Why did you even consider Greek life?
 

Maybe this is a stupid question, or maybe it has already been asked, but why did you guys decide to go through rush or recruitment in the first place? What about Greek life got you interested?

During my freshman year, I took an aerobics class to fulfill my gym credit. In the class, I met a girl who was pledging Phi Sigma Sigma that semester. She always had good things to say about the sorority, and I was interested in all the events they were doing that year. I started to meet a few other sisters through this new member and when Spring Recruitment rolled around, I decided to pledge. Low and behold, I got a bid and became a sister of Phi Sigma Sigma!


This was the BEST decision I have ever made in my life!

I'll give the number one reason everyone gives.

"because I was asked."

My freshman year doubles partner on the tennis team was 2 years older than I was, and I looked up to her immensely. This girl was just amazing. She was accepted into Northwestern, and she came back to visit my senior year of high school. She was wearing a shirt with funny letters so I asked about it and she said that they were her sorority letters (I totally don't remember what they were). I was really surprised, and I said (prepare yourselves to cringe, because I am), "I thought everyone in a sorority was slutty and drunk all the time."

Luckily for me, instead of refusing to ever speak to me again, she was like, "No! My sisters are wonderful!" and went on and on about all the great stuff they did together. Since I admired her so much and knew what an amazing woman she was already, I decided to give it a little more thought. I've always been a big tomboy and Florida Tech is 70% male, so I finally decided I needed some estrogen in my life! ;)

I went through Formal Recruitment the first week of classes and found a great group of women in Alpha Phi. I wish I could find my friend at Northwestern and tell her how she was the motivator for me joining a sorority, and thank her. And since I know Alpha Phi is at Northwestern, maybe she's even my sister! :)

I wouldn't say I was anti-greek, but I wasn't at all interested in greek life my freshman year. However, a lot of the girls in my dorm were greek and second semester my best guy friends joined a fraternity and dragged me along to Greek Week. After I saw how much fun everyone was having, I started considering rushing in the fall...and then I did. :)

At first I decided to check out Greek life thinking that on Bid Day I could just walk away from it all. I also walked into formal rush with a cocky attitude and ended up dropping because I missed my family so much.

As much as I loved my KF sisters, I really admired those in social sororities. I wanted to be a part of Greek Week and do philanthropy activities! So I went through informal rush and happily accepted a Bid from FGP!

I went through rush because of sheer, arrogant curiosity. :D Then I got sucked in beyond my imagining. The organizations were nothing like the sterotypes I had in mind. I fell in love with the system so much that I went through rush twice when I didn't receive a bid the first time.;)

Does anyone remember back in I think 1997 or 1998, Seventeen magazine did an article all about sorority rush? It featured the Sigma Kappas at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. I read that back in high school, and I had *heard* of sororities, but never knew what they actually were or what they did. This article made me decide I wanted to join one. It was a really great article, very well written and really displaced sororities and Sigma Kappa in a positive light.

Anyways, after realizing I did not have the money or time to pledge a Panhel sorority, I found my home in SAI and it's the best decision I could have ever made. :D

There are Greeks in my family (mom and cousins)...many of my teachers were Greek....and I saw the good that they did in the community from an early age. So that's what initially interested me.

A coworker of mine talked me into joining a colony.

He ended up dropping out of school but I decided to go ahead with it.

This is exactly why I'm encouraging my daughter to explore greek life and other ways to connect with women on her campus. While she's not a tomboy at all, she's going to be in a program that's 83% male. After listening to her talk about life in her advanced math class last year--where she was one of a handful of girls--I definitely think she'll need an outlet for her "softer side"--an antidote to all the testosterone she's going to be dealing with!

Momoftwo, you're right on the money. I needed my sorority because I was practically the only girl in the whole ag department!

Ever since I was a kid I always had some kind of "girls only" element in my life. Brownies, Girl Guides then went to an all-girls high school, joining a sorority just seemed like the next logical step! (plus it all looked so fun in legally blonde - it came out when I was still in high school) that I had to see what Greek life was abt!:D

I don't think that Greek life had even occured to me as an option when I came to school. My dorm was known as the "rush dorm." All the girls who wanted to rush were usually housed there, and since it was closest to Greek Row, it made moving in very easy. After seeing all those women so excited all week, including my roomate, I had to see what it was about, and I'm so glad that I did. I ended up exactl where I needed to be, and I love it.

I had absolutely no plan and no interest in rushing. Then a guy I worked with at the university radio station invited me to a "smoker" (rush event) and they offered me a bid the next night.

i was going to rush if i went to BG but not if i went to OU and i ended up at OU. then all the girls but 2 in my mod and one in the other (mods are these little areas of a floor...there's 6-8 girls, i had 8... and 6-8 guys in each mod) were rushing and talked me into it. my rush experience wasn't the best but i ended up in exactly the right place for me.

When I started at UCF, I got the recruitment information booklet that they send out to all freshmen women. No one in my family was Greek, and my mom and I basically had no idea what Greek life was all about other than the stereotypes. My mom wasn't enthusiastic about the whole recruitment before school starts thing, and neither of us were very enthusiastic about the dues issue. (Really, they should put an explanation of what dues are used for rather than just very scary numbers alone! Maybe come up with some figures for each individual group.) So, I didn't go through recruitment my freshman year.

Several of the girls in my area of the dorms my freshman year did, though. They were the nicest bunch of girls, really breaking down a lot of bad stereotypes I had.

So, I thought about going through recruitment my sophomore year, but I was serving as a freshman team leader with our Honors College, and had to be at teamleader retreat during recruitment.

Kapp colonized that semester, and I was really interested. However, I'm kinda a chicken and was craning my neck to look at their table at the Student Union rather than going up and introducing myself. Luckily, a couple of my fellow teamleaders were interested in Kappa as well and I went wit them to a presentation. I was very impressed- it was well thought out and the women were really nice.

I accepted my bid October 13, 2002. The rest is history, I guess.

I really had no interest in joining a sorority. I didn't like the sororities on campus, and felt uncomfortable around them. I always secretly wished I could be in a sorority, and was generally intrigued, but I knew that I didn't have the time the groups demanded from their pledges.
Then I heard about a bunch of girls who had been fighting to get another sorority on campus. They were a completely unrecognized group, but still fought for a year to be a sorority. I followed their story via the rumor mill and in the school newspaper, and I knew that I wanted to be a part of these girls. They were recognized the end of the Spring Semester, and Fall semester I went to their info night. I joined a local, and the following semester, we became national!
:D

Good peer pressure...
 

I had not really thought about joining a sorority when in high school, although my mom is greek as are two of my aunts. Then, when I got to school my freshman year alot of girls I met were going to join sororities. Seeing my peers excited about it influenced me to want to join so I did!!:D

I joined for the image, the parties and to have cute guys hanging around. Oh, and I liked the idea of sisterhood, too. At least those were my reasons then!

All these years later, I'm not so into image, I don't party and the only cute guy I'm interested in is my husband! But the sisterhood remains :)

Funny how things work out :)

I had no desire to be associated with Greeks. I was a high school nerd, very unpopular and the school had illegal high school sororities. I hated everything about them and had no intentions of subjecting myself to that kind of humiliation in college. When the information on rush came I immediately deposited it in the circular file. At the time, my mother and I could not say more than 1 1/2 civil words to each other before she would criticize me and put me down. One day, she pulled her usual garbage and I decided to go through rush since that meant I could move out of the house a week early. In order to move into the dorms early, youo had to sign up for rush and attend the first day parties. I had decided I would go through the first day and then immediately drop and go to the beach every day. The first house I went to on the first day was KD. I thought the girls were really nice and enjoyed it. Figured every house would be the same. Still went with the attitude I was dropping at the end of the day. By the end of the day, I really liked KD more than any other house and decided I would stay in until KD dropped me. After preference night parties, I called home and asked if I could break my dorm contract if I got a bid from KD the next day. Mom was shocked that I was still rushing-- so was I. Next day, I opened my bid and found KD wanted me. Stayed in through a semester of pledging (as you can see I am dating myself), was initiated, lived in the house all 4 years, and am now rather active in my AA.
:eek:

DaffyKD

Growing up, I never thought I would go greek. My mother went to school overseas and didn't really know anything about the greek system, and my dad was and is vehemently anti-greek.

The summer before I started college, I started getting rush booklets, phone calls, letters, etc. informing me about the greek system - well, my dad forbade me to rush - but I was still curious... as an intelligent adult woman, I could not dismiss out of hand something I knew nothing about, simply because my father said so.

So I got to school, and the only thing going on that first week was rush, so I figured I'd sign up, find out more about the greek system, perhaps find my home, and if nothing else, meet some new people. I didn't really know what to expect, and I soon found myself wondering if all the women at my new school were really that bubbly and cheerful all year. :p

By the end of round 2, I was convinced of two things. 1 - I loved the idea of being part of a sisterhood, the special bond, a venue by which to give back to the community, etc. 2 - None of the four national sororities then at my school were the right fit for me.

But I had heard that a brand-new local sorority was holding its first-ever rush following formal rush week, so I dropped out of FR to rush there. And I found my home :D

I wanted Brothers.

My dorm was very heavily Greek and most of my boyfriend at the time's friends were in a sorority that had a suite in our dorm, where we often hung out.

I'm an only child so the thought of having instant sisters appealed to me greatly.

I tend to be a homebody so I knew that going greek would pull me out of my shell and expose me to new people and new oportunities.

I didn't consider Greek Life until mid-freshman year when I saw all the girls and their sisters, and I wanted to have friends like that. But I never rushed, because I always though that the girls judged you on how you looked, etc...(glad I was SO wrong!). So when my sophomore year came, I figured no sorority life for me, because at my school, juniors have almost no chance during formal recruitment. So I thought the only chance for sorority life for me would be to Alumna Initiate after college (DG and SK were my 2 choices;) )

So I was reading GreekChat last Nov/Dec and saw a post that Delta Gamma would be colonizing at Auburn! So I took a chance, went through DG recruitment, and recieved my bid on February 8, 2003.

I've never been happier with any decision I have ever made
:D

Having gone to a 4 yr. collge before I was asked not to come back, I met a lot of Greeks and was a member of APO!

Went to another college and started in summer school!! Wow, only way to go!j:)

Met a lot of Greeks and was rushed by all! Decided as I usually do I joined a local. Pledged and finally was asked to leave.:D

Thank goodness I did! Started my own local and found guys who wanted to do something new like I did, guys booted out of other Chapters. We were up against another small Fraternity and we were the ones selected to go on campus.

Rushed by LXA and another Fraternity! I will out again!

I guess the basic reason, is that I always have been into many things and with people!

That is what Greeks are, doing and being with people you care about!

I guess that is why we are on GC!:cool:

Still learning and working with people, young and not so young!:D

I originally wanted to rush a local because I didn't know a lot of girls on campus and they were the "cool" ones with most of the fraternities at the time.

I was looking for rush advice when I found good ol' GC and I decided I loved the idea of being part of a national, but was still thinking about the local because Gamma Phi was really small at the time and rumor was the charter was getting yanked.

I was driving to work one day and I saw my neighbor from the last year moving into the dorms and remembered that she had pledged Gamma Phi the semester before and never had do to any of the crap that the locals did and at that point decided I was rushing Gamma Phi. The chapter doubled with my NM class and will hopefully be there forever. :D

During my first semester as a freshman, my roommate was really into drugs. The girl across the hall had a psycho roommate, and we always met in the hall to vent. We decided to move in together second semester, and make the two weirdo's live together! Anyway, my roomie was going through recruitment at the beginning of the semester. I was not really interested in sororities at the time. After watching her pledge, and go through everything all semester, I got more interested! She introduced me to all of her sisters throughout the semester. I enjoyed hanging out with them. My perception of Greeks went from negative to positive the more I learned about them, and the better I got to know them. When we returned to school sophmore year, most sororities were having interest parties to pick up a few girls to reach total. (We had deferred recruitment at that time, and groups would pick up a small class in the fall). I was interested in two other groups and attended several open houses. In the end decided that my roomies sorority was the best fit for me and joined Alpha Chi!

In High School I wasn’t very sociable I would just go to school and come straight home to hang out and do my own thing. The only typical High School stuff I did was play Ice Hockey. One of the guys on my team had an older brother who happened to go to U of H. One night after a game he invited us out to an event party and his fraternity left a great impression on me. Since we lived in an affluent area I was so used to the High School cliques, that the experience of going to a party and feeling like you didn’t know anyone except who you came with and immediately having people come up to introduce themselves to you and introduce you around to everyone was a very welcoming experience. For the rest of my time in High School I knew I wanted to join a fraternity; I figured it would be my friends brother’s fraternity but he graduated and a lot of the people I knew had graduated as well so after I went through rush things just didn’t feel the same so I ended up somewhere else. Even though I didn’t go with XYZ; I still have a lot of respect for them since it was their great first impression that peaked my interest in fraternity life.

I saw in Alpha Phi Alpha another avenue through which I could work to uplift the Black community while meeting my own needs for positive Black male role models.

I decided to join after my freshman year. I had already gone a year to see if there was something else i would like to do but my best friend and roommate at the time decided that she was going to go back home and not stay at UCF. also a lot of my friends went to Fullsail and were graduating so i figured going through rush would be a good way to meet people. Then i found a home at DG. :D

I wasn't at all interested in Greek life. I thought most Greeks were stuck up snobs, and I wanted nothing to do with that. Then I found out a girl I worked with was going to a rush party for a newly started sorority. I went along and met the girls, and was very impressed with them and felt like I could belong with them. Needless to say, they felt I belonged with them, since they are now my sisters :)

as corny as this sounds, i first became interested after seeing greeks on tv and movies (i.e. scream 2, roadtrip, etc - keep in mind i was in middle/high school, so i didn't know that there was more to them then the partying :D ). however, during high school, i took a trip to the university of michigan and saw a lot of greeks up there and heard of them doing good things around campus, so i became very interested. once i got to college (UTexas-arlington), i found the group that i most clicked with, and i've been happy with my choice so far!

I knew people who had gone Greek at other schools, and when I came to BU i met a few people in the Greek system, including a freshman student advisor who really pushed me on to do it.

I met a few of the Kappa Sig guys, decided it was the right chapter for me, and ended up pledging.

During my freshman year I had a very negative view of sororities and fraternities. I head not experienced anything that was part of the greek system and so I saw a bunch of people looking for an excuse to party. Plus I was doing a double major and had no time for extra stuff.
During the second semester of my Sophmore year I met a wonderful girl and she told me about her sorority. My double major program was cancelled so I had free time. I came out to see what they were about. They were all wonderful and I received a bid about a week later.
Needless to say the wonderful girl is now my big, ehhm I mean "Sapphire" Sister.

I went through rush as a freshman at Bama in 1960 - OK, so I'm old! The question had never been whether I'd go through rush but which group I would pledge. I had grown up in Tuscaloosa but had moved away my junior year in high school but I certainly knew about Greeks from having grown up there and I knew I wanted to be a part of that! Since then, of course, I have realized that I was joining something much larger than I had thought. I've been active in alumnae groups (starting one!) almost since I graduated. Most of my best friends are sisters from many different chapters.

Also, I was an only child and I was looking for those sisters I never had.

One of the best things I ever did!!

Basically, I was just curious about what it was like to be in a sorority. I really liked the idea of meeting so many girls and the many opportunities being greek provided you! Plus, I wanted to be able to wear letters with pride and no one from back home would've ever expected me to join a sorority. It was a great way for me to get invovled at college since I was pretty active in high school. Joining Chi-O has definitely been one of the best decisions I've made and I love talking to other girls, encouraging them to go greek and be able to tell them what greek life is really like (compared to sorority life or other stereotypes)!