UPDATE:
So, I've hit my first roadblock and school hasn't even started yet. I started talking to my parents about Greek life, and my mom is not thrilled. She said that if I was going to pledge somewhere, she thinks it should be a NPHC or none. I said that was kind of an unfair standard to have, so we'll see how that goes over. My dad also thinks it's going to distract from my grades freshman year, and he also thinks that sororities are only 'social clubs' :( so let's see how it goes :( I'll try bringing it up again before move-in - I already signed up and paid the fee.

Sweet Magnolia- there is great information on the NPC site for parents. As a parent, grades, school and sorority are a GREAT mix! My daughter just graduated from college and in a VERY competitive field she was hired over others who had more experience. Why? they noted how easy it was to interview her ( great verbal and communication skills) and leadership skills ( she had taken on a number of leadership roles in her sorority and Panhellenic). Greek life prepares you for many areas of life and in most organizations there are scholarship programs for all members.

Greek life is a fabulous way to prepare for the work /real world. Many parents have the stereotype vision of Greek life much of which is not true. Encourage them to take a look at the NPC site or you're more than welcome to PM me.

Best wishes
Merry

Well, they are social, but all of the sororities have required minimum GPAs and study hours as well as have philanthropy events throughout the year. My experience is that the studious people stay studious and the people who party a lot, are going to party anyway. You'll find support for either in a sorority.

NPHC is a totally different experience that I can't speak to, but I think you're the best judge of that for you.

Try explaining it to them that they are values based organizations. All sororites have values that they live by. Many include scholarship. Check out the NPC site it has LOADS of info.

Fixed that for you. Every NPC organization focuses on scholarship as an important part of membership.

Are your cousins that you mentioned previously in NPHC groups or NPC/IFC?

Thanks for all your advice- I'm going to compile some information to give them. My dad's more of a 'whatever makes you happy', but my mom is the one who is actually opposed.

Also, 33girl, my cousins are in NPC and IFC GLOs.

Sweet Magnolia- find out what your mom is opposed to, just listen to her and find out what worries her. then you can find the appropriate information that might help out.

Just a suggestion.
M

I asked her that, but I couldn't really get a clear answer. The point she kept re-iterating was that if I'm going to join a sorority it should be an NPHC because I have relatives (none that I'm really close to) and she has friends who have done it. Personally, I think that she thinks if I join a sorority that's not an NPHC that it will make her look bad to said friends and relatives- I think if they're good friends of hers, than they should understand that I may have different ideas of what I want for myself and from whichever GLO I pledge and respect that.

I don't think that you should give up on something that you're really excited about just because your mom doesn't approve! Like everyone else said, just tell her the positives and hope that she will accept your decision in time. :)

Thanks for the advice, rococobaby.
Also, it seems kind of bratty, but I've saved and set aside enough money to pay for chapter dues and such, at least for this year, so even if she opposes, she can't stop me from spending my own money on it.

As bratty as tht sounds I unerstand qas I did the same thing last year. Only my parents were just anti greek all together. They probably werent as against it as yours are they just didnt understand why I wanted to join at all. But they did understand that I was an adult and had to make my own decisions. WHen I told them they said they couldn't stop me but they would not be paying for it and they would be "fairly" unsupportive of me in my endeafor. (ie... my mom didnt help me shop for recruitment, call me and ask me about the houses (althouh since she wasnt greek she probably wouldn't of even been able to keep the houses straight lol), etc.) However on bid day she told an extremely anti- greek family friend that although they didnt agree with the "sorority life"(whatever that is??? lol) and they weren't thrilled I had gone through recruitment and accepted a bid they had to be happy for me because I was their daughter and was thrilled with the decisions I had made on my own (yes sorority recruitment may have been the first completely independent decision I made :)). Now they are members of the parents club, I moved in the house last semester, and they don't roll their eyes when I mention my sisters, wanting a new shirt, paying dues, or having to go to sunday night meeting. However I have stayed completely true to promise and haven't asked them to pay for ANYTHING sorority related (dues, mixers, recruitment clothes, tshirts, philanthropy donations, etc). But eventually they are coming around and understand when I have something to do. SO if you do decide to go through recruitment without the [financial] approval of your parents be sure you are prepared to go through completely without asking them for anything. If you do this hopefully they will see you are becoming more responsible and this will at least be one very positive thing you gained from joing a sorority, one of many thing I'm sure.;) GOOD LUCK and have fun.

Thanks so much- I guess that situation is an 'if worst comes to worst', but it's nice to see that someone else has been down that road and it's worked out well for them.

I guess my number one point that I've been discussing with my mother is that I like the diversity within the GLOs at my school- both racial/ethnic, as well as their activities and interests. Also, all the sororities are based at my school, and as someone who knows very few people going in, I think it would be a great way to make friends and get involved. The NPHC GLO's aren't based at my school, but are city wide. I don't like that because I feel like it would distract me from my own campus and while I'm sure they would be supportive with academia, they wouldn't be working towards the same all-greek GPA as me, and they also wouldn't know much about what's going on at my school. She seems to appreciate this point, but doesn't seem to have changed her opinion. Yet.

UPDATE:

T minus 2 weeks (give or take a few days) until recruitment starts!
Since I've last posted...
- My mom has agreed to let me participate in my schools formal recruitment this year and, if I am lucky enough to join a sisterhood, she said she would also help pay for it. This is exciting for me because although I was willing to pay for it myself, I'm gnawing my lip about just how much those dues could be (I saw in the 2000$ range in some threads! Eep!)
- The dress I originally wanted for Prefs is, sadly, backordered. Silly summer wedding season! I was, however, able to score a nice, very unique dress at Anthropologie for $20- saved myself about $140 there! Never a bad thing.
- I also had a slight hiccup: in cleaning my room, I found a copy of my final transcript and realized I reported the wrong GPA on my Recruitment Application. I was so embarrassed- I promptly emailed my school's Panhel explaining my confusion (I honestly didn't know what my GPA was), and apologizing for misleading them and for whatever hassle changing my information might be for them. I really hoping this is a minor thing that I'm fretting and won't cause a huge problem come Recruitment week!

At my school, they e-mailed us to tell us that we could submit updated transcripts up to 3 days before recruitment starts. Your school might have a similar policy; it is a good thing you asked :)