Why did you join?

[DeltaSigStan]

Again, if someone has made a thread about this (andI'm sure there has), I'm sorry.

Anyways, why did you join your GLO. I don't mean why you chose your particular organization, but why did you choose to enter the Greek system?

[CutiePie2000]

Networking opportunities for after university,
make new friends,
have socializing opportunities,
get more involved in the community,
road trips to meet other chapters....etc.

[dzandiloo]

I honestly decided to go through rush with no expectations at all...sincerely intended to go through and meet some people because I went to a very small school in Texas, and basically, I was bored. I was planning on transferring my sophomore year, and since none of the sororities on my campus had a chapter at the other school I wasn't going to actually pledge.

Anyway, I had alot of fun that week, and can honestly say that I joined because I clicked with the women who rushed me. I felt like I belonged, and wanted to be a part of something that no one else in my family had ever been a part of. I was a shy person, so the idea of mixers/socials was not a big draw for me, but I had always had a large circle of friends and was lonely--DZ filled that hole from the very beginning...ended up never transferring! Being in a sorority helped me to build confidence, self-esteem, and made me more organized, and my closest friends today are my sorority sisters. So, even though that's not why I joined, that's why it ended up meaning so much to me.

[XOAlumXO]

I remember wanting to go Greek ever since I was a little girl. I am the first Greek in my family (to my knowledge) so I really don't know WHY I wanted to be Greek, I just remembering always planning on rushing when I got to college. I had the perception that Greeks were involved on campus, in the community, and of course the social aspect was a huge plus! Joining my GLO has been the best decision for me. I met tons of people, had the BEST time in college, and have made life-long friends. I don't think my college experience would have been the same without my sisters.

[josh8o]

i went to a jc for 3 semesters before i transfered...i saw a lot of my friends go greek, and heard how much fun it was. i was really invloved in high school...to have 3 semesters at a jc where i was just a student i knew i wanted to be involved in something when i go to sdsu. i also wanted to meet people, party, network, and have a brotherhood.

[PM_Mama00]

I joined for the social aspects. Fraternity parties, fraternity guys, mixers, gettin drunk, straight up partying. Oh yeah, I like to party...hard!

Ok...now that I'm done making fun of the dumbasses on that commercial for Sorority Life (see the many threads), I joined Phi Mu, actually, cuz they were the ones who called me for COB. I would gladly have rushed the other sororities, and who knows what I woulda joined then. Do I regret not goin thru Rush? Yeah, only cuz I heard it's fun. Would I change the fact that I'm Phi Mu? Hell no! Out of all the sororities on campus, I love our Philanthropy most. The girls are the sweetest, we have the most respect from the fraternities...and shhhh....but I like pink!

[Tom Earp]

First, PhiMu_Mom, there is one of your badges on ebay and price is not to high so far! Nice looking!!!!!!

Why did I join? In my first school, I was rushed by all of the Fraternitys but wanted something else!

My second school, I pledged a local, as I was always against the grain and wanted to be with something new!

Booted out of there just before the end of school! Came back with a plan and designs of Coat of Arms, Badge, Pledge Button, and Flag! No members But recruited people I knew and gaind others from Fraternitys that they had been quicked of. What better considering my situation!

I had always been a doer not a follower and the best way to do it was be a member of a organization! While a Proud Brother of LXA, I often wonder if I could have started a National Fraternity!

I did not think of what it might be down the road, but it proves out in teh long run when you meet Brothers/Sisters today from other Chapters!!

LXA has always profesed from the begining that you are a Brother for life not 4 years (another thread ) and I am still stirring the pot after being a member since 1966!

The Brothers In my Chapter are like my Family ( CLOSE ) and the Brothers and Sisters from All other Fraternitys/Soroitys are like Cousins!!

Life is an interaction with people not going on your own! Be someone with others or be gone. You can not change anything unless you are with your freinds!!!!!!!!!

[KDHoney]

Even in high school, I was always very involved in extracurricular activities. When I got to college, I knew that I wanted to stay involved. To me, being Greek offered the chance to be social, to do service, to meet new people...the whole package. My RA was Greek as well as a good friend from high school who was a couple of years older. They're the ones who first told me about the Greek system. To be honest, not many of my friends decided to rush, but the girls that I met while pledging were incredible and made me feel at home right away.

[RubberSoul]

I knew I would join a sorority from the time I was a little girl. My mom always talked positively about it and my aunt, who is more like a big sister to me and I idolized as a child, was an Alpha Gamma Delta. Going Greek was just the natural thing to do.

By the time I was actually looking ahead to college and thinking about really doing it, I had more definite reasons in mind. For one, I went to an extremely cliquey high school.....but it was weird cliquey. The most "popular" girls were not necessarily the prettiest or the ones with the most money. I'm not really sure what the criteria was that originally put them in place, but I can assure you that it wasn't based on genuine niceness either! Anyway, I had grown up with these girls and been friends with them from the time we were just little, and I got so tired of the whole goofy system that I wanted to escape. I saw going Greek as a way of shunning my past and moving forward with a new group of people. I also wanted the chance to be involved in my school.....it is a lot harder to be really involved when you go from a high school of 1200 to a campus of 30000 and I knew that going Greek would be one way of helping me to do so. I also was, admittedly, interested in meeting the guys!!!! I thought that being Greek might offer me some help and guidance in the way of academics. I knew about a lot of the activities and thought it sounded like fun.....I mean, honestly the social aspect was pretty much most of it. At my school, you were either "with it" or "out of it" and with as small of a greek system as we had for a large school, it was all pretty exclusive and attractive.

[Kevin]

I joined the Sigma Nu colony at the University of Central Oklahoma because I wanted to be part of starting something, not just join something that was already there.

To tell you the truth I really had no intention of ever going Greek. I worked with a fella that was part of the interest group and he told be about the interview. My perception of fraternities was very much along the lines of the stereotypes tha most of us aren't very fond of (and no one on our campus had told me otherwise).

So I went through the interview... 2 years later I'm now the 5th member of the Mu Tau chapter of Sigma Nu!

LHT
Kevin
MT #5
University of Central Oklahoma

[KappaKittyCat]

I was incredibly anti-Greek as a freshman. I bought into the usual stereotypes: you're buying friends, all they do is party, etc. Plus, our sororities aren't housed and our fraternities are, so it seemed like a waste of money to join a sorority when you didn't get to live in a nice house and eat good food. I joked with my fraternity friends, who were trying to talk me into rushing, that I'd do so only if I could be a Phi Tau.

At the beginning of winter term I switched choirs. I'd been in the general enrollment Chorale with most freshman and sophomore voice majors and the nonmajors, and I re-auditioned and made Concert Choir, the top group, which was almost all upperclass voice majors. Very cliquey. An older girl who lived on my floor was one of the only ones who made any effort to get to know me. I'd known her from seeing her in the hall and at breakfast and stuff, and she'd always been nice, but at this point, she really singled me out and did her best to make me feel a part of the group. It was first week of Winter Term, right before our deferred recruitment, and she asked me whether I'd thought of rushing. I shot her down, but I remember walking past the rooms where the parties were being held all that week and peering through the windows, curious about what was going on. At the beginning of Spring Term, Kappa was having COB's and this girl talked me into going to one of them. Nice trick she pulled: she was stage managing the spring play and wasn't even at the party! However, her big sis took me under her wing and the two of us hit it off.

Flash forward through the summer, when I was dumped by my boyfriend of two years and rebounded all over the place, to the start of the next school year. Most of my friends the year before had been seniors and were gone. I'd spent tons of time that year on the phone with my boyfriend, and most weekends visiting him. I didn't really have anybody at school. I had to be back early to do some things for choir, so I moved in at the same time as the freshmen. This girl bumped into me as I was hauling stuff from the elevator to my room and asked how my summer went. It turned out that we'd had rather similar experiences over the summer. She didn't actually help me carry anything heavy, 'cuz she'd spent the day moving freshmen in and was really sore, but she hung out with me while I lofted beds and rolled out rugs and set up my computer. Over the first weekend, at the choir retreat, she and I became really close, so when she asked me to come to another COB party, I said yes, and of course I had a blast. I hit it off with everybody right away.

I still didn't understand, however, why I couldn't just be friends with all the Kappas. At dinner one night, this girl put it to me in the simplest terms, and I'll never forget these words:

"I love all of my friends, and yes, all of my sisters are friends. But my sisters are something more than that. There's a spiritual bond that exists between Kappa sisters, and it's the most beautiful thing in the world. You're my friend and I love you, and I want very much to share this with you."

SOLD!

I got my bid on the night my grandmother died. I was sitting in the hallway on the phone with my cousin, in my ratty pajamas, taking a break between crying jags, when the president and the membership chair came and invited me to join. I burst into tears again and accepted on the spot. These two ladies who I didn't even know very well at the time stayed with me all night, watching Mary Poppins and holding me while I cried.

I cried at my pledging. I cried at my initiation and at the first formal meeting after I'd spent a term in Italy and hadn't seen anybody I knew for five months. The girl who worked on me for an entire year to come through and experience the Greek system is now my big sis, not to mention my best friend, and Kappa's definitely the most beautiful thing in my life.

[ShaedyKD]

I decided to join a sorority because I only knew about 5 people from my high school that were attending my university, and I wasn't really good friends. I thought it would be a good way to meet a lot of people, which it was, and still is. I also wanted to get involved in student activities, and being in a sorority allows me to hold leadership positions, play intramural sports, volunteer, network, and learn valuable lessons that will help me later in life. Instead of joining a couple different clubs or organizations, I joined a sorority that encompasses everything you could want in a college experience. The friendships and memories that I have made in KD will be with me for the rest of my life.

[douthit]

When I was in high school and when I first came to school, I liked the idea of fraternities, but I never thought I was that "type." When my friends in the dorms went through formal rush, it seemed like so much fun and I kicked myself for not going out on a limb and giving it a try.

Towards the end of the Fall semester and beginning of Spring Semester, I had been hanging out with one chapter quite a bit, and thought that I was going to join through informal rush. Well, it didn't turn out quite like i had thought it would be. I was pretty bummed out for a while, but I realized that everything happens for a reason. Later, I was invited to my fraternity's Christmas Party, and even though I didn't realize it just then, I was sold! Now, I can't even imagine being in any different house than Phi Sigma Kappa!

Back to the original topic, I'll admit that the reason that I primarily joined was for the social scene and the fun, since I was pretty shy and never a real hit with the ladies Once I joined, however, I found out that fraternity means so much more, from the brotherhood to the real-life experiences and administrative stuff. As a side note, being in a fraternity has made me much more sociable, and even my parents comment on it from time to time!

[carnation]

I too wanted to be Greek from a young age. My older cousin was a DZ at the University of Houston; also, my grandmother in Arkansas lived right next to the U. of Arkansas and I used to watch the sorority girls there having tons of fun! From an early age, I would form clubs with friends too. We really got into making up colors and symbols and mascots!

I was, according to the family, born to be Greek and they were all relieved when I finally pledged!

[NewGirl]

the reason i think that i became interested in greek life, was because i wanted to be apart of something that had history and solid foundings. A person can always join clubs or student groups, but sororities and frats have that history that binds us together. we have a special connection that seperates us from the rest..
--ashley