With sorority recruitment right around the corner, there's something on every PNM's (potential new members) mind: which sorority is the best one on campus? Any girl who has gone through rush has had that thought run through her mind whether she wants to admit it or not. Some of us went into recruitment with a clear mind while others took to the infamous website Greek Rank (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, do yourself a favor and avoid it at all cost). No matter how you went into recruitment, that same question might have lingered in the back of your mind: which one is the best? You've probably clicked on this article to see if your sorority made it in the 'top' or you were just curious to see where everyone fell. Well, without any further delay, I present to you the top sororities at the University of Kentucky:
None of them.
That's right, none of them and this isn't a joke. If you scroll down any further, you won't see a list and in fact, you won't even see any particular sorority named because it doesn't matter. Greek women are pitted against each other so often we sometimes lose sight of what it means to be a sorority woman. With websites like Greek Rank and articles that actually rank sororities, it's easy to get lost in the desire to be considered the best. A lot of times, those articles ranking Greek women are written by authors who fall into the stereotypical traps of Greek life. They'll rank a sorority based on its partying abilities and looks over its involvement in the community any day. But why? Because a lot of people outside of Greek life fail to see the roles in the surrounding community and the impact on countless lives that Greek women have made.
But why write about that, right? It'd be much more interesting to call one sorority hotter than another or one sorority trashier than another because that's bound to cause a cat fight between Greek women. But how can we blame someone that is only familiar with the stereotypes, that's an outsider's perspective because all that outsider knows are the stereotypes that unfortunately follow Greek women? Stereotypes like partying hot girls without a brain cell who only care about boys. I recall one run in with a group of girls who were not a part of Greek life. We were talking about who went through recruitment and before I could speak up, one girl inserted her opinion about how "sorority girls are all stuck up snobs who buy their friends." And that's the nicer version. People outside of Greek life seem to fall victim to thinking that Greek women are their stereotypes and I think that sometimes us Greek women get caught up in what others think of us. Whether we mean to or not, we pit Greek woman against Greek woman, sorority against sorority, in order to make our sorority seem better than the next.
But that's not what Greek life is about. As a part of the Greek community, it's up to us to be the best women we can be. Greek life is about us working together to better the community and ourselves at the same time. It's about learning something about others and learning something about ourselves in the process. It's about sticking together and supporting one another. It's about coming together for causes that are much larger about ourselves. It's about celebrating the victories and mourning during the tough times. It's about being connected to your fellow Greek women despite representing different letters on your chest. It's about being the best you can be and being the best the Greek community can be.
And that's why there aren't any "top" sororities at the University of Kentucky. We're all equal and we all bring something unique and amazing to the community. From philanthropy events to other Greek-wide events, everyone offers something to make UK's Greek life special. We're all in this together to make the community and ourselves better. Shrugging off the opinions from others about who we are as Greek women are so key to focusing on what the purpose in the Greek community is: supporting our sisters, our chapter, our fellow Greek women, and most importantly, the community around us.
