Why???

[ADPi Conniebama]

Actually, I knew I was gonna "rush" when I was old enough to know what "rushing" was. My brother was a KA @ B'ham Southern. (He is 10 years older then me) He graduated and became a (I don't know what KA calls them, but) Traveling Chapter Consultant. He just made the greek system look so great.

I went to a university where I didnt really know anyone. So, going through rush and accepting a bid was a great kick start to my college career. All of my friends went to Alabama or Auburn, so we got to talk about how the greek system is so different in large SEC schools and my little UNA.

Great thread I got to think back a little and man those were great memories.

[Tom Earp]

blueangel, being from that upside down V with X A I can agree!

I joined a Frataernity when they were a Local, Well, that has always been me. Looking for the new.

When they went National, and I got booted, yes, I did.

Started a Local as I felt there was more out there from the Local Nationals.

We affilliated with LXA and I have never looked back.

I now have Brothers from 1965 to 2005. Not only Brothers, but their wives, sons, daughters from many Sororitys. I also have had the pride to have met Brothers from all over the country!

A Greek Organization gives one the ability to find a home where they feel comfortable and grow.

It also gives a individual a chance to find themselves, grow into something that makes them much more Professional on how to act in life upon Graduation. Greek Life is an extrordinary way to learn before the Real Hits you in the face upon Graduation.

[DST4A00]

I really love all the responses! Don't worry about the length of the posts, I wanted them to be in depth. I love the fact that this forum allowed you all to relive those happy days that led you on the journey of a lifetime.

I guess I should share my story since I asked the question, huh.

Well, (this is going to be a long one, too)

My mother is a member of the same sorority, but that was only my introduction. I kinda figured I wanted to be greek in high school but when I got to college it got serious. I knew I couldn't just go any way cause this was a decision that would affect my life(we don't de-pledge). I researched the other three sororities and knew Delta was a perfect fit. There was only one problem, the chapter at my school wasn't active.

For three years I watched other sororities pledge but I was patient. I knew if I didn't do it in college I would go alumnae, there was no other way.

Finally, that glorious day came, five years ago I was fortunate enough to be choosen for membership in Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. It was the happiest day of my life, made happier because my mother became my sister.

[KSUViolet06]

Well, I knew when I came to college that I wanted to be Greek. My mom and stepdad are both active Greek alumnae. I was involved in alot of service activities in HS and wanted to continue doing community work while also gaining a close group of girlfriends. My sorority was one of the avenues I chose for that.

[ragtimerose]

I'm involved with many collegians in my work as a Miss America volunteer, and many of them are in sororities. That sounded like a lot of fun. Since I didn't have the sisterhood in college, I started to look for a sorority I could join as a graduate.

I'm very lucky to have found Beta Sigma Phi. The sisters welcomed me with open arms, and I'm proud to be one of them.

[AGDee]

My best friend from high school, Michael, was a year older than me and he went to Eastern Michigan. I drove his girlfriend up to campus a few times and started dating his roommate. As luck would have it, only 3 schools in Michigan had my major and Eastern offered me the most scholarship money so I ended up there too. My first semester freshman year, Michael and Rich (my then-boyfriend) were pledging TKE. My dad mentioned that he is a TKE (I had known he was in a fraternity but didn't know which one prior to that). In high school, I had been involved in everything under the sun.. officer of Spanish Club, a candystriper, involved in NHS, a Girl Scout, and worked. I felt really lost in college because I didn't have any extra-curriculars. I hung out with the TKEs a lot because of my friendships. The guys hung out with two Tri-Sigmas who started talking to me about rush. By then, I had been invited to be a member of the University Ambassador's Society, which was an honor society which helped the University help with tours, new student recruitment, etc. Most of the Ambassadors were also greek.

Anyway, despite my dorm friends being totally anti-Greek, the people I felt most drawn to were the greeks. I went through recruitment the second semester of my freshman year and have been involved ever since! It was hardest to win my mom over because she was dating my dad while they were in college and she was looked down on by the Greeks there because she was dating a fraternity man but wasn't in a sorority. That was apparently, kind of taboo back then. After a few mother-daughter teas where she met some of my amazing Alpha Gam sisters, she changed her mind. At that time, we had the highest GPA on campus, the president of student government was also the president of our chapter at the time and we had tons of leaders and top notch women in the chapter. She was really impressed. She is still supportive of my continued involvement now.

And, I'm rather excited because I just received a new appointment and am moving from a Province Director position to an Area Coordinator position, so I'll be working with a larger number of chapters, covering our whole Northeast region rather than just my Great Lakes area of Michigan, Ontario and Buffalo!

It is a lifetime committment and is now so much a part of who I am that I can't imagine being anything but an Alpha Gam.

Dee

[RACooper]

To be honest I had a very dim view of Fraternities when I came to UofT - when I was stationed in Ottawa the biggest jerks I knew where all greek - and being somewhat more mature than the other students, I had no desire to hang-out with a bunch of drunken kids (I was 26).

However at UofT my opinion changed rapidly as I became invovled with the school - members of the Soldiers Tower Committee that I held in great esteem proved to be Greeks; the Chancellor of UofT and honourary Colonel of my old Regiment was a Greek; and most importantly the olny people I saw actually having a student-life where the Greeks.

Two things sold it for me - some of my uncles best friends from school are Greek, and his 50th brithday bash they where still so close to each other (my uncle didn't go Greek because he had no time being a double major Engineering and Economics) - the other major selling point was going to the pub after class one day, and having a very long and intellectual debate with a number of classmates... and the ones that impressed me happened to be Greek.

So I looked into the Greek system, and my family's history to get a better idea of who to approach - in the end I chose Lambda Chi Alpha because my uncles friends are members, and the person who impressed me the most during relaxed discussions at the pub was the then president of Lambda Chi Alpha (and eventually my big brother).

[ADqtPiMel]

Every woman in my family has been Greek, so it was expected that I would rush and pledge the group that all my relatives were in. But I joined a different sorority.

[WhiteDaisy128]

I really think God played the biggest part in me going Greek. I had heard about sorority life growing up (my mom was a Delta Gamma), and had heard about all of her awesome experiences. So Freshman year, I was excited about recruitment. Recruitment didn't start until a month into school and in that month, I carefully observed sorority women on my campus. From what I saw (from the outside), it looked TERRIBLE!! All the sorority women in my dorm drank wildly every night and partied like crazy. It was not me at all. So I closed my mind and thought that it was just not meant to be and didn't sign up for recruitment...it didn't hurt too bad because, after all, there wasn't a DG chapter.

Then Christmas Eve of 2001 (Christmas of my sophomore year), my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. In January, she learned that Delta Gamma was invited to colonize at NCSU. They would colonize the following September (so September of 2002).

I played with the idea of going through recruitment for Delta Gamma...my mom really wanted me to at least "check them out" - so I did. After the information session, I was hooked. I accepted my bid and was then initiated in November of 2002 (with my mom by my side...but very sick).

The next few months were hard for me as my mom continued to struggle...but my new-found sisters quickly became an awesome support system for me.

In March of 2003 my mom died. I really do believe that she knew that my sisters would take care of me...and they did (they took care of me, my dad, and my brother in fact!). With all of my being, I believe that God brought Delta Gamma in my life at just the right time, for just the right reason.

I could not be happier with my decision to go Greek...and I feel silly for making such a quick judgement Freshman year...but things do happen for reasons...

[AUDeltaGam]

I had never really thought about pledging a sorority, because during high school, I honestly didn't know much about sororities. I didn't rush my freshman year, but during my freshman years, I saw girls in sororities and thought it would be fun to join, but (for some reason) still held on to some of the "sterotypical" sorority thoughts.

I didn't go through recruitment my sophomore year, and after that, I figured there would be no way for me to join a sorority (I went to Auburn- quite difficult for juniors to get bids). Around November, I learned that Delta Gamma was going to be recolonizing in February 2003 and I was so excited that I might get a chance to join a sorority!

I went through the colonization recruitment, recieved a bid in Feburary and was initated in April 2003!

[HederaNaturale]

At some point I took an inventory of all the female role models I've had over the years and most of them turned out to be-- what else but fabulous women of AKA. By the time I got to high school though, I had really only been exposed to members and programs working on the graduate level, and the only collegiate exposure I'd had was from watching School Daze and Different World reruns and all that. I just had this idea that undergrad was all about having fun and partying and the real work was on the grad. level. I was really upset my senior year thinking that my older best friend was going to become a member and we wouldn't be friends anymore because I just knew that it wasn't going to be for me. I'm a bit of a nonconformist/free spirit type, and I'd always been told (by completely unaffiliated people, I now realize) that I didn't fit the "stereotype".

When I arrived on campus, the thing I liked best was that there was ALWAYS something going on-- not necessarily a party, but every evening it seemed like there was some program going on teaching you about something or the other: Safe Sex, How to Fix Your Credit, All About Your Body Image, Get a Job... and it was always Skee Week or Coleman-Love Week or Dove Day or SOMETHING... and I was so suprised and pleased that it was the BGLOs on campus who were doing all this stuff. So I realized that I'd been wrong before, and I WAS interested, and I could be a mutually rewarding/rewarded member too, so I did my RESEARCH on all the sororities (I figured I'd been relying on my past "knowledge" long enough) and came back to where I knew I belonged anyway. So I worked and waited and worried and wondered... (and wanted and wailed and worried some more)

and here I am, happy as a pearl in a clam.

[whittleschmeg]

I never thought about being Greek, when I was in Highschool I was an athlete I played soccer and volleyball ran track and played basketball I never thought that I would go Greek I wasn't that girl. You know the girl I mean, the one who took hours too get ready and got into caddy fights I was the 10 minute looked good girl who had beer and pizza with the boys on Monday night for the big football game and all my friends were guys.

Well, I went to college on a soccer scholorship and one of the girls on the team was a phi sig sister, I can remember on weekends going out and on my way home I would always stop at the "Dollhouse" (local name for the Phi Sig house) to see her and the other sisters. Often times passing out there and waking up the next morning and hanging out with everyone. The only sorority on campus with a house, I would always laugh at the sisters who got the nerve up to ask me to pledge, most of them assuming as an athelte I never would.

My bestfriend from HS whom also played soccer wanted to pledge and so did two of my new bestfriends after hanging with the sisters almost every weekend they started to win me over. Not only did I like what they stood for but everyone else liked them too, women in non-greek organizations and all the fraternity and sports guys I was friends with loved the girls.

As rush got closer I realized that three of my bestfriends were going to pledge the same chapter and didn't want half of their lives to be secret from me. It was something I never thought about it just kind of happened. It was one of the hardest decisions of my life because my friends and teammates didn't know how to react. See at a small school you don't go Greek if your an athlete. I did and I have never regreted for a minute........

[XOPrincess]

I lived in my small, Southern hometown for 20 years. It was the kind of place where everyone knows you and you know everyone. I have had the same best friends forever. It was a group of seven of us and we had been friends since elementary school. After high school, 3 of the girls went off to universities. The other 4 of us stayed to attend the junior college in our town.

Of course, I kept in close contact with the 3 friends who went off. They all joined sororities. I got to hear their experiences and became convinced that I wanted to be a part of that. I quickly realized, though, that being a transfer student and a junior... my sorority experience would be quite different from theirs. After hearing stories from 2 other friends about rushing as a junior, I became convinced that I did NOT want to go through recruitment.

When I graduated from junior college, I was accepted to a major university 3 hours away from home. I did not know anyone there. I thought the best way to meet people and develop close friendships like the ones I always had with my hometown friends would be to rush.

I struggled with my decision to join a sorority every single day of rush. When I was cut from house after house for no reason except my status as a junior, I felt hurt and sad. I loved so many of the houses and I took it so personally that I was cut. I cried almost every night that I got home because I was so disappointed. By the fourth day of rush, there was only one house that I could see myself being a party of. I just knew that with the way my luck was going, they would cut me, too.

On Bid Day, I was sad while the other girls in my group excitedly talked about which sorority they wanted. I just knew I would be walking home, rejected and unhappy. When I opened my card, I was without a doubt the most excited girl in the world. It was a wonderful and happy surprise to see an invitation to join the Chi Omega sorority.

Today, I have been a member of Chi Omega for a year. I have never looked back on my decision with regret - only happiness. I feel so lucky to be a part of such an amazing organization!

[PhoenixAzul]

I NEVER EVER EVER wanted to join a sorority. Here's my basic rundown, and why I'd be SOL at an SEC school. I lack social graces (i burp, i fart, i pay for my own meals on a date, i swear and talk too loud), I don't always fix my hair in the morning, i don't wear makeup, I thought Lilly Pulitzer was a photography award, I wear jeans and tshirts to almost everything, I got to class in my spandex unisuit and socks and sandles from crew practice, i never had a debut, my dad's a mechanic and my mom's a clerk, I'm not a legacy, and I'm not very graceful, I was never a Rainbow girl or a cheerleader or a prom queen. That's all stuff I THOUGHT I'd need to be a sorority girl.

When I got here last fall, I was really surprised to see so many people in letters! My brother had pledged Phi Kappa Tau, and I thought his brothers were AWESOME. So when the little recruitment table was set up at the campus center...one day I just decided "eff it, what else do i have to do?". So I signed up and paid my 10 bucks. I didn't expect to join, I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Well, winter quarter rolls around, and so does recruitment. After Open House...I was bit. I had the sorority bug. I loved the chants and smiling faces and fun that I saw, it was great. I was broken hearted when I recieved only 3 invitations out of 6 houses, and 2 of thouse houses I hadn't felt comfortable in...they hadn't "clicked" for me. But the most important one, Tau Delta, was there, so I accepted and attended all 3. The first two were...OK, but it had been a lot of "forced" talking, something I'm not good at. Tau Delta's novelty party, however, was a BLAST! It was hawaiian themed, with a skit and a local band playing, and brownie decorating and leigh making and pictionary. There were so many activities and so many opportunities for talking that everyone had a BLAST, and it wasn't like you were FORCED to talk to anyone. I knew, then and there, where I wanted to be. Period. These girls were all different shapes, sizes, colors, majors, religions...they were so different, and so carefree and so laid back and so smart (top GPA!)...it was like heaven!

So when it came time for final invites, I was an idiot and didn't check my voicemail. So I went to my Rho Chi meeting, and they told me that I hadn't recieved any invitations to final party. I was devestated. I hadn't been told this could happen (naiive, no?). I was so upset that I called the Greek Life advisor and signed my bid in her office on the Thursday before bid signing actually happens (sunday). So I helped everyone get ready for their parties over the weekend, including my best friend and dorm neighbor, who was going to TD. On sunday night I got the "did not match" phone call. Ok, it was really over now.

On monday I had a meeting with the Dean of Students to discuss the crew team. When I got back to my room from class, my roommate told me that someone from student affairs had called me and had insisted on leaving me a voicemail. Well I'm indebted to my roommate now, because that voicemail was the Greek Life Advisor who told me that TAU DELTA WANTED TO OFFER ME A BID!!!!!! I accepted with great joy. I went to the Rho Chi meeting that night and accepted my bid, along with my neighbor shannan, who became my sister that day!

My pledgeship period was amazing. I've never had so much fun and worked so hard. I learned a lot about other people's feelings and about relating to women. I'm so glad to be a TD, I can't imagine my life without the sorority now. I can't believe I've been intiated for a year now! I definitely think the local sorority atmosphere worked for me

And even though I had "slipped through the cracks", it must have been fate or an act of God that landed me in the best d**m sorority ever

[SurfinDBeach]

was thinking about doing it freshman year, but didnt...

I played sports for one year at Long Beach State (freshman year), then ended up quitting the team...

I then got involved with Student Government, where I did everything from the Sports and Spirit Commission (one of the original members and organizers of the Beach Patrol student boosters), to being a student senator on the Academic Senate Commitee on Athletics (NCAA Div. 1), to being the Commissioner of New Student Orientiation...

Through that, I met a whole bunch of Greeks that ended up trying to rush me hard... I ended up Rushing, but not with those aformentioned guys...

I had a few buddies that I played Volleyball with for fun that were in another Fraternity...

Ended up narrowing it down to that house (which was one of the biggest and most popular) and another big house...

Sufficed to say, I ended up choosing the Largest bond on earth...

Now I am one of the most active in my Fraternity... playing active roles constantly... and currently the keeper of rituals...

Changed my life more than I can explain.... If I were to start talking about that, id take up a whole thread!

Never regretted it - the best decision ive made in college by far - met the most people that ill probably hold dear for the rest of my life (male and female)...

NOT TO MENTION, THE CONNECTIONS!!!

T K E ... Pi alpha omega epsilon alpha...