Life in A Sorority House
 

What is it like to live in a sorority house? I plan on moving in to ours in the fall but I would like to know what to expect. Please be honest. I want to know the good, the bad, and the ugly.

I have not shared a room with anyone in over 7 years so I tend to be a bit selfish with my personal space. I know I'll have to make adjustments so any help would be greatly appreciated.


Thank You All for Helping Me Out!

How many girls live in your house? Do you share rooms or have your own? Do you have access to a kitchen, laundry, common area? Do you have a house parent or staff or no-one other than sisters?

We all have different experiences living in our houses. If you give just a leetle more detail about what your house is like we can probably give you a better picture! :)

I'm living in my house next year too! It'll be the third year in a row (at school) that I've shared a room, but no matter how small the room is, it'll be a lot better than the tiny rooms I've had the past two years now! I think there's around 36 girls or so that live in, most are double rooms except the president is the only one guaranteed a single (some girls get singles second semester when others go abroad, but it's rare) and there is a room or two that could be quads or triples, depending on how many girls want to live in. There's 2 floors of bedrooms with a communal bathroom on each floor. The main floor has the formal sitting room and tv room, and also our house mother's office thing (I've never been back there, so I don't know exactly what's there). Downstairs is our kitchen, study room, and laundry. We have a cook and a small waitstaff and I think they have cleaning people too every once in a while.

I'm a little nervous since I don't know a lot of the girls all that well (considering they're from my lil sis's pledge class) and the house rules are sometimes stricter than the dorms even (when I've lived in an apt pretty freely for a year now). But I think it's an experience that you have to have if it's possible and it's a great way to get to know more of the girls better! Plus, I'm looking forward to living closer to more greeks and closer to a lot of things around campus.

I lived in for three years in a house with 55 other women. My mantra was "you have the rest of your life to live in an apartment. When else can you live with 55 of your closest friends?" It was an awesome experience and I'd recommend it to anyone. We only had one single and it was the President's room. We had quite a few 2 and 3 girl rooms, two four girl rooms, one five girl and one six girl. We got rid of our sleeping porch the year before I moved in so we thought we were really fortunate to get to sleep in our rooms as sophomores.

As for sharing space, it really depends on your chapter house. There are some houses where you can find spaces that are all yours. Mine wasn't really one of them. Of course there were people who we knew needed more personal space and we tried to give it to them but they knew that the house was not the optimal place to find it.

The greatest thing about living in (in a large chapter particularly) was how you got to know people when you all had papers due on the same day or had similar midterm schedules. Also, we had to change rooms each quarter, so I got to live with people who I didn't know as well and became very close to people I might not otherwise have taken the time to get to know.

Good luck!

Wow, so you had to change rooms 4 times a year? Pack up all your stuff and move it all into a different room? How much havoc did that create? I see how it would be good to live with a number of girls, but wasn't it stressful to have to move all the time?

We lived in 3 different rooms each year (the fourth quarter is summer quarter and you can't live in). It didn't cause that much chaos b/c we were used to dealing with it. After a number of years it becomes campus culture. You arranged with the people who were in the room you were moving to and made sure your stuff was out of your room and either in the hallway or in your new room by the time the house closed after finals. It was a pain, but it wasn't impossible (otherwise half the chapters on campus wouldn't have this policy).

I did manage to live in one room and get 3 sets of roomies my second year. I really enjoyed not having to move but it is kind of fun to live in different rooms with different personalities.

If you're used to having a room to yourself, it's going to be different and it's going to be difficult--especially at first. You now have two or more personalities, schedules and preferences to live with that may be completely different than your own. Don't expect things to be perfect; you're not going to be watching chick flicks and giving each other manicures every night of the week. Expect there to be compromises, from you and from your roommates. Be courteous, be respectful. And always remember you're living in a houseful of women. There are going to be hormones flying about everywhere. There are going to be catty statements made and feelings will sometimes be hurt. But there will also always be someone there to understand, someone there to listen and someone there who will always call you sister and friend. Also keep an open mind. Someone who you are best friends with may not be a great roommate and someone who you don't necessarily know well may be the best roommate you ever have.

I lived in my house for 3.5 years (moved in second semester my freshman year) and switched roommates every semester. I loved living in. I loved having 60-64 other girls (house capacity was 65) there to borrow clothes from, to watch movies with, to go on a Dairy Queen run, to go out with or to do whatever. BUT it wasn't always sunshine and lollipops. There were a few occasions I got into screaming fights with one of my roommates. I wasn't necessarily BFF with all my sisters, and thats OKAY. That's human nature. Your personality isn't going to mesh 100% perfectly with everyone elses' in your chapter. That's one of the best advantages to living in a sorority house--you learn how to live and be around people who you aren't always going to get along or agree with and how to deal courteously with them.

We had a suite, not a house, but I still would highly recommend that everyone in a sorority tries living in at least one semester! You'll see everyone at their best and at their worst, and strangely, it will be some of the worst times that you'll remember fondly in the years to come.

I had never shared a room in my life, and was able to adjust with a minimum of stress.

The biggest stressor I can remember was during Recruitment, when people wouldn't show up for decorating beforehand, so those who were already there got stuck with doing it - again and again!

Have fun!

Re: Life in A Sorority House
 

I didn't live in a house, I lived on a sorority hall. I absolutely loved living with my sisters and it was a wonderful chance to get to know them better, but everyone borrowed stuff and never returned it, especially clothes! :) I'd do it again though, even with my missing clothing!

One of the high points of living with your sisters is the fun of getting ready for formals and parties together.
"Does anyone know how to shorten a dress in 5 minutes?"
"Anyone have a black handbag they're not using?"
"Are you wearing that pink dress? Do you think anyone would recogmize it if I wore it?"

One of the few advantages to not having a house, but living on a sorority floor in a dorm and having a chapter suite in the same building: you could eat meals with friends outside the sorority (male and female) when you needed some space.

i give you ladies a lot of credit. there is no way in HELL I could handle 35+ roommates.

Houses here are a foreign concept. There is one sorority that actually has a house and it fits like 6 girls.

i wish you the best. :D

I loved the sorority house--I wish I could go back! Just kidding...well, sometimes I really miss it because there were always people around and I never got lonely. If I needed help with something, anything, there was usually someone there who could help me out. I also felt more "in the loop" with sorority business, because living in the house it was hard to get away from it and I always knew if there was something going on, where and what time. It was awesome! I would recommend it, even if it's just for one year. I lived there only 2 years, but I wish it had been longer. Plus, the house was a lot nicer than the dorms, oh yes. :)

Some stuff you might want to try and prepare yourself for, though, is the fact that there are so many people around 24/7. That can be good, but it can also be a little annoying sometimes if you're like me--I need my space. I generally got along OK as long as everyone stayed out of my stuff, and the girls I lived with were pretty good about that. I never had anyone rooting around in my closet without permission or anything. Also, the house rules were a little more strict than dorm rules...and our kitchen was locked after 9 pm. That really sucked, because if you came in from a night class and were hungry, you'd better have some popcorn in your room or something because you weren't getting into the kitchen. I went hungry a lot my first year because there were some girls who were hogs with the food, and when I had to miss dinner because of class, there were never any leftovers when I came back. It was OK after they moved out, though.

I lived in the my sorority house two years. We were required to live there at least one year. The house can hold anywhere from 15 to 30 girls depending on how many girls wanted single rooms. I had a roommate both years. Upstairs we had a laundry room with two washers and dryers, a TV room (which didn't get a lot of use because everyone had a TV in their room), the computer room, and a communal bathroom with four showers, one tub and 6 toilets. Downstairs we had the formal living room, the informal living room (where everyone gathered at lunch to watch Days of our lives:) ), the mailroom, the dinning room, the housemothers living quarters and a guest suite. We had a full time wait staff that cooked us three meals a day and cleaned the house everyday (except our rooms). It was nice to always have a sister around when you need someone. And there was always plenty to do. Looking back now, I didn't realize how good I had it!

I live in right now and I love it. Our house is different from typical sorority houses though. We have 10 single rooms arranged suite style (6 upstairs 4 down). Each suite has a full bathroom, 2 sinks, tub, shower, cabinets, huge mirror, the works. Our rooms are a pretty decent size, plenty big for one person. We have a kitchen, laundry room, guest bathroom, office, storage closets, and a chapter/living/den sort of room. The house is definitely big enough for 10 girls. We don't have any sort of staff other than the campus cleaning ladies who come on Fridays and "clean" the common areas (at least I think that's what they do, you cant really tell). We also do not have an RA or a house mother. Other than the standing house rules we set our own as a house at the beginning of every semester and every one is expected ot abide by them. We also have weekly chores on a rotation basis that we are responsible for. I guess our house is probably a little quieter than the bigger ones. I guess it depends on the personality of the girls in here. Upstairs are us loud ones (except for one studious suite) and the more reserved girls are downstairs this semester. Next fall the only suite moving out/graduating is the studious suite which is being replaced by 2 more loud ones! Occasionally we all freak out on each other but this normally occurs at about the same time every month when our hormones hate us so we hate everyone else! But we get plenty of alone time having our own rooms, but together time whenever we need it. The good thing about being in the house is that it is the central location for sorority activities and info so there are always the other 65 sisters coming in and out. I love living in the house, I have lived there this half of my soph year and will be in it definitely next fall and possibly next spring. I think everyone who gets the opportunity to live in should go for it!

This thread needs testimonies, and pictures, of the pillow fights.

Do you want naked pillowfights Russ?

Sure. Why not.

I forgot to add: We had a variety of room arrangements from 4-mans to 2-mans. Very rarely did anyone get a single. The President usually had 1 roommate and had her own bathroom, otherwise there was 1 bathroom per floor, with 2 bathrooms on the 3rd floor. Including the basement, our house had 4 floors.

:D

Thanks so much guys! This has really helped me. We can have up to 15 girls living in our house at the same time and no one has their own room except the President unless she is willing to room with someone in her HUGE room thus allowing 16 women there. The rooms are 2 girls per room allowing her some space.

My next question then would be, are you randomly assigned roomies or do you have some say in it? I'd ask my girls but they are all on sprink break and I don't want to interrupt vacation for this.

Thanks!

We chose roomies. We had a seniority system, and those with the most time lived in the Suite and credits got to pick the rooms first. If your potential roomie had good seniority, you got the best rooms.

Our roommate and room assignments were based on a point system. We filled out a sheet 7th week for the next quarter and wrote three - five peope we wanted to live with and one person we absolutely could not live with. We also wrote our room preferences, whether we needed space in the computer room and whether we wanted driveway parking (we only have 6 parking spots and one goes to the President, one to the House Manager and the other four go to the four highest point holders who want parking).

Having a lot of points was awesome!

Almost all the houses at IU have sleeping porches (or warm dorms/cold dorms as we called them). The only ones without them (that I knew for sure) were AEPhi, ZTA, DZ, and Chi Omega. I think the new AOPi house doesn't have them either. There were a couple houses (AXiD and Tri-Delta) which had them but there were also beds in the rooms...so you could choose where to sleep. Delta Gamma has one bed per room, I think, and a couple singles, and everyone else is in one of the sleeping dorms.

All the houses have houseparents and cooks and stuff too.

Ok this is REALLY long...sorry!!!
 

Well, I always thought when I was younger that living in a sorority house would be like a big fun sleepover 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Yeah I learned REAL quick, like two days after moving into the house, that it is not at all. Right after we moved in for work week my sophomore year I lived in a 4 man room and I got in a huge fight with a roommate so I moved up to the 4th floor with my best friend at the time. Unfortunately living together just drove us apart and she ended up dropping the house.

We have to switch rooms every semester and it's a pain in the ass. I live over 5 hours away from my home so moving isn't an easy thing for me.

And with a house that holds over 90 women that's a LOT of hormones flying around, attitudes to deal with, NOISE, among a thousand other things.

Our house mom is the devil, but luckily she'll be gone after this year. Our food SUCKS, but we always have salad so I can somewhat make do.

My closet is smaller than anything I've ever seen and my bed is as hard as a rock. It's hard to sleep some nights because we're surrounded on all sides by fraternity houses and they all, especially the Sig Eps, love to scream, play loud music, and light fireworks well into the early hours of the morning.

It's always too hot or too cold, we have a house dog who is a biting monster, and a basement that looks like a torture chamber. And then there are those washers that don't wash and the dryers that don't really dry.

But even after ALL of this, I wouldn't trade the two years I've lived here for ANYTHING. Because while it was not what I expected AT ALL, I have learned SO much and I have grown immensely in the last two years and this place really DOES feel like my own home. And there have been those nights when we DO stay up all night and giggle or gossip or just sit and do nothing while painting our nails and those are the things that make it all worth it. Having my best friends around here all the time gets crazy, but it's awesome at the same time.

Whether I come running home crying hysterically over a boy or jumping for joy b/c I aced a test there is ALWAYS someone around the house there to comfort me or share in my happiness and that rocks.

So enjoy your time living in the house, it'll go by fast so make every minute worth it. AND HAVE FUN, that's the most important thing. It will not ever seem so bad if you just remember that the little things shouldn't bother you. Good luck and have fun! ;)

And that's the end of my novel. :cool: :eek:

we are getting a new house this fall and it is a nice sized house for the size of our sorority. we dont want more than 30 girls and not every girl is going to want to live in a house so we got a house with 7 bedrooms, 3 kitchens and 3 living rooms. on the main floor there are 3 bedrooms , on is huge and could room 4 girls if needed and the other 2 are perfect for 2 or 3 girls. the main floor also has a huge living room which will be our chapter room and the upstairs and downstairs have smaller kitchens and living rooms.

and the best part about the house....directly across the street from our favorite fraternity! :D

Re: Ok this is REALLY long...sorry!!!
 

Ahh... your post wanted to make me cry... I really miss leaving in the house. It's the little things I miss...watching "Friends" with 30 girls, ordering a pizza at 2:00 in the morning while pulling an all-nighter with sisters, having 60 closets to borrow clothes, and all those little memories really are the epitome of sisterhood...

you mean 4-women to 2-women?
;)

what the hecks a sleeping porch???

This thread goes into detail about what a sleeping porch is and it's history.cold air sleeping porches

Dee

I know! :o Old habits die hard. And I can guarantee you that's what they still call them! :)

just do it!!!
 

as one of our panhellenic sisters said earlier, you have the rest of your life to live in an apartment, but a limited time to live in a sorority house. on the whole a wonderful experience!!

I LOVED living in our house. Only the top 10 officers lived in the house so we were a pretty close group. Only the president had a room to herself and the rest of us lived 3 to a room. We lived in the upstairs portion of a 100 year old, historic landmark house. It had this great porch and the first year that I lived there, we would go out there and just enjoy the day, the 2nd year that I lived there, the housing board banned us b/c the porch was seperating from the old house. We had so much fun.

The two different groups that I lived with were both so random and different. Of course we didn't always get along and it was super crazy during rush when 10 women were trying to get ready at the same time. Sometimes some of us would get so loud in the common room having such a great time that others trying to sleep would get rather pissy. Oh well...

I wouldn't trade my 2 years in the house for anything!!! I have always said that I had my entire life to live in apartments and only a short time to live in a sorority house.

Do it!! Live in the house and have a great time!!