When I first joined a sorority, my friends and family from back home were kind of surprised; I wasn’t what they considered the “typical sorority girl”. And, I don’t blame them, because I’m absolutely not what society imagines as such. I’m not perky and bubbly 24/7, I love school and will spend hours reading historical books and watching documentaries, and I am not in the least bit preppy.
Now that I’m about a semester into my sorority experience, I laugh at the idea of what is thought of as the “ typical sorority girl image”. There are so many misconceptions about girls who join sororities, and whenever I wear my letters to class or out in public, sometimes I feel judged. And it’s kind of ridiculous. Sororities are made up with so many different types of girls and most, if not all, don’t meet the depiction of a dumb, party girl who drinks Starbucks every day and only wears expensive preppy clothing, like most people who aren’t in this community believe.
Here are a facts about myself that I know most sorority girls can relate to, that may clear up some of the superficial ideas that people associate with this community.
1. I don’t own a pair of Lululemon leggings or any clothing from Vineyard Vines. When it comes to buying clothes, I'm pretty cheap. Most of my clothes are from Forever 21, H&M, or thrift stores; I usually find it hard to justify spending anything over $15 for clothing and I know most girls can agree with me. Surprisingly a lot of us don't have 24/7 access to our daddy's credit card.
2. My handwriting sucks. If only this misconception was true, I would love to have the pretty sorority girl handwriting people believe we have. My handwriting actually looks like a serial killer's handwriting and only I can decode it, so there’s that.
3. I love going to school and my classes. I’ve always had a love for learning, and I never mind going to lectures, in fact, most of the time I enjoy it. I’m not an airhead or dumb, I’m actually smart and so are my sisters. We have weekly study hours and have so many girls who offer to help tutor others who are struggling in all different types of classes. We have to have a certain GPA, usually around a 3.0, to stay active in our houses, so this community only encourages us to do well in school. Plus, it's also been shown that the Greek community has the highest GPA's on college campuses overall.
4. Top 40 pop music hits is not my playlist of choice. Quite the opposite, actually. I love hard rock and alternative music, and although I can stand Top 40's, it's definitely not what I listen to in my free time.
5. I go out twice a week, tops. I’m not a party girl, and if I had to choose between Netflix/catching up on homework or a party, most of the time I choose the first option. Of course I set aside time during the week to go out with my sisters and have fun, but partying is not what college is all about or what Greek life in general. Sure, the community does party, but not as much as newspaper headlines depict us as doing so. For once I'd like to see a headline in the newspaper about the millions of dollars Greek life as a collective community raises each year for our philanthropies or the hours of community service each of our houses do.
6. I am not head over heels for every frat boy I see. I never judge someone by their Greek affiliation. Unlike this common stereotype, just because I’m in a sorority and a boy is in frat, doesn’t automatically make me attracted to them. There's this thing called a personality that makes me attracted to other people.
7. I am not rich. I hate this misconception, and I feel the most judged by my peers with this. I am most definitely not rich, in fact, there’s about .55 cents to my name at the moment. Of course I am lucky enough to have parents who can afford my dues, but I have many sisters who pay their own and work hard to do so.
8. I don’t take selfies 24/7. If I’m taking a selfie, it’s usually me Snapchatting my mom back. I think the main idea with this misconception is that sorority girls are self-obsessed, but since we are just like every other human being on this planet, we all have insecurities and actually care about the well-being of others besides ourselves.
9. I have other friends outside of my sorority and Greek life. I am not in a bubble, in fact, my very best friend isn't even in a sorority. This type of community isn't for everyone, and that's totally understandable. My whole life doesn't revolve around Greek life, and I do many other activities outside of it that allows me to interact with all kinds of people.
10. I’ve never had a pumpkin spiced latte. I’m more of an iced black coffee type of girl. So not typical sorority girl like, right?
