[psusue]

I joined Sigma right after becoming an RA, during my junior year. I had been hanging out with some Sigmas that spring (of 2009) but did not join until a little bit after formal recruitment in the fall. Some of my residents (all first year females) were in sororities before me (by about 2 weeks) but none were in mine so it really wasn't an issue. I think the hardest part was just the time balance between being an RA at a big state school and being in a sorority, especially during the new member period (the fact that I had to have a job to pay for my dues didn't help either). I think doing formal recruitment may also be difficult depending on your campus, as we had once weekly 1.5 hour meetings that were always smack dab in the middle of our recruitment. That's basically why I decided to do informal, or at least a big part of it.

In the end I ended up quitting my job as an RA to focus more on the sorority. I don't regret the decision either, but my experience as an RA was very difficult as I was going through a lot personally at the time. Best of luck whatever you decide to do, let us know how it goes.