Looking for some perspective about recruitment...

[LegallyBrunette]

Calla,
Your situation reminds me a little bit of my own experience with recuitment. I too was a junior transfer with an older boyfriend who was not very supportive of my interest in Greek Life. I'm also going to suggest you go through with recruitment. To address a couple of your concerns:

Even if you ultimately decide a sorority isn't for you, recruitment can be a great way to meet people. Also, I wouldn't worry too much about things being weird with women you already know from other organizations. Assuming you get along with these women already, your involvement in other groups on campus will make you a more attractive PNM and give you common ground to talk about during the parties (thus making it less potentially awkward, rather than moreso). And, I would hope that if recruitment didn't work out for you, the women you know from other involvement would be mature enough not to make things uncomfortable for you afterwards. Without knowing them personally, or where you go to school, this is just an assumption though.

As far as your pledge sisters being younger than you, it's all a matter of attitude. I was lucky that I transferred to a school with deferred recruitment so my pledge class was composed of other juniors & sophomores. Even so, I still became very close with younger women who were initiated after me.

Finally, a non supportive boyfriend can be a challenge. However, once my bf saw how happy Theta Phi made me, he slowly began to come around. Hopefully yours would do the same.

Good luck with whatever you decide! If you're interested I posted my recruitment story here. It's the only thread I've started, so it shouldn't be too hard to find

-J

ps, love your name

[KSUViolet06]

If you think that you'll regret not doing it, then I say you should go through recruitment. You have nothing to lose by going through. Even if you don't receive a bid, you will have met tons of new people.

And I know you love your boyfriend, but this is a decision you need to make for yourself.

[barnard1897]

I'm sure you care about your boyfriend's opinion and all. I know I did in college. He was a sophomore at the end of a pledge period for his fraternity. He found out I (as a freshman) was going through FR (we had deferred). He tried to talk my roommate and I out of it. He said it was not a good idea, that he knew some women in houses and he didn't care for them.

Yeah. Well, I went through. I pledged. I became a top officer. Then I graduated. Then I became an adviser. Followed by a network specialist position with HQ. Followed by a role with my GLO's foundation. Oh, and I also married that boyfriend, who figured out that my sorority relationship was going to last a long, long time.

And guess who's corp bd treasurer for his house now? TWENTY YEARS LATER.

Boyfriends are great. They care and mean well. But you must do what you feel is right. 20 years later, my sister-in-law and my BF are still kicking themselves that they dropped out of FR because of pressure from their boyfriends. (Whom they also married).

Listen to your voice-it's the only one that matters here.

[CallaLilly13]

So I bit the bullet and went through with recruitment. I'm almost done so head over to the story section if you want to hear how it's gone.