allocate points to people who sell tickets for their philanthropy event. Other ways to obtain points might include being involved in other activities outside of your sorority, holding a leadership position outside of your sorority, your GPA, attending PanHellenic Council Events, attending study hours, etc.
As you can see there are many ways to get points in a sorority, but the downside is that it creates competition among members in a sorority, because who doesn’t want to have the best room in the house?
The plus side of having a point system is that it encourages girls in sororities to get involved on campus and involved with other members of Greek life on campus. This system kind of follows the motto, “You get back what you put in.” With the points you have by attending various events or being involved, you are rewarded by having options when it comes to the house.
I interviewed some members of other sororities and asked them: What are points used for in your sorority? What types of activities do you participate in for points? Do you feel competitive with other members of your sorority in terms of who can get the most points?
Morgan Harbison, a Kappa Delta '17, said, “Points are used to determine room picks. For points we go to study hours, attend social events, go to other houses philanthropies, do favors for the house and volunteer at various places. Sometimes I feel competitive but I'm not one to worry much about points because it's not a big deal to me!”
Rachel Feldman, a Sigma Delta Tau '17, said, “Points are used to determine who gets to live in the house and the order that we pick rooms. Whoever has the most points gets to pick their room first. For points we attend social events, philanthropy events, volunteer or participate in activities outside of the house. I do feel competitive for points because this year, our new pledge class is bigger than ours, so some of the '17s cannot live in next year. In our sorority, sophomores and juniors live in together. You can say that we are all very point hungry.”
Alexis Shanahan, a Kappa Kappa Gamma '17, said, “Points are used for room picks; whoever has the most gets to pick their room first, and so on. We participate in a variety of activities for points such as attending other sororities and fraternities’ philanthropies, going to study hours, sisterhood events, PanHellenic sponsored events, volunteering and helping out around the house. I definitely think some girls get competitive when getting points, it's understandable, but personally I am not very competitive about it. I just don't see the point in stressing myself out about it.”
The sorority hunger games start over again every semester. Some people take the fight very seriously and make it competitive, but others don’t see the point in the struggle. However, there is definitely a battle for points.
Happy philanthropy season everyone! Get those points!
