colonization at an SEC school
 

I am transferring to an SEC school in the fall as a junior (barely.) I had basically given up hope of becoming greek because of my classification, but when I went on a campus tour a few months ago, I found out that a new sorority would be colonizing in the fall. I talked to some greek friends at the school I'm transferring from, and they encouraged me to sign up for the new colony's recruitment.

After looking into the sorority a bit, I found out that their philanthropy is a cause that I feel very strongly about because it has affected many people dear to me. After learning this, I was even more excited about the prospect of recruitment.

However, I am now undecided about recruitment because the one time I brought it up to my mom, she flat out told me that I would have to fund the membership fees and everything myself. That is totally understandable, being that my mom pays my rent, tuition and other bills. I have money saved up that was to be used for post-college expenses when I'm on the hunt for a job, but I'm worried* about tapping into that.

I'm not sure how much the fees and everything would be, since it's a colony. I'm not even sure if they have a house. I'm guessing they do have one, though, because there are a couple of vacant houses on fraternity row (I wouldn't be living in the house either way because I just signed a 12 month lease.) They supposedly had a meeting during the spring semester to discuss all of that, but of course I wasn't on campus. I have enough money saved right now to afford living unemployed for a year after college (worst case scenario.) I'm estimating I have 3 years left of college because I'm changing my major, so depending on how much the fees are, that could be a sizable chunk of my savings gone...not to mention mixers, football games etc.

Am I freaking out over nothing? Is the greek experience worth tapping into my savings? I will not be working in the fall so that I can get acclimated to a new campus and city, but I plan on getting a part time job at the start of the year.

And what are the chances of an upperclassman transfer student being recruited? I was involved at the school I'm transferring from and I have an excellent GPA.

Colonies want members from all 4 years, so as a junior, this would be a pretty good opportunity for you. As far as cost/benefit analysis, you'll have to do this on your own, but sorority membership and colony membership in particular can be extremely rewarding. But it's pretty hard to quantify in terms of dollars and cents. Will it get you a job, a scholarship or something else that can be boiled down to money? It's possible but I wouldn't expect it. Will it help you make friends at your new school, develop leadership skills, hone your social skills and make you generally happy, if very very busy (all of which WILL help in that future job search, in one way or another)? Yes, it will do all of that.

Go through the colony recruitment process. There are no guarantees you'd get accepted, and you are not obliged to accept if they DO offer it to you, so there's no harm in at least looking into it. It's like a job search. They may not offer you the job and you might not want it, but you should still take up every interview opportunity you can get. If nothing else it gives you interviewing experience and will provide you insight as to what you want for yourself and what it's worth to you.

And you can go thru traditional recruitment as well and drop out if it's "not your thing." Keep in mind that either way - formal recruitment or colonization - at an SEC school, you need recs.

Keep in mind that if this colony goes to the expense of establishing a chapter house, you may be required to live in pretty early on. Make sure you understand what might be required of you before going through recruitment.

And please look up the meaning of the word "weary".... sorry to be fussy about things like grammar, but it counts.