Trying to feel comfortable in new sorority

[nydolphin]

I've seen this many times!! People on campus hype up the top chapters and talk down on the "lower tier" houses.. But there are phenomenal women in each house!

I hope she makes an effort to get to know her pledge class and older sisters. When both sides make an effort to get to know each other, she's bound to find her best friends.

Also, she is going to be a collegiate sorority member for 4 years max- and an alumna for so many! I actually had a little more fun as an alumna since I lived in the big cities.

Originally Posted by TXDG

HappyMom2 is correct in her understanding that if her daughter had only only invitation to Pref she would have been guaranteed a bid to that house - either as part of primary Quota or as a Quota Addition.

The flaw in the daughter's thinking is that she could have controlled having house 2 & 3 release her. Unless she was planning on being downright rude about her desire to be elsewhere, hinting that she had found her home elsewhere would not get a pnm released from most chapters. Especially when those chapters saw something in her that made them think she was perfect for their sisterhood.

A lot of new members don't get their first choice and grow to love the sorority that chose them. The year I was President of my collegiate chapter, two of my VP's were girls who were in TEARS on our freshman Bid Day because DG was not their first choice. I vividly remember them on Bid Day. They got over it & bloomed where they were planted

Mom, I would encourage your daughter to put all her effort into immersing herself in the chapter that choose her. If there are not enough sisterhood events going in her opinion, she should round up all the new members who live in her dorm and go to dinner or coffee or whatever together. She is a member of a BIG group now and will need to understand that the sorority's purpose is not to entertain her and fawn all over her...she has to take responsibility for getting involved and putting herself out there to meet people.

If she still isn't feeling it, remind her she has two options: continue with this chapter or not be Greek at all. A bid to any other house - especially the one she didn't get - is not even a remote "guarantee" and may not even be a possibility.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by nydolphin

I've seen this many times!! People on campus hype up the top chapters and talk down on the "lower tier" houses.. But there are phenomenal women in each house!

I hope she makes an effort to get to know her pledge class and older sisters. When both sides make an effort to get to know each other, she's bound to find her best friends.

Also, she is going to be a collegiate sorority member for 4 years max- and an alumna for so many! I actually had a little more fun as an alumna since I lived in the big cities.

This.

Plus, older sisters will graduate and a new class will come in during the next round of recruitment. Chapters turn over and change quickly, and next time, she'll be on the other side of recruitment and will have a say as to who gets to be in the chapter.

And again, nothing says she can't have friends in other sororities! That's one of the other great things after you graduate - I find that I've made so many friends who don't wear my letters. In school, there can be a lot of division, but afterward, you don't really care. You end up meeting sorority women everywhere, and you get excited when you see ANY letters. And even though you're not sisters, you're all sorority women, and you "get it".

In addition to the thread that ComradesTrue already posted...

Originally Posted by ComradesTrue

Read this thread.

I didn't get my first choice. It gets better.

... I would also encourage you and your daughter to read through these threads. We're all sorority women, and all sororities have great things to offer.

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=37621

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=87973

http://www.greekchat.com/gcforums/sh...ad.php?t=21716