Yeah graduate dues are a LOT more than undergraduate dues. I guess they assume that once we get our fancy degrees we have more money.:mad:

Very interesting. Would you say that the dues being more has any sort of effect on the number of members who choose to be active in grad chapters? I would think, in my sorority, that high alumnae dues would decrease the number of active alumnae, but from what I know of NPHC, it is pretty much expected that you will join a grad chapter and be active.

Well, my sorority decreases dues for a year after graduation. But after that you are on your own.

Thanks for the info, and sorry for the hijack...

My hardest thing is the time it takes to maintain the sorority, keep deadlines and make sure noone is at each other's throat. :)

Just kidding. Normally, the hardest thing is doing what another person forgot to do...a couple of hours before deadline.

It always feels like the hardest 3 hour class and its lab.

There were a lot of hard things...
Balancing everything of course was difficult, but I agree, I loved every minute of the madness.

Also finding a good balance between my greek and non-greek friends. None of my roommates were greek and most of the guys I dated weren't either (including my current boyfriend of 2 years). Sometimes they wouldn't be so understanding, especially right before recruitment when I couldn't go out because of dirty rushing rules and stuff like that.

It was also very hard being the recruitment chair because you have to explain so many things to your chapter and you have so many people who get their feelings hurt and stuff. You are torn between pan rules, your sisters, national requirements, etc. And there are so many things that can never be discussed due to liability issues (which is great), but its so hard when people pressure you to know why their friend got released (as if it was all my fault). But it was an experience I wouldn't change for the world. (I also had to give up being an Orientation Assitant to be the recruitment chair, which really sucked because I love orientation, but i had done it for 2 years so I thought I needed to do this for adpi)

Being the rush chair and trying to get 45 women psyched for work week, and then 1 1/2 weeks of formal recruitment. But as with most things, sisters went in saying how sucky it would be, and in the end, they were sooooo happy with the results of recruitment. :)

Amen, shadokat and PennyCarter...i think that this year is going to be the hardest because of the VP Recruitment thing...and it's always so hard to balance everything that you WANT to do, not just have to do...particularly the fact that sorority stuff most often conflicts with another major student activity that is my other love in life, it's so hard to run back and forth from meetings every day, or even worse, choose between them...i almost feel like i'm not getting the most out of my college experience by being torn, but i know that i wouldn't be happy if i chose greek stuff over it and vice versa :(

Frankly, for me it's the negativity. When activities are done, it should NOT be an obligation. All girls should be happy to attend & participate. I've seen girls come to something unhappy & just bitching about everything. If you're gonna have that attitude, stay home. I understand legitimate excuses but I've heard things like, "I'd rather be with my boyfriend right now", "How long do we have to stay?", etc.

Ditto. It's even more difficult for me now as an adivser. You only have those few short years as an undergrad and once those are over, that's it. You can't ever go back to it; anything you missed out on then is gone for good.

And realizing that not everyone is as gung-ho about my chapter and Greek Life as I am and that's okay. I can only do as much as my capabilities will allow, the rest is up to them

Yeah, but then no one actually shows up ever, even to optional stuff! We had some great social events planned that no one came to because everyone had a homework/studying thing! And i'm not talking about crappy stuff - these were free yoga classes, Superbowl parties and other FREE occasions...and then the chapter complain that we don't have enough social events. i wanna be like "well, you should come to the ones that we have!!!" i could absolutely die.

The hardest thing I went through as an undergrad was enduring another organization specifically going co-ed to eliminate my chapter. It literally dominated my chapter's existence for the whole of my active years as we struggled to adjust and survive.

And they did eliminate it-- but two years later (after I graduated), it came back.

~ Mel.

The hardest thing for me when I was an undergrad was trying to balance everything. I worked 2 jobs, took b/w 12-16 hours, volunteer work (besides Ronald McDonald House), and held offices w/in my sorority. It was difficult, but it took developing great time management skills. Although it was tough balancing it all, it helped me to be who I am today.

Dealing with petty drama and people that are easily influenced by a couple of negative members in the group is what stands out in my mind from my undergrad day. Drama always exists when you put that many women with different personalities together. Also the crap that used to always happen with other orgs because someone in my org was supposedly messing around with someone from the other orgs boyfriend or vice versa. So many Greeks hated each other back then cuz they jumped on the bandwagon "supporting their sister" (or brother, happened with the frats too) over a rumor that it made Greek life unbearable sometimes.

The hardest things for me were having parents that didn't really understand why I went Greek, and a mother who didn't really care in the least. I agree with PennyCarter, balancing the greek/non-greek friends was slightly difficult at times as well. I learned very quickly though how to time manage efficiently and still have a good time (especially with a full course load/ job/ high position in another prominent organization/ community choir/ boyfriend/etc.)