I remember it perfectly: standing there as a scared little freshman as beautiful upperclassmen wearing Greek letters moved my bags and boxes into my freshman dorm on move-in day, leaving me with a very enthusiastic “GO GREEK!” For the first few weeks of school, my friends and I scoffed at people wearing letters and made fun of Intro to Greek events. It wasn't until a week before recruitment that my friends and I found ourselves bored out of our minds, so we sucked up our pride and made the snap decision to register for formal recruitment. “It can’t hurt, right?”
As recruitment arrived, I found myself dressed to the nines, wearing the heels I almost didn't bring with me because “Who needs heels in college?” and the dress that I wore to my high school graduation. I met my Rho Gamma group, tried to learn the names of the chapters I would meet, and struggled to keep an open mind. I was met with a rush of emotion when I was asked back to my first choice on pref night, and cried tears of joy when I ultimately opened my bid from them. As I “ran home” to my new sisters on bid day, I was met with the more love and acceptance than I had experienced in a very long time. I had girls that I had never even met before hugging me and taking pictures with me and telling me that they loved me. That was the moment that I began to realize that Greek life wasn't just for me, but for everyone.
The most important thing I learned from going through formal recruitment is that there truly is a chapter that anybody will feel at home in. It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from, going through formal recruitment will show you how you can find a chapter whose ideals match with yours. Though recruitment is largely about showcasing your chapter in a positive light, it is also about a “mutual selection” process where Potential New Members and the chapters will, in a way, choose each other.
There is a reason why so many people say “just register for recruitment to see if you like it.” My advice: take a leap of faith and do it. If you don’t care for it, then hey, you got a free t-shirt and a lunch out of it, but if you end up finding an organization that you truly love, you have just changed the course of your college experience by being part of a sisterhood comprised of all of your favorite people.
I look back at my first few weeks as a freshman and think about how different my life would be now if I hadn't decided to go through recruitment at the last minute. Not only did my friends and I all find chapters that we love, but I have found the sisters that will last me a lifetime. I went from being someone saying “I could never go Greek” to a letter-wearing, cooler-painting, Panhellenic love-filled sorority girl, and for that, I couldn't be more grateful.
