jojo, go on and rush if you can. If you don't, you'll regret it later. Ignore the naysayers.

Now if I'm correct, if you study abroad in your junior year, you would probably be in school for 1 to 4 semesters (.5 to 2 years), and that is not a lot of time left. If you wait until you get back, your chances will get slimmer and slimmer to get a bid because of your class status. However, you should know your chances of getting a bid if you should study abroad. I'm not discouraging you from studying abroad, but being in a sorority is a committment. Now, I'm not in a sorority, but I have learned a lot from the posters here at GreekChat.com. Also note, if you de-pledge yourself, it's going to get rough on you in many ways than one.

If you haven't checked out other clubs at school, do it. You can make friends without going greek and you don't have to worry about being active. I've joined a couple of clubs and I've made some friends. Look at it that way, you can make a friend that is greek, but outside of greek life.

Is there a co-ed service fraternity at your school? Consider joining it if there is one. It's a different ball park than a social sorority.

it will get rough on me if I de-pledge? jesus, will the greek mafia come out to get me? my sister told me many girls de-pledged and on one cared. they considered it the girls loss, not theirs.

Yup, the Greek mafia is going to come after you, and they'll come wearing matching shirts and carrying Vera Bradley bags. :)

Don't worry darlin'. My school is very similar to your sister's. It's the young woman's loss, and the chapter moves on. Some people may take de-pledging as a snub against the chapter and the sisters, but the majority will understand.

Don't rush and depledge. Not to be totally and completely rude, but yeah, we consider girls who do that a waste of our resources. Yes, it does annoy us because there WERE girls who would have filled your shoes, and now we've got this empty spot to fill.

Different chapters, different schools, different opinions. It seems a waste to pledge and then go abroad for so long... when you come back, you'll barely know anyone in the chapter.

And again, that's at your sister's school, not yours, and you've already said things are completely different between one and the other.

At a school (and it sounds like your school is like this) where most of the chapters are at total and can ONLY give out as many bids for whatever quota is, those spots are precious. There is no "we can open bid her later" - there are maybe a few quota additions, maybe not. Put yourself in the place of the chapter who rushes you and decides to take you rather than another girl. That other girl goes to another sorority and stays active 4 years and is a great member. You on the other hand depledge after 3 weeks. They could have had her, but they took you instead. Will they be a little upset? I'd say yes.

I was under the impression that the pledge period was a time for girls to see if greek life is right for them and to give them time to quit if it isn't. This is how I understand it from my counciler.

It is. And yes, girls do occasionally get into it, find it's totally different than what they thought, and depledge. That's one thing.

But the fact that you haven't even rushed and are already thinking about depledging is a red flag. You seem more focused on the negatives of Greek life than the positives (I can't drink in the house, I have to live in, what about going abroad, I'm going to lose my friends) and that's going to end up being a self fulfilling prophecy.

I was thinking the same thing. So my answer is no don't continue with recruitment.

I agree. Nobody's going to try to talk you into it if it's not something you really want to do, especially since it seems like you've already made up your mind not to.