With summer '16 winding to an end, many young women find themselves preparing for sorority recruitment. While some may be 100 percent ready to start this very time consuming yet exciting process, others find themselves questioning if they should do it at all. My freshman year I went into college thinking that I would never be a sorority girl, and only thinking that sororities were just like in the movies. I swore to my friends and family that they could never pay me to go through that process, and now when my parents bring it up we all laugh because I didn't know I could have been so wrong.

Joining a sorority is not about who is the prettiest, who wears the best clothes, who has the most friends. Joining a sorority is opening yourself up to a group of incredibly different women and being willing to make new friends and have new experiences. Each individual chapter is filled with so many different individuals, from women who want to pursue careers in fashion and design, to women who want to be doctors or lawyers. In each chapter there are girls who can't stop cracking jokes, to girls who are quiet and shy. You find girls who go out every night and girls who go out once a month.

If you have the tiniest bit of desire or curiosity to join a sorority, I encourage you to do so. It can help you get out of your comfort zone, as I know it did to me. After going through recruitment and talking to complete strangers at every house, I learned how to make conversation with someone I had never met before, and learned how to be comfortable in situations where I don't know anyone.

Being a part of a sorority isn't about how you dress, or simply wearing letters on your clothes, it's about the friendships formed and the memories made. It's about representing a group of women who learn so much from you as you do from them. It's about having a place to call your second home, from finding out who your big is, to teaching your little the ropes of college life. Being a part of my sorority has helped me grow into the person I am now, and continues to push me in different ways. From being social, to working a philanthropy, to learning how to dress for a job interview, Alpha Phi and all the wonderful women in my chapter have brought so much happiness into my life. To those who have the slightest inkling to find your home, be it your freshman year or your senior year, I say challenge yourself and do it, because it's always better to give it a chance than it is to regret not doing it down the road.