Why did you join?
 

Again, if someone has made a thread about this (andI'm sure there has), I'm sorry.

Anyways, why did you join your GLO. I don't mean why you chose your particular organization, but why did you choose to enter the Greek system?

Networking opportunities for after university,
make new friends,
have socializing opportunities,
get more involved in the community,
road trips to meet other chapters....etc. :D

I honestly decided to go through rush with no expectations at all...sincerely intended to go through and meet some people because I went to a very small school in Texas, and basically, I was bored. I was planning on transferring my sophomore year, and since none of the sororities on my campus had a chapter at the other school I wasn't going to actually pledge.

Anyway, I had alot of fun that week, and can honestly say that I joined because I clicked with the women who rushed me. I felt like I belonged, and wanted to be a part of something that no one else in my family had ever been a part of. I was a shy person, so the idea of mixers/socials was not a big draw for me, but I had always had a large circle of friends and was lonely--DZ filled that hole from the very beginning...ended up never transferring! Being in a sorority helped me to build confidence, self-esteem, and made me more organized, and my closest friends today are my sorority sisters. So, even though that's not why I joined, that's why it ended up meaning so much to me.

I remember wanting to go Greek ever since I was a little girl. I am the first Greek in my family (to my knowledge) so I really don't know WHY I wanted to be Greek, I just remembering always planning on rushing when I got to college. I had the perception that Greeks were involved on campus, in the community, and of course the social aspect was a huge plus! Joining my GLO has been the best decision for me. I met tons of people, had the BEST time in college, and have made life-long friends. I don't think my college experience would have been the same without my sisters.

i went to a jc for 3 semesters before i transfered...i saw a lot of my friends go greek, and heard how much fun it was. i was really invloved in high school...to have 3 semesters at a jc where i was just a student i knew i wanted to be involved in something when i go to sdsu. i also wanted to meet people, party, network, and have a brotherhood.

First, PhiMu_Mom, there is one of your badges on ebay and price is not to high so far! Nice looking!!!!!!

Why did I join? In my first school, I was rushed by all of the Fraternitys but wanted something else!

My second school, I pledged a local, as I was always against the grain and wanted to be with something new!

Booted out of there just before the end of school! Came back with a plan and designs of Coat of Arms, Badge, Pledge Button, and Flag! No members But recruited people I knew and gaind others from Fraternitys that they had been quicked of. What better considering my situation!

I had always been a doer not a follower and the best way to do it was be a member of a organization! While a Proud Brother of LXA, I often wonder if I could have started a National Fraternity!

I did not think of what it might be down the road, but it proves out in teh long run when you meet Brothers/Sisters today from other Chapters!!

LXA has always profesed from the begining that you are a Brother for life not 4 years (another thread ) and I am still stirring the pot after being a member since 1966!:D

The Brothers In my Chapter are like my Family ( CLOSE ) and the Brothers and Sisters from All other Fraternitys/Soroitys are like Cousins!!

Life is an interaction with people not going on your own! Be someone with others or be gone. You can not change anything unless you are with your freinds!!!!!!!!! :)

Even in high school, I was always very involved in extracurricular activities. When I got to college, I knew that I wanted to stay involved. To me, being Greek offered the chance to be social, to do service, to meet new people...the whole package. My RA was Greek as well as a good friend from high school who was a couple of years older. They're the ones who first told me about the Greek system. To be honest, not many of my friends decided to rush, but the girls that I met while pledging were incredible and made me feel at home right away.

I knew I would join a sorority from the time I was a little girl. My mom always talked positively about it and my aunt, who is more like a big sister to me and I idolized as a child, was an Alpha Gamma Delta. Going Greek was just the natural thing to do.

By the time I was actually looking ahead to college and thinking about really doing it, I had more definite reasons in mind. For one, I went to an extremely cliquey high school.....but it was weird cliquey. The most "popular" girls were not necessarily the prettiest or the ones with the most money. I'm not really sure what the criteria was that originally put them in place, but I can assure you that it wasn't based on genuine niceness either! Anyway, I had grown up with these girls and been friends with them from the time we were just little, and I got so tired of the whole goofy system that I wanted to escape. I saw going Greek as a way of shunning my past and moving forward with a new group of people. I also wanted the chance to be involved in my school.....it is a lot harder to be really involved when you go from a high school of 1200 to a campus of 30000 and I knew that going Greek would be one way of helping me to do so. I also was, admittedly, interested in meeting the guys!!!! I thought that being Greek might offer me some help and guidance in the way of academics. I knew about a lot of the activities and thought it sounded like fun.....I mean, honestly the social aspect was pretty much most of it. At my school, you were either "with it" or "out of it" and with as small of a greek system as we had for a large school, it was all pretty exclusive and attractive.

I joined the Sigma Nu colony at the University of Central Oklahoma because I wanted to be part of starting something, not just join something that was already there.

To tell you the truth I really had no intention of ever going Greek. I worked with a fella that was part of the interest group and he told be about the interview. My perception of fraternities was very much along the lines of the stereotypes tha most of us aren't very fond of (and no one on our campus had told me otherwise).

So I went through the interview... 2 years later I'm now the 5th member of the Mu Tau chapter of Sigma Nu!

LHT
Kevin
MT #5
University of Central Oklahoma

I was incredibly anti-Greek as a freshman. I bought into the usual stereotypes: you're buying friends, all they do is party, etc. Plus, our sororities aren't housed and our fraternities are, so it seemed like a waste of money to join a sorority when you didn't get to live in a nice house and eat good food. I joked with my fraternity friends, who were trying to talk me into rushing, that I'd do so only if I could be a Phi Tau.

At the beginning of winter term I switched choirs. I'd been in the general enrollment Chorale with most freshman and sophomore voice majors and the nonmajors, and I re-auditioned and made Concert Choir, the top group, which was almost all upperclass voice majors. Very cliquey. An older girl who lived on my floor was one of the only ones who made any effort to get to know me. I'd known her from seeing her in the hall and at breakfast and stuff, and she'd always been nice, but at this point, she really singled me out and did her best to make me feel a part of the group. It was first week of Winter Term, right before our deferred recruitment, and she asked me whether I'd thought of rushing. I shot her down, but I remember walking past the rooms where the parties were being held all that week and peering through the windows, curious about what was going on. At the beginning of Spring Term, Kappa was having COB's and this girl talked me into going to one of them. Nice trick she pulled: she was stage managing the spring play and wasn't even at the party! However, her big sis took me under her wing and the two of us hit it off.

Flash forward through the summer, when I was dumped by my boyfriend of two years and rebounded all over the place, to the start of the next school year. Most of my friends the year before had been seniors and were gone. I'd spent tons of time that year on the phone with my boyfriend, and most weekends visiting him. I didn't really have anybody at school. I had to be back early to do some things for choir, so I moved in at the same time as the freshmen. This girl bumped into me as I was hauling stuff from the elevator to my room and asked how my summer went. It turned out that we'd had rather similar experiences over the summer. She didn't actually help me carry anything heavy, 'cuz she'd spent the day moving freshmen in and was really sore, but she hung out with me while I lofted beds and rolled out rugs and set up my computer. Over the first weekend, at the choir retreat, she and I became really close, so when she asked me to come to another COB party, I said yes, and of course I had a blast. I hit it off with everybody right away.

I still didn't understand, however, why I couldn't just be friends with all the Kappas. At dinner one night, this girl put it to me in the simplest terms, and I'll never forget these words:

"I love all of my friends, and yes, all of my sisters are friends. But my sisters are something more than that. There's a spiritual bond that exists between Kappa sisters, and it's the most beautiful thing in the world. You're my friend and I love you, and I want very much to share this with you."

SOLD!

I got my bid on the night my grandmother died. I was sitting in the hallway on the phone with my cousin, in my ratty pajamas, taking a break between crying jags, when the president and the membership chair came and invited me to join. I burst into tears again and accepted on the spot. These two ladies who I didn't even know very well at the time stayed with me all night, watching Mary Poppins and holding me while I cried.

I cried at my pledging. I cried at my initiation and at the first formal meeting after I'd spent a term in Italy and hadn't seen anybody I knew for five months. The girl who worked on me for an entire year to come through and experience the Greek system is now my big sis, not to mention my best friend, and Kappa's definitely the most beautiful thing in my life.

I decided to join a sorority because I only knew about 5 people from my high school that were attending my university, and I wasn't really good friends. I thought it would be a good way to meet a lot of people, which it was, and still is. I also wanted to get involved in student activities, and being in a sorority allows me to hold leadership positions, play intramural sports, volunteer, network, and learn valuable lessons that will help me later in life. Instead of joining a couple different clubs or organizations, I joined a sorority that encompasses everything you could want in a college experience. The friendships and memories that I have made in KD will be with me for the rest of my life.

Why I joined
 

When I was in high school and when I first came to school, I liked the idea of fraternities, but I never thought I was that "type." When my friends in the dorms went through formal rush, it seemed like so much fun and I kicked myself for not going out on a limb and giving it a try.

Towards the end of the Fall semester and beginning of Spring Semester, I had been hanging out with one chapter quite a bit, and thought that I was going to join through informal rush. Well, it didn't turn out quite like i had thought it would be. I was pretty bummed out for a while, but I realized that everything happens for a reason. Later, I was invited to my fraternity's Christmas Party, and even though I didn't realize it just then, I was sold! Now, I can't even imagine being in any different house than Phi Sigma Kappa!

Back to the original topic, I'll admit that the reason that I primarily joined was for the social scene and the fun, since I was pretty shy and never a real hit with the ladies :) Once I joined, however, I found out that fraternity means so much more, from the brotherhood to the real-life experiences and administrative stuff. As a side note, being in a fraternity has made me much more sociable, and even my parents comment on it from time to time!

I too wanted to be Greek from a young age. My older cousin was a DZ at the University of Houston; also, my grandmother in Arkansas lived right next to the U. of Arkansas and I used to watch the sorority girls there having tons of fun! From an early age, I would form clubs with friends too. We really got into making up colors and symbols and mascots!

I was, according to the family, born to be Greek and they were all relieved when I finally pledged!:D

why i joined
 

the reason i think that i became interested in greek life, was because i wanted to be apart of something that had history and solid foundings. A person can always join clubs or student groups, but sororities and frats have that history that binds us together. we have a special connection that seperates us from the rest..
--ashley

I joined a sorority because all of my friends from high school went away to college and I got stuck going to a University in my hometown. I wanted to meet new people because I was sick of walking around campus not knowing anybody. Joining a sorority was one of the best things that I ever did!!

I joined because the chapter asked me to.

I didn't plan to do formal rush, and didn't. I was invited to dinner, figured it would be better than dorm food, liked they guys and the history and ideals of the fraternity.

So, when rush came around again and they gave me a bid, I accepted.

Like some of the other women, I had always wanted to be in a sorority since I was a little year. Its funny because no one (except my cousin who is 7 yrs older)is Greek in my family. I had seen them on TV and read about them in my teeny-booper books (I think Sweet Valley Twins is what did it, anyone remember the Unicorn Club/Sorority?? ;) ) never thought about the partying part, but more about the bond the girls seem to have with one another. My senior year in HS in class one day we were all taking about what we wanted to do in college and I remember one of my friends going, "Tonya (my name) is going to be in a sorority. I remember you telling me in third grade that you wanted to be the president of one." And remember thinking, WTF is she talking about.
I joined mine, because it was something new and what got me hooked is when the alum for our IHQ told us during recruitment is that,"This is YOUR sorority. You set the standards and make the traditions." It was something that we got to create even though AGD is established in its rules and traditions. Plus like I said it was the idea of that "bond" and I missed having girl-friends. Most of my close college friends were guys and even though it was my final year I still felt something was missing.

I joined mine to be more involved on campus. I never thought I was the type and bought into all the stereotypes that everybody has heard time and time again. Also I didn't know how my parents would react. But a couple friends saw the flyers around campus for what looked like a sorority recruitment and they had been wanting to join well, I was just going to go get information on it and then that would be it. Well it turned out that they were/are black and there were no black women in there so they were like "Hey go check it out and tell us about it" So I did and I was undecided as to if I would join but the next night a few sisters came to my apartment and gave me a bid and I started jumping up and down in excitement and the rest is history. As for my parents, I waited like a semester or so before telling them and the reacted just the opposite of how I thought they would. Thats my story :)

L A, I take it that your are Black? That is funny as I called UMGirl about something on GC and a little through the converstation, she asked me you know I am Black! My response was i am White and it Dont Rub Off!

She is a sweet heart and an A + for AGD!

Talked to for a minute Sun. and she is crazy as she is from NY! But at least not NY City!!

Where are you at, as the ASA House is just Across the steet from the LXA house and we had 3 ASA renting our Annex house for 2 years! They were young compared to me but very nice! I am on the house Corp. so had to do some things with the house they rented!

Pittsburg St. u Kansas! They are a very strong Chapter and one of my guys is married to a Reg Mgr.! He spends a ot of time in that house as he is in construction so Brenda has him do a lot of work at a reduced price to keep his men working! TEEHEE! She be the Boss! HAHA!

Let me know!

There was an ASA Badge on ebay and cant remmeber which ASA lost hers and I keep an eye out for a Badge so she can get it!

See Ya On SITE!

Fraternally Yours,
Tom

Why don't you like New York City?:mad: First redheads and now NYC! Oh Tom, you should come to New York and meet all of the wonderful redheads here. You would never want to leave. :p

I arrived at college and didn't know anyone. After a few weeks, I saw signs for rush posted around campus. I was a very involved high school student so I thought that a sorority would be a great way to get involved and meet people and have fun. I was right! :D

I think the main reason I started to thinking about Greek life in my senior year of HS was because I had a friend going to K-state who was starting on the rush process already around the time of Spring break. He got me thinking about the possibility. Hearing him come back and tell tales of the parties and the girls obviously raised my interest.

Nebraska sent out a fraternity info flyer right before spring break, and it had a return mailer to get information about certain houses...I spent like 3 hours looking at all the chapter webpages, and marked my selections of the houses I was interested in, only never to get any information until the rush application came in the mail. I putzed around with the application and never got around to filling it out. By the time I wen through New Student Enrollment it was mid June, and I figured I was too late to start rushing. Luckily the guys (who happened to be Beta's Rush chairs) at the Greek Affairs table on the morning I was enrolling said that I could still rush.

I really had no idea other than the social aspects of what I might be getting into. The only other reason I came up with to join was that I was from out-of-state and only knew one other person who was going to be at UNL.

After talking to the rush chairs at a bunch of different houses I realized the many other important reasons to join: Service, improved academics, brotherhood (although I didn't really understand at the time), networking, and a place to live.

I would need a while to tell why I joined but honestly I never even wanted to go Greek.. I didn't see myself as a "Sorority Girl", you have all these stereotypes of these girls and I was not that,but until I met my future sisters in Chi Omega..They were not fake,rude,stuck-up..all these things that I was assuming them to be.
It was strange how that day I look at a flyer and knew from the picture that they were Real, all around girls with morals and goals they wanted to fulfill...then a half hour later they found me as I was walking out of the Recreation Center and once they invited me I just knew...I have gained soo much confidence in myself, sisters till the end, accomplishments and experience in leadership positions..That is what Chi-O has gievn me and I know I speak not for just Chi-O's but for all Greeks..You have so many advantages to joining an organization that can only better your chances in life.

Chi Omega- " Womanly Always, Discouraged Never"

Cream, you know I had Bad experience with Red Heads! Were you the one that wanted to fix me up with your Mother? OOOOH! Mother! That did hurt! I have the mind set of 24 year old! Rest has gone to hell-o!

I can tell you some of my experiences in NY<NY that are crrazy!

Send me PM with Phone # so can call ya! ADG1019 thinks I go only to AGD but not true! Gawd, AGD1019 is crazier than I am as we have talked! Well Maybe a draw, poor ZEKE cant get a word in edgewise! OK N dont bash me for that!:) :D

I joined because I felt something was missing in my college experience. I was already involved in a few things on campus when I joined Phi Mu (as a junior) but it wasn't enough. My freshman year I didn't want to join a sorority (stereotypes, blah, blah) but then during my sophomore year my roommate rushed and I realized what she had with her sisters (who later became my sisters as well :) ) was exactly what was missing. Yes I had my sisters through Tau Beta Sigma and it was/is a close knit group that is active on campus but I wanted something on a grander scale, and to be quite honest, something that was not musically related. Being a music major, in several ensembles, in marching band, a student advisor, etc. all lead back to one thing (music) and I needed diversity in my life. Looking back, I can't believe how I stayed sane without my sisters :) And one of my regrets is that I didn't join sooner.

On a side note, I almost didn't join at all because my then-boyfriend (who I dated nearly the entire time I was in school) was adamantly opposed to the Greek System. Glad I didn't listen to his bitching....:)

Why did I join?
 

I don't think it ever occured to me not to rush. I grew up in a family that had strong Greek ties going back to before the Civil War, and most of us have gone into the same house.. A lot of my Dad's friends were guys he had known since college and most were Greek. A lot were from his (our) fraternity and there is a strong Alumni organization here as well. Both my Grandfathers are still active in their (our) alumni org and I can't remember a time when we were not involved up to our eyeballs. I suppose I just took it for granted that going Greek was part of the college experience. I had a great four years and made some great friends among the brothers. They are still my closest friends and I hope this will continue throughout my life. I do not think my college experience would have been as great if I had attended one that did not have a greek system. Between college and law school when I was on active duty I was pleased to see that lots of the new junior officers were Greek and it seemed that a large majority of the non-academy senior officers were Greek. Its just been a part of my life always.
dekeguy

I think the main reason I decided to Rush was because I was going to an out of state school where I did not know ANYONE! And with undergrad population at 25,000+, I was searching for a good way to meet people AND get involved on a campus of that size, esp. since I was used to the 500 something people in my high school. But I don't regreat my desicions to rsuh or join a house at all. My sisters are my best friends, we have almost TOO much fun together hehe if that's possible! :p But anyway, yea that was pretty much my reasoning.

When I went to college, I had no plans to rush. No one in my family had ever joined a fraternity or sorority, and all I knew of the greek system came from movies like Animal House.

My school set aside an entire week, before classes started, for rush - and for that week, the only thing to do *was* rush. So I figured I'd give it a whirl.

I wound up getting totally sold on the greek system, the sisterhood, the community service, the academic programs, etc... but I was equally convinced that none of the national sororities on campus were for me. Luckily there was a new local sorority holding its first rush the following week. I went to their first rush party, and within a few minutes I knew I'd found my sisters. :)

Greek life was not in my plan. I thought fraternities and sororities were for the generic popular kid who wants to be well-rounded and plays lots of sports and wears whatever everyone else does ... not for anybody who was really smart or who thought for themselves. I knew kids in the popular crowd at school but it wasn't something I wanted to be a part of (don't know if they would have had me, but they were mostly genuinely nice people). But my best friend, who was very different than me (she was a cheerleader, for starters), was very set on rush. We were goint to different colleges, though, but I learned a bit from her about Greek life. Meanwhile, I was busy figuring out where to apply, and a small/no Greek scene was one of my big factors.

So I got to college, and at my school rush was second semester. Even if it had been held first semester and I wanted to rush, my mom wouldn't have let me - she wanted to see how my grades went first. Then I met my RA, who was an AXD, and I thought (seriously!), "Wow, she doesn't have big hair! And she has glasses!" My ultra-girly friend down the hall and our neighbors inbetween were dead-set on rushing, so I went to the open houses in the fall with them, and I found the girls to be nice, at least, not necessarily like the stereotype. I was kind of a contrarian back then, so I thought about rushing just because no one back home would expect me to. A Greek gal in one of my classes encouraged me to rush, too.

So I went to rush, not even planning on necessarily joining, and I rejected one sorority right away as being everything I feared they were like. But there's something about the rush process that just sucks you in ... maybe it's 'cause I'm competitive and didn't want to be cut! And I was very, very impressed with my Rho Chi, who was a Greek intern at our campus - I actually knew her from a liberal campus political organization I was in. So I was figuring out that sorority chicks could be smart, and nice, and that some were "dumb fluffchicks" but others weren't. (Hey, I was judgmental back then, what can I say?) When it came down to the bid card I had three houses to choose from but only two I was really considering, and I realized then that not filling it out was no longer an option for me. I really loved the girls I had met and wanted to be part of what they were in.

Sorry, folks, that was long-winded of me.

Anyway, you still find kids from high school surprised I went Greek ... only about five kids from my class of 400 did.

I never really thought about being Greek at all till I was at college. I didn't have any good friends who were in sororities and I didn't understand how the system worked and what the perks of it were. I thought about going through Formal Rush just for the heck of it but my parents didn't want to drive me back to school early second semester. First semester sophomore year I saw the signs for informal rush and signed up just for kicks. I wasn't very impressed with rush itself--I thought there was more to it than an open house and progressive dinner--but was definitely drawn to a couple houses. On pick-up day, I didn't get a bid from any of the four houses and was really disappointed. However, a few days later I found out that I did have a bid from one house, but the Dean of Women (who insists on bid-matching all by herself) screwed things up and didn't tell me I had a bid from the Alpha Xi Deltas. I was really surprised and had to think about it for a week. I had almost convinced myself not to do it because, frankly, the only person I actually knew in that house I didn't like, and because of money issues, and because on my campus Alpha Xi is the newest, smallest, and least popular with the girls (guys love us though). Then they invited me over for dinner and just to hang out. Being there with them, when it wasn't an official rush function, made me see how comfortable life was in that sorority and how much fun they had with each other. I called and accepted my bid that night.