pledging as a varsity athlete

[alphagamphi]

WHen I was at college I was (D1) Swimmer and we had o ther athlets in the house as well especially cheerleaders.

[susan314]

We had a member of MSU Motion (dance team) in my chapter, and also a member of the varsity golf team. Both were involved members and able to keep up their commitment to the chapter. They were excused from chapter events which conflicted directly with athletic events (especially since our golfer had an athletic scholarship), but were otherwise expected to comply with the same chapter attendance policies as everyone else.

I had a roommate from another chapter (Kappa Delta) who was also on MSU Motion, but I don't think she was a super involved member. (Not to say that she was a bad member, of course...she just didn't hold offices, etc. But between her dance team obligations and having an excellent GPA as an engineering major, I'm not sure how she could have fit in holding an office in her chapter. I suspect though that her great academic record coupled with the cache of having a dance team member still provided great benefit to her chapter, even without holding an office...plus she was a real sweetheart.)

[Lily1909]

I was a varsity athlete and so were my big and little sisters. I missed some sorority events, but on the whole, there weren't very many conflicts.

Considering that we all had athletic scholarships, the chapter understood that the team had to be a priority.

[adpiucf]

It is possible, but you are going to have a lot of scheduling conflicts and less time for yourself and school.

Sororities are very welcoming of athletes, leaders, etc-- it adds prestige when they can include your accomplishments within the membership. And they'll be understanding your schedule.

But you may feel like you're missing out or not part of the sisterhood as much because you have other priorities that interfere. As long as you go in with that expectation, and make the effort to be friendly and engage other people when you can come to sorority functions (rather than hold a grudge "no one is friendly or seems like they want to know me"), you'll be fine.

I think athletes have a competitive time at recruitment, b/c of that prestige angle. Sororities want to recruit the best of the best that the campus has to offer. Varsity cheerleaders, tennis players, dancers, band members, theatre majors who are performing around campus, pageant title holders, student gov't officers, etc., are highly sought after.

[OleMissGlitter]

At Ole Miss there are plenty of Varsity athletes who in sororities. AOII just graduated a varsity soccer player and they have two girls on the varsity golf team. Ole Miss is a DIV I, SEC school, so as you can gather, they do practice all of the time and travel a lot as well. There are also some soccer players who are in DG, KD, and Theta. There are some softball players and a team manager who are in sororities as well. I would say that as long as you tell the sorority up front, hey I am on the swim team and I won't be at certain things because of practice and competitions, you should be fine. There are also many girls on the Ole Miss danceteam (Rebelettes) and Cheerleaders who are in sororities. So it is totally possible.