Greek life comes with a variety of things: a sisterhood bond, a chance to give back to the community, and ways to contribute to National philanthropies. While all this looks fun from the outside, many people don't see all that goes on behind the scenes of greek life. I am here to tell you that Greek life is so much more than chanting with your sisters for recruitment. Sure, there are fun events, such as socials with your sisters and gift exchanges, but chapters have rules to follow, initiation tests to study for, and quotas to hit. If you are considering participating in sorority recruitment, make sure you are doing so for the right reasons.
1. Sorority recruitment is like an interview.
Recruitment is a stressful process between both PNM's and the chapters themselves. As someone who recently went through recruitment, I am here to tell you that sadly it can be very stressful, but it is also what you make of it. Recruitment involves a lot of talking to various girls about your self. Imagine how you would brag about your self in an interview, except to peers your age. It's something brand new for many people, which is what makes the experience so uncomfortable for many individuals. The best thing to do is get a good night's rest, take your time to get ready, look and be your best self, and try to enjoy the various conversations.
2.Come in blind.
Sometimes when girls get their list back and they didn't get called back to their top choices, or they didn't get called back to their favorite sorority they wanted, they drop out. It's best to come in blind without any biases or stress about the stereotypes of each sorority. At the end of the day, all the chapters have different girls within their sorority, and the group you click with the most will be the group you feel the most comfortable around. So go into recruitment and be yourself, because if you do run home, you will end up spending a lot of time with your sisters, and you want them to be people you can truly be your self around.
3. The process of elimination.
When it comes down to ranking which sorority best suits you, the experience can be extremely intimidating. Each school does it differently. What you should do is rank the sororities that you felt the most comfortable with. What you shouldn't do is go on Greek Rank and read the ratings about the sororities at your school and rank them based off which is top tier and which isn't. The best thing to do is to choose groups that you feel the most comfortable around. The group that's best for you should be one that you don't have to put on an act when you're in the chapter room. If you get called back to your favorite ones and receive a bid, you will be so grateful you went through recruitment.
Moral of the story: sorority recruitment can be very intimidating, but if you have a positive mindset and you're open to conversations with different girls, then you will have a great experience.