Getting Involved?

[midnightlights]

If you've read my previous post from a few months ago, you'll know that I went through recruitment this year but being shy really inhibited me from letting myself shine. Thus, recruitment wasn't the best time for me, but I really believe this is something I want and I'm going to go through it one more time with my best foot forward.

I've been trying to get things in good standing; I'm doing well in college, I'm secuing recommendations, and I'm trying to maintain a positive attitude and a respectable character. But one thing isn't really working out that well for me. In high school, I was really involved in a lot of organizations like National Honor Society, Beta Club, French Honor Society, Orchestra, and the school newspaper as well as volunteering at my local civic center as a pottery studio student aide. In college, getting involved has proved quite a bit more difficult. I do a few things with the student center and my roommate is on hall council so sometimes I get to help her with that, but joining campus organizations I'm interested in has been really hard.

I've tried out for three different organizations and each time I've made it to the final interview, surviving the hardest cuts, striving to do my best, but each time I've sadly not made the final cut. I really feel a disadvantage in these situations because I am not Greek; I know many of my peers who made it into these organizations are involved with their Greek organizations and therefore already had a sense of involvement added to their resume. I have one more organization I'm trying out for, but this one will prove even more difficult I think: It is the summer orientation leader team and is generally 85% Greek. I feel it's a catch 22 for me. How can I get involved when you already need to be involved in order to get involved?

I also feel that this will be a hindering factor when I go through recruitment next year. When asked what I am involved in, what will I say? Can I say that I tried, kept trying, and will keep trying? That this really means something to me and I feel I could really benefit from it?

I've met a ton of really great girls in all the sororities on my campus (there are 6), and I hope this will help me too. I've told some of my friends about it, and they don't really see any other reason that I didn't get in these organizations besides the reasons I came up with. I just hope maybe the sororities will see that too?

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by midnightlights

If you've read my previous post from a few months ago, you'll know that I went through recruitment this year but being shy really inhibited me from letting myself shine. Thus, recruitment wasn't the best time for me, but I really believe this is something I want and I'm going to go through it one more time with my best foot forward.

I've been trying to get things in good standing; I'm doing well in college, I'm secuing recommendations, and I'm trying to maintain a positive attitude and a respectable character. But one thing isn't really working out that well for me. In high school, I was really involved in a lot of organizations like National Honor Society, Beta Club, French Honor Society, Orchestra, and the school newspaper as well as volunteering at my local civic center as a pottery studio student aide. In college, getting involved has proved quite a bit more difficult. I do a few things with the student center and my roommate is on hall council so sometimes I get to help her with that, but joining campus organizations I'm interested in has been really hard.

I've tried out for three different organizations and each time I've made it to the final interview, surviving the hardest cuts, striving to do my best, but each time I've sadly not made the final cut. I really feel a disadvantage in these situations because I am not Greek; I know many of my peers who made it into these organizations are involved with their Greek organizations and therefore already had a sense of involvement added to their resume. I have one more organization I'm trying out for, but this one will prove even more difficult I think: It is the summer orientation leader team and is generally 85% Greek. I feel it's a catch 22 for me. How can I get involved when you already need to be involved in order to get involved?

I also feel that this will be a hindering factor when I go through recruitment next year. When asked what I am involved in, what will I say? Can I say that I tried, kept trying, and will keep trying? That this really means something to me and I feel I could really benefit from it?

I've met a ton of really great girls in all the sororities on my campus (there are 6), and I hope this will help me too. I've told some of my friends about it, and they don't really see any other reason that I didn't get in these organizations besides the reasons I came up with. I just hope maybe the sororities will see that too?

Are there not any clubs that do not require an application and approval process? I imagine that even the smallest campuses have over 100 groups. If there isn't one that interests you (and I find that really hard to believe), you can start a new club.

I am wondering, what are the organziations that you tried to, but didn't get into? Aside from Student Government, officer roles and orientation, what else is there? A note about being an orientation leader - it is SUPER hard to get into the program, no matter where you are. You have to think about this - if you cannot find a single niche that you can get into, a single club (outside the one activity you do), how can you possibly guide new students through campus life?

I would reassess what's out there, and PUT yourself out there. By the way, many people end up on the higher-profile committees not because they are Greek - it's who they ARE. It may be that the screening criteria for such groups may be similar to those that Greek organizations emply in evaluating new members.

Seriously, there has to be something that interests you on campus. Don't rely on getting into a sorority to make you more outgoing or willing to get involved. It works the other way. Give them a reason to want you, other than your winning smile and eagerness.

Good luck on everything.

[Zillini]

Getting involved doesn't only have to be with campus organizations/clubs. How about volunteering for local charities? They are always looking for willing people at Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Habitat for Humanity, the Red Cross, a homeless shelter, Meals on Wheels, etc. You could also join a church and get involved with some of their activities.

[ComradesTrue]

The volunteer suggestions above are excellent. I would highly suggest getting involved in something along those lines.

Also, are there not any clubs at your university that line up with your hobbies? Ex: Hiking Club, Knitting Group, Gourmet Cooking, pre-professional interest groups, etc? These types of clubs do not require an application to join, and can be a great way to meet people and acquire some leadership positions.

Anyway, I am with Ree. It just seems impossible to believe that you are having trouble getting involved on campus. While leadership type groups (orientation assistants, RA, Student Government, etc) are well regarded, being the founding president of the Spelunking Club who organizes monthly excursions can be an interesting tidbit and memorable as well.

[texas*princess]

You may also want to try clubs/organizations that are related to your major.

e.g. If you're a marketing major, try the American Marketing Assoc... just about every school has a chapter of this... I think it would be hard to NOT find a club that is related to your area of study

[KSUViolet06]

Everything you get involved in doesn't have to be something you need to apply or try out for.

There are clubs and activities that don't require an application to join. You can just start going to meetings, get involved, and maybe run for an office within one of those orgs. Some of trhe things I was most active in (outside of my sorority) were clubs that were open membership like the English Club and Habitat for Humanity.

Also, there are some activities on campus that have high numbers of applicants and are just hard to get into. For example: Week of Welcome leaders, Orientation leaders, and KSU Ambassadors (tour guides) are the "it" activities at my school and to be honest, everybody just can't be one.

[Fleur de Lis]

You seem like an intelligent, ambitious woman who has a lot going for her. However, in your posts, there is a bit of desperation that comes across, like maybe you are trying too hard. Perhaps this comes across in real life, as well? Being in a competitive group will not validate you - in fact, it may very well cause you to doubt why you are there. (We've seen this SO many times with recent initiates). My advice is to RELAX! You will meet greeks at the gym, working a part-time job on campus, volunteering, and study groups. These are all great things that don't require an application. I think the sororities will care less about your resume, and more that you are an interesting person that happens to know a sister or two from class (or wherever). Even saying, "well, I'm a big movie buff, so I organize a movie night for me and my friends once a month" will be better than "my hobby is trying out for competitive clubs." :P Good luck and remember that college is a time to try new things and have fun!!!

[midnightlights]

Fleur de Lis - This type of advice was really helpful and reassuring. I feel like I've been caught up too much in how I can present myself in a few short words. I've just been thinking for a long time that those are the things interviewers are looking for -- how can I prove right now that I'm worth their time? I guess that's the part of myself that starting out in college has made me really nervous about. Making new starts and trying to make roots all over again is harder this time around. Nonetheless, I'm having the best time in college I could have imagined. I have great friends and I've had experiences I wouldn't trade for anything. That's the part of myself I would want someone to know -- but I can never shake the feeling that I have to prove that I'm worth that kind of respect.

This really makes me feel better. Sorry about sounding a little desolate, but thanks for reading and for the advice.

[sunnyhibiscus]

I'm not in a sorority, but what I can say is that there are so many organizations for you to join. I took a look at the organizations list. If I were at Georgia Tech, I would join the Surf Club, Gymnastics, Barbecue Club, and Anime O-Tekku (obviously) in a heartbeat. Origami Club and Sailing Club sounds fun also. I would even join something in my major. I'm sure that these organizations don't require an application and/or interview. Hey, I might start up one of these clubs at my school.

Try something new and relax. Who knows? You may like it. But most importantly, live your life.

[Thetagirl218]

I didn't go Greek until almost my Senior year! Because of this I had a lot of time to become involved in many different organizations on campus. While some I was a part of, such as Student Government do require certain processes to get in, there are many that do not!

All of the advice in this thread so far has been straight on! Join something that is your passion! There are many clubs out there for all different interests, including religious organizations, if that interested you.

I don't know the percentages on your campus, but for the most part these organizations are populated by both Greeks and non-Greeks.

[TAPchica09]

Hey, I'm not in a sorority but I am in a professional fraternity, have you tried that route? I know that when I was a freshman I was really shy and unfortunately, I never ended up joining a sorority for the most part because of my shyness and the large work load that I was taking - I was interested in becoming a double major my freshman year and did an overload of classes (and the fact that I got engaged during my sophomore year didn't really help in the matter when I went through formal recruitment that year). Some of my friends in sororities encouraged me to rush again this semester for formal recruitment (I'm a 3rd year student but I have senior standing this year, even though I'm not graduating until next year) - but I never did (and it's something that I admit that I regret, and I definitely do not want you to feel that way).

Anyway, sorry for going off topic, like I was saying when I was a freshman, I was thinking about becoming a Theatre major and doubling up with my Business major (I really liked doing backstage work, and I was hoping that perhaps if I did some acting then it would help me over come my shyness.) and that's how I met a few of the people in my fraternity, through my involvement in the theatre. They really helped me out and embraced me because we shared a common interest - which was theatre. That's one of the wonderful aspects about being in a professional fraternity, instead of looking for something that you have in common with people, you know that you already share at least one interest (most of the time it's your major, but in my fraternity as long as you have a proven interest in Theatre - i.e. taken classes, worked backstage or onstage, etc then we can give you an application for membership - and even if you haven't done a lot of theatre work, but seem really interested in it/passionate about it...we can offer you a bid).

Now I'm not saying that you should just join a professional fraternity and that's it. On the contrary, our fraternity really takes pride in the fact that we have diverse members in terms of the activities that they do, the different majors in the fraternity, pretty much everything you can think of. Plus our fraternity is co-ed, which I also really like - I've met a lot of cool new guy friends because of it. Three of the girls in my fraternity are in Kappa Alpha Theta, another is in Alpha Phi, and another is in Tri-Delta, and since our fraternity is co-ed, we also have a guy that's in Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. We also have a girl on the field hockey team, a girl the water polo team, a guy who is pledging is in Hawaii club, another pledge started her own club called Artistic Connections (which is for people of all majors as long as you have some interest in the arts), and a bunch of psychology majors are also in my fraternity. My big and I are both business majors. One of my littles is a junior in Tri-Beta, (the biology fraternity) and when he started pledging this semester I found out that he loves to cook as well as play video games (and so do I) so we got even closer than we were before. So joining a professional fraternity can also help you meet other people who share multiple interests with you, and most likely you will find someone who is involved in social greek life through a professional fraternity that you will grow close with. Now another person in my fraternity just recently got engaged, so we're going to go to bridal shows and what not together (I'm having a long engagement - getting married after college).

But like sunnyhibiscus and Thetagirl218 were saying there are tons of organizations on a campus (my school is pretty small, I think that we have about 4,000 undergrads - that's it) and we have tons of clubs/organizations, definitely way more than I can list/remember, and I know a lot of them are always happy to see a new face around (and yes you don't necessarily have to apply for membership for all of those), in my fraternity we're always excited to meet new people - that's one of the reasons why I love it so much is because we're so welcoming to new people. A couple of the freshman that are pledging this year have been telling me that they felt a lot more comfortable on campus/it was easier to settle in because we were there to help them out and that really makes me feel wonderful, I'm always happy to help someone out! Oh also, like Fleur de Lis said, definitely get out there and share your interests with everyone! You said that you were in French Honor Society in high school right? Why don't you share that with some of the lovely women that you meet who are a part of sororities on campus? My other little (our fraternity is co-ed by the way) who is also pledging TAP this semester and just recently got initiated into Kappa Alpha Theta, is a huge language buff, she's taken French, Latin, Japanes, etc....and I know that she shared those things with the sisters over there - as well as our fraternity, because that's who she is - and of course it's part of our bonding process and what not.

But hopefully I don't sound mean or weird or anything (sorry and excuse me if I come off that way), I really want to help you out, because I definitely understand your situation. Also sorry that this is so long, but I hope that this helps. If you ever need anything - feel free to PM me. ^_^