If you follow accounts like Total Sorority Move and Total Frat Move or watch any pop-culture movie playing on MTV about the struggles of a college kid, it can be easy to believe the bad rep that greek life gets. Fraternities are shown as 24/7 beer depots, and sororities are usually shown as covens of self-obsessed Barbie dolls. In movies, the characters are usually up to no good at their respective houses for almost all of the screentime, while they show the characters attending classes in a five-minute montage with a killer soundtrack. Sure, these accounts and movies are amusing, but they don't do justice to actual Greek life on real college campuses.

Coming into college as a freshman, I had the worst view of Greek life. I believed every stereotype the media told me. I thought you had to be fake to get your bid, go through crazy rituals to get initiated and after that, you were basically paying for friends. I couldn't have been more wrong.

I didn't go through sorority recruitment in the fall because I was so against Greek life that I didn't give any bit of it a chance. But my views started to change when I saw the impact that Greek life at my school had on a majority of the kids I was living with. People were changing, but not into the mindless partiers that you see in the movies. They were changing for the better; students were coming out of their shells, becoming more involved and meeting new people. As a freshman in a new place, it's easy to shut down and not put yourself out there; however, Greek life was allowing them to avoid this tendency and have new experiences that otherwise they would've missed out on — that I was missing out on.

Multiple members of Greek organizations from Worcester Polytechnic Institute went on a community service trip this spring to New Orleans to rebuild houses damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

It's not like I was completely unhappy being unaffiliated, but I was realizing more and more that there was a community of great people on my campus that would probably make me happier if I was a part of it. So, when the opportunity came up in the spring for me to go through an informal recruitment, I signed up.

Once I got my bid from the Iota Omicron chapter of Alpha Phi, instantly there were girls congratulating me, reaching out to meet up for coffee so we could get to know each other or just offering any help they could give if I ever felt like I needed it. When I say instantly, I mean right as the chapter was informed that I had accepted my bid the messages came flooding in. There was already a feeling of comradery that I had been missing out on, and I knew right then that I had made the right decision. The feeling that you're a part of a huge, caring family doesn't stop at your chapter, though. It crosses between all of the chapters on campus, sororities and fraternities combined. Greek life is a community; all of the chapters look out for and support each other.

Worcester Polytechnic Institute's Greek community coming together to help out the incoming freshmen on move-in day.

One of the main points of sororities and fraternities is philanthropy. Each has their own philanthropy and cause that their charity donations go towards — each chapter will raise thousands of dollars each year to be donated. The events you see on campus hosted by Greek organizations is for this exact reason, raising money for charity. This element of community service is often overlooked when people consider what the point of Greek life actually is. Not only do Greek organizations strive to strengthen their individual members, but they also want to improve their communities as well.

From my experience with Greek life so far, I couldn't ask for anything more. I have met some of the most genuine and caring people through Greek life that I might not have had the opportunity to get to know otherwise. These are bonds that I know will stay strong far beyond my college years, and I couldn't be any more thankful for that.

I know that it's easy to look down on greek life if you haven't experienced it because of how greek organizations can be portrayed in the media. My advice? Go out and form your own opinion; you might be pleasantly surprised with the outcome, just like me!