Why did you choose your TYPE of GLO?
 

I was thinking about how many different types of GLOs there are, and their different roles. Which led me to start this discussion: if you chose one type of org instead of another (like NPC instead of NPHC; local instead of national; professional instead of social) why did you choose your type of org?

SAI turned out to be the perfect fit for me. I always wanted to be in a sorority, but when I found out how much NPC orgs' dues are, I knew I couldn't afford it. So, I chose SAI instead because not only can I afford the dues (only a small reason for choosing SAI), but I loved the thought of having all my sisters be musicians, since I am a music major. And the smaller chapter size (as compared to NPC) really appealed to me. And the idea of everything being related to music and promoting it was a huge draw for me. And honestly, it's the perfect fit for me. NPC orgs are wonderful, but I think I wouldn't have been as happy in one.

And no name calling/insulting/flaming. Just friendly discussion. :) I mean, one kind of greek org isn't better than another; we're ALL Greek, we just have different roles.Quite honestly, the reason there are so many different types of GLOs is because our respective founders saw a need that wasn't being fulfilled by the existing kinds. For instance, SAI was founded basically to promote sisterly bonds among female musicians and give us a support network in our profession and our lives.

Discuss! :)

I went APO but I had previous experience and contact with other orgs. However, I was never initiated. I loved the service and co-ed aspect of our group. I also couldn't afford NPC dues.

I feel the need to break it down for all the PNMs out there! There are wonderful opportunities in all orgs, if you give them a chance!

Alpha Phi Omega - I went APO because of the open membership and service aspect (both of which really appealed to me as a freshman.)

Theta Nu Xi - I went TNX because I was strongly drawn in by the idea of multiculturalism in a social/service organization. I realize the beauty of my Sisterhood more every day!

1) Professional - I wasn't really involved with a particular profession or skill, so there wasn't anywhere for me to go!
2) Honor - The only one I would have considered would have been Sigma Tau Delta, but I didn't want to. Honor orgs are GREAT for first resumes and networking!
3) Social - TNX is social. Being in a social organization is exciting and enriching.
4) Service - APO and TNX are service. I LIVE for service. I try to live by Jesus' example. Service organizations are so fulfilling!
3) National - Both APO and TNX are national orgs. I just like the idea of having Brothers and Sisters EVERYWHERE!
4) Local - I had the opportunity to check out a local, but I didn't like the geographical limitations - however, that was one of the major selling points for their members! They knew they could focus all their energy on making one chapter the very best.
5) Regional - I never had the opportunity to check out a regional. To me, they're like the in-between for women who want more than one chapter, but want to be able to focus their energy somewhat.
6) NPC - Rushed and loved it, but didn't click with any sororities in particular.
7) NPHC - Rushed and went to an interest meeting, but it didn't work out.

Too good not to quote! :) We actually have a sister who is in THREE orgs: Delta Zeta, SAI of course, AND Tau Beta Sigma. When she pledged, I asked her why 3 GLOs. Her response was basically because each one offered something different that she felt a connection with: DZ offers her the chance to get to know lots of people on campus she might not have otherwise; SAI gives her sisterly support in the music field (she's a music major); and TBS' coed setting and service opportunities were a draw for her. I personally can't imagine being able to juggle 3 orgs, but she does it and loves it!

I am also a Brother of Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, I may not go into law (as of now) but it is all about the networking.

I wanted to join a social GLO...I knew that much when I came into college. I talked to guys from a few orgs, but Kappa Sig ended up being where I wanted to be. I liked the guys, and that was that. There weren't really any deeper reasons behind it, but I'm happy with the choice I made.

I never gave it much thought really. I just ended up where I ended up after initially never expecting to join any kind of GLO.

I've never given it a second thought really. There was no chace I would have ended up somewhere else.

at my school we dont have any local chapters......well we did but they left campus to rebuild a couple of years ago. we have service fraternities but only 1 or 2 and they can actually get away with hazing and i'm not down with that, and there are some honor fraternities but they are for people within that major and well Sociology doesn't have one.....which leaves me with Alpha Phi :)

I chose my NPC organization because of several reasons. The first being Butler doesn't allow local GLOs to be recognized by the University for RME issues. The second was that I didn't feel that the NPHC orgs were groups that I would fit in with, and they were much smaller groups on campus. Third, I wanted to be a part of something like my high school. I went to an all girls catholic high school that was a very close knit group. I missed that when I came to college because there were so many people and being in an NPC group made it easier to meet people.

I also really liked the idea of sisterhood, and I thought it was kind of neat that they had secrets! :p

Well, quite honestly, my only choice was a NPC sorority. When I joined, we didn't have locals, NPHC, multi-cultural, and to join a professional organization you have to be a junior. I might have considered an engineering sorority, but we might as well be one anyway. We do have Alpha Phi Omega, but I was looking more for girlfriends because it's a predominately male campus (70%). I grew up a tomboy, so it was important for me to learn how to deal with other women.

Now we do/did have a local (they will be colonized by Phi Sigma Sigma this Fall) starting my junior year, and I knew the girls who started it and had been planning it for a long time. There isn't too much "need" for a multicultural organization because Florida Tech is about as multicultural as you can get (20% international students), and every organization on campus, Greek or not, has people from a wide variety of ethnicities and backgrounds. (When I say need, I mean that it wouldn't be a huge selling point on a campus like this.)

While I am good friends with many of the girls in the former local, Alpha Phi gave me exactly what I was looking for. I needed a variety of service, social, and leadership development opportunities while meeting and relating to women.

Ditto to that, i went to an all-girls school and knew that sisterhood was cool :D plus, there were no locals on our campus and APO was HUGE...i loved AXO because they were down to earth and very nice and the musical/arts heritage appealed to me...and they were SO GREAT to me during recruitment :)

I joined a professional sorority (SAI) because I wanted to be more involved in the music department at my school since I'm "only" a music minor. I really liked the sense of community in the first year music theory classes (which music majors and minors have to take) and I knew that I would miss that in my sophomore, junior and senior years if I didn't get involved in other ways.

I joined a social sorority (Theta) because I wanted to get to know people at my school outside of the music, sociology (my major) and honors departments. Because of the small size of the honors program, you end up with pretty much the same people in all your honors classes, plus I lived in a house with all honors students my freshmen year. I wanted to branch out and meet other people.

I joined Delta Chi Epsilon, a local, because all of the sororities on campus were locals (and all of the fraternities were national, go figure!). I wanted what I thought was the sorority experience. It was okay to great depending on what was going on.

I didn't join Alpha Phi Omega because I didn't know most of them and I didn't think I'd have any time. We didn't have any NPHC orgs on campus, and I wasn't a music major or minor so Sigma Alpha Iota wasn't an option.

I was initiated into Sigma Tau Delta, the English honorary, the last semester of my senior year. Haven't done a thing with it.

When DXE went national, I decided to join Alpha Delta Pi. I thought it would be great to be part of a national NPC sorority. I'm gradually getting into the alumnae association near where I work, and I like the option of meeting new people and making friends since most of my friends are from college or online and are now everywhere across the country!

I was given the option of joining Beta Phi Mu, the honor society for library and information science, but I'll probably wait until my husband graduates next May. Since he's currently busting a 4.0 in grad school, it'd be cool to be initiated together. I have no idea whether the org actually *does* anything, though...

Finally, I've accepted a bid into the Delta Kappa Gamma society, an honor society for women educators. I already know three of the people in DKG, and it'll give me the chance to make more friends and get involved in my educational community in the Aurora/North Aurora/DuPage/Kane county areas.

SERVICE GLO: I came to college with a strong interest in sororities. I really wanted that tight bond of friendship that I had heard so much about. But I soon learned that a sorority (we had 4 NPC groups) was going to take up more time and money than I had to offer. I joined Alpha Phi Omega because I could have the long-standing tradition, leadership opportunities, and close relationships that I wanted from a GLO but with much lower dues and a smaller time commitment (I realize that at some colleges/universities APO takes up just as much time as other fraternities & sororities, but my chapter was pretty laid back). Also, service has been a big part of my life since elementary school, so I felt very comfortable in the APO environment.

I'm adding a new category!!:cool:

NON-COLLEGIATE GLO: As much as I loved APO, I still wanted "sisters." As a graduate student, I learned about Beta Sigma Phi, and I looked into joining a chapter in my area. Before I was even contacted by a Beta representative, I started talking to other women about the sorority, and I found a few others who were interested in starting a chapter. I love that Beta Sigma Phi members can be any age and ALWAYS be active sisters in a chapter. It's wonderful to watch someone pledge at the age of 18 or 80:) Because members can come from all different levels of education or professions, we are a very diverse group of women!

HONORARY: I am a member of Sigma Tau Delta, English Honorary, and Pi Delta Phi, French Honorary. I chose to join these organizations because I genuinely felt honored to receive invitations to be inducted into these groups. Sigma Tau Delta has been a wonderful way to stay connected with the literary world after graduation, and my membership in Pi Delta Phi challenged me to improve my French because I had to say the ritual in French...LOL

Erica

Honestly... because I rushed before I knew the difference.

I'm in a "professional" GLO that has a focus on music.... and yet I have absolutely no interest/involvement in music. When I rushed, I thought all sororities were the same, and DO just happened to be the one that had rush first.

I'm still glad I joined, because I love my sisters, but if I had the chance to do it over again, I would have gone NPC.

Can't you be both DO and an NPC??

Nationally, yes.

My particular chapter had a by-law against it.

Because of the people that I met. I have went to the Beach Party and I had a lot of fun, But It was getting to know them on a more personal level that drew me in. I felt at ease after that and the rest is History. :)

I chose, and joined., Beta Sigma Phi for many of the reasons Erica did. I have sisters of all ages, and I can be active as long as I want to be. I'm in my mid-40s, and I really like that idea. We have social, cultural, service and many other projects, and Beta really is about life, learning and friendship.

I guess at Nebraska, I didn't really have a choice of whether to go anything other than NIC.

Unlike some places, at Nebraska, groups like Alpha Phi Omega or any honorary/ professional GLO's are not considered Greeks at all. When you talk about Greeks at UNL you automatically mean NIC/NPC/NPHC. I think a lot of it has to do with many students associating greek with having a house. I have friends who are independent but in things like Omicron Delta Kappa and they do not consider themselves greeks at all. Organizations like this do very little social gatherings, and tend to struggle to get participation out of their members.

For that reason, even in spite of GC, I have difficulty in identifying SAI or APO or any of the other non-social GLO members I've talked to on GC to be really greek. I don't see you having the same issues or the same experiences that I see amongst social GLO's. This isn't meant to be offensive to anyone, just an end result from what I see on my campus, and how that's affected my thoughts on the issue.

Looking back, there is no way that I would have done anything differently in choosing service vs social.

I completely agree. My APO chapter is constantly having to remind independents on are campus that we're not a social GLO and that we focus on service. We don't participate in Greek Week or anything like that and it's definitely a different kind of brotherhood.

That said, I joined APO because I'm addicted to community service. I thought about joining Circle K, but I definitely liked the idea of a Brotherhood (and wearing letters and having a formal :) ). It's been an awesome experience and I love running into other people who are in different APO chapters.

I plan to go through sorority recruitment in the fall. I think I will most likely join an NPC organization (we don't have NPHC) because I've met amazing girls from across the country and after being involved with a national service fraternity, I don't think I could focus solely on a local chapter.

It's kinda like that here. We have lots of multi-cultural greeks as well as Greek honories... but you ask any of my sisters what are the other fraternities and sororties on campus, and they will tell you just the NPC/NIC ones. And maybe a few others that we have mixed with.
I know NIC/NPC members are also members of other Greek orgs besides their own, but others feel that one GLO is enough and stick to what is familiar.
It's sad, but what can you do?

I joined my then local/social because back then we were the only Chi Delta with the symbols we have. (There are other Local Chi Delts unrelated to us elsewhere.) Everyone was pretty laid back, the rush events were easy going and fun as were the girls. And I was strapped for cash during my college years. Being in a local made my financial situation a little easier.

My school did not have NIC fraternities when I was in undergrad. The AEPi chapter colonized my senior year, but I didn't think joining an Jewish fraternity would do me or them any good. lol

However, had I gone to school up the road at American, I might have given them (NIC fraternities) a looksie. When I was in grad school, I saw that the NIC fraternities there were very diverse. In fact, I thought that all the NIC fraternity men there were pretty gentlemanly. I would have fit in there if I wanted to, I'm sure.

I pledged a service fraternity because I wanted to do service and bond with other people on campus who were not similar to me. APO was the only service fraternity on campus, so there I was.

I became a member of an NPHC fraternity because being in a Brotherhood of BLACK men was important to me. It wasn't just the social action that was Alpha's trademark, but the fact that it wasn't afraid to be a fraternity by black men and for black men, historically providing a safe space for academic advancement as well as fellowship.

I wasn't interested in musical fraternities because I am not a musician.

My school had several business fraternities....wasn't interested.

My school had a Latino fraternity. They were nice guys, but I felt like they deserved their own space.

We had no multicultural fraternities. In fact, there are no multicultural fraternities in DC that I know of.

Who knows where I would be if my school had EVERYTHING on campus? Alpha is definitely in my heart, but still...who knows?

No attack intended! Just wondering...would Chi Deltas not consider NPHC and NALFO orgs to be Greek?

Also, what was it about the multicultural sororities that made them not seem Greek?

Well, Sigma Gamma Rho is a service sorority founded for some of the same reasons Senusret mentioned: social action, networking, academic advancement and sisterhood.
I'm interested in SAI but there is no chapter nearby and I can't charter a chapter at my school because we have no music department.:( I played the flute, violin and piano.

Years ago , when I was at Grambling State U, I had transferred in and did not have the prerequisite number of units or class standing to join any greek lettered org:( There were no NPC's, only Honors and NPHC's, and music orgs. There were also the ROTC orgs Perishing Rifles, and I can’t remember the name of the other ones something Angles. Anywho, I'm happy where I am but if the opportunity ever arises for membership into SAI, I'll jump on that bandwagon!:)

ETA: One of my best friends is a PMA (Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia)I always though it would be cool if we were both in musical orgs

i am in the mood to post short replys today so i'll keep this simple too.
the girls were nice and didnt seem snobish like some did to me.

I chose to become a member of Beta Sigma Phi for many reasons. I didn't go Greek in college, due to having many friends already there. I never felt alone. Looking back, I wish I would have given Greek life a try. I thought my chance to join a GLO had come and gone. After getting married, my husband and I moved to a new area where I knew no one. I wanted to get to know more people and to have a social outlet. Enter Beta Sigma Phi. It has introduced me to a wonderful group of women (both on GC and at home) and I really feel the sisterhood in my chapter. I know BSP is not the same as a college-based, social GLO, but I feel like I have found my "home" and I wear my letters with pride!

Don't ever believe it's any less!!!!! We, as a Greek community, have to stop promoting the "You're not Greek unless you're NPC/NIC" mentality. GCers are some of the most open-minded and encouraging people I've encountered in dealing with this issue.

Thanks! Your post made me happy! I have really enjoyed meeting many different people on GC!:D

Welcome home!!!

No attack taken.

I'm just saying my sisters probably don't know they exist because they AREN'T in NPC/NIC. They know that other sororities and fraternities exist outside of it, but could they name all of them... probably not.

It's more of a case of lack of education than considering certain groups to be greek. However, I had noticed this type of attitude within the whole system. Not just in our house.

I'm not exactly proud of the system at our school because it's so... "segregated." But that's one of the reasons I come here.

Co-sign!!!!

The reason so many types of GLOs exist is because the founders saw a need that wasn't being filled. I am guessing Beta Sigma Phi was founded so women of all agres, whether they went to college or not, could have the same sisterhood as college sororities. :)

The thing I like the most about this thread is that it helps to show that, while each of our types of GLO serves a different purpose, we are ALL equally Greek. :)