GreekChat.com Forums - Please read I need help!

Fraternities and Sororities tend to be labeled as Greeks because nearly all of the organizations have names made up of Greek letters.

The use of greek letters is due to the fact that the early fraternities (like Phi Beta Kappa, Delta Upsilon, Beta Theta Pi...) were founded in the days when collegians took a classical education that included which included Latin, Greek, logic, mathematics, political economy, and chemistry. The names of fraternities and later sororities tend to come from mottos or phrases that reveal principles or ideals central to the organization. The ideals are the "secrets" of our Greek Letter Organizations and in order to hide them, only the capital letters are used.

It is great that you are curious to sororities, as most high schoolers frankly don't have a clue. Basically a sorority is a group of collegiant women who come together to form bonds that are closer than friendship, reaching the levels of sisterhood. This is enhanced by a ritual that only members of that organization know. Typically, the girls live, socialize, study, play intramural sports, do charity work, and hang out together. Sorority life (and fraternity life) is much more complex than the shows you will see on MTV of the same name. You join a sorority by going through a process called rush or recruitment once you reach college. The one thing I've learned most from Greekchat (this message board) is that Greek life is very diverse from university to university. If you know where you would like to go to college, it is likely someone here knows what the fraternity and sorority system is like at that school. So GreekChat can be an excellent resource. I encourage you to check out the other forums and explore what people have posted already. If you have a specific question try the search button in the upper right of the screen.

As for your idea of a HS sorority...you can start your own sorority if you would like, but usually Greeks who are in college and members of groups that have chapters around the country tend to lack respect for such HS groups, dismissing them as a joke and not really indicative of what Greek life in College is like. Also HS sororities tend to have a lot of Hazing, no regulations, and considering there might only be one or two ever at your school, a level of elitist attitude that borders on just being mean.

If you have any questions feel free to post them here, or in the appropriate forum, although like I said, try searching, b/c odds are it may have been discussed at length already.