Many students entering college often face the same personal struggle – to go Greek, or not to go Greek? For a new college student, it is easy to get an idea of what clubs and sports teams in college are like, as these are organizations many students had already been apart of in high school. However, Greek life can seem like a whole other world for those new to college.
From one point of view, it seems as if Greek life can be a great experience, providing a multitude of new friends and a means for making a difference at your university and in your community. On the other hand, however, the media has dampened our perception of Greek life, portraying a world in which you pay for your friends, only to be subjected to a life of brutal hazing and non-stop partying. Tired of clubs and teams, I faced this same decision as a college student, wary of what Greek life might bring me. However, my personal experience of joining Greek life has proven all my misconceptions wrong, and I can confidently say that Greek is the way to go!
Prior to entering college in Fall of 2011, I had never even considered joining a sorority, as my only perception of Greek life was that of which I had seen in the media. Based on what I had witnessed on television and in movies, I figured that Greek life consisted of pretentious students who only cared about partying and getting drunk every weekend. As a freshman, I found myself wanting to get involved in campus life and make new friends, and while I began to consider joining a sorority, I just couldn’t bring myself to buy into the idea of “paying for friends”. Instead, I began to attend a few various club meetings to see if there was anything else on campus that I would be interested in getting involved in. However, after attending various club meetings over the course of a semester, I felt that I didn’t really mesh with anyone in these organizations, and I was back to square one.
By sophomore year, many of the friends that I had made throughout college had become apart of Greek life, and it seemed as if they were all very happy with their decision. Not only did they have a busy social life in which they had things to do each night of the weekend, but they were also involved in many events throughout campus and contributed a lot to the university overall. I certainly felt like I was left out while all of my friends were having a great college experience, and I began to realize that the way that I had perceived Greek life based on what I had seen in the media might have just been a huge misconception after all. Towards the end of my sophomore year, I started to attend a series of sorority interest meetings in order to see what Greek life was really about.
What I learned about sororities and Greek life in general from attending interest meetings took me by surprise, as I had never realized just how many other things those in Greek life do besides partying. Not only that, but after thinking for so long that girls in sororities were merely carbon copies of one another, I also realized that the sororities at my university were actually quite diversified and each of them had a mix of very different personalities. I felt as if this was the opportunity that I had been looking for in order to make new friends and get involved in campus life, so after going back and fourth in my decision for nearly two years, I finally decided to join a Greek organization in the fall of my junior year and in the time that I have since been a member of Greek life, I can easily say that it is one of the best decisions I have ever made.
Although it is often true that those in Greek life attend a lot of parties, there is so much more to it than that. I have already obtained a position on the executive board of my sorority, which is helping me learn both responsibility and time management, and I am in charge of public relations for the division of the National Panhellenic Conference that governs the four sororities at my university, a position that sparks my interests and pertains to my future career aspirations in the media industry. As a whole, my sorority is heavily involved in volunteer work and charity fundraising, something that is both personally rewarding and will look great on a future resume. While I have never been busier in my college career than I am currently, I have also never been happier and more assured that I have made a great decision by joining Greek life.
