I came into college with the mindset that I’d rather be caught dead than rush a sorority. I didn’t need an organization to make friends, I could do that on my own, and I did.

I will be the first person to say that I am not proud of the person I was during my freshman year of college. I defined myself by what parties I went to and what boys I hooked up with as a way to suppress the anxiety I wanted to have something to work towards, something to be involved in, something that gave me a purpose, because I really did not feel like I had any.

A sorority was not what I saw as being the answer to this problem, but my friends somehow convinced me to give it a try. I signed up for recruitment an hour before registration ended in the dressing room of Tilly’s at the mall by my school with the attitude of “If I don’t like this, I can always drop”. I had absolutely no idea that three letters and a little over 100 girls had the opportunity to change my entire life. I went through the motions. To my surprise, on the first day of recruitment I walked into the doors of a sorority that had the same values that I did. They were a group of girls that I could see as being genuinely good friends, not just “sisters”. I felt loved and welcomed right away, it was something that I wanted to experience for myself. On my Bid Day, I got the text from my Rho Gamma (who also happens to be in my sorority, which I did not know at the time) that I got a bid, and I could not have been happier to find out that it was from the sorority I felt so at home in.

I did have to pay, dues are real and they’re a struggle, but I did not pay for my friends. The money I put up is my contribution to help help make the sorority, that I now hold so close to my heart, be able to advance, succeed, and give back to our community.

The friendships I made through my sorority are honestly priceless. I found a group of girls that make me laugh, that listen to me rant about boys at 3 a.m. outside in the cold, girls that I can go to the library and study with, and most importantly, girls that I can be myself around. My big is almost 2 years older than me, and is someone that I look up to as a role model and a friend. She has two jobs and still has time to have fun and stay involved in our sorority on top of being in college. I also was able to become close with second girl in my sorority that is my age, but also is someone that I aspire to be like in every aspect of life. She is so funny and easy to talk to and without our sorority, who knows if we would have ever met?

Philanthropies and giving back is something that my organization holds very close to their hearts. If we are being honest, my favorite memories have come from dancing until 4 a.m. to benefit CHOP, and participating in Relay for Life for 12 hours straight in the fight against cancer, where our organization alone raised almost $2,500. I have a support system that supports me to do things I never thought I’d do, like cut my hair to donate to cancer patients. Whether these people know it or not, they encourage me to be the absolute best version of myself everyday.

Sororities and greek life is not about judgmental girls in tight dresses, high heels and parties. Greek life isn’t even all about philanthropies and giving back to the organization that has given me so much. Being in a sorority and wearing my letters across my chest serves as a reminder that I am now (and forever) a part of something that is bigger than myself, whether that sounds cliche or not. It gives me something to represent, something to strive for, and something to live up to. I am always wearing my letters, and always representing the sorority as a whole. I am just one of the thousands of active members of my sorority, and I share a special bond with all of these girls. There’s women that came before me and women that will come after, and we all have something to tie us together. It’s something that from the outside looking in is hard to understand, but from the inside, it’s something that can’t be explained, only experienced and understood.

Sororities aren’t for everyone, but how can you know it's not for you if you don't take the time to understand what it is, not what it is made out to be? Joining a sorority is something that everyone should decide for themselves, and no matter what choice you make, no one should ever pass a judgment on your character or the organization that you do or don't become a part of.