When someone says they are in a sorority, what do you think of?

Blonde, tan, rich, fake, etc…

If that’s what comes to mind, you’re definitely not alone. In fact, this is exactly what I would’ve said 6 months ago if you asked me the same question. Yet here I am, going through sorority recruitment and I honestly don’t even know how I got here.

All throughout my senior year, when people would ask me if I was going to rush, I would always respond the same way, “Absolutely not. I am definitely not a sorority girl.” So what changed? Well, first off, I realized there’s really no such thing as a “sorority girl.” Cliche? Yes. But true? Definitely. Of course, if that’s what you’re looking for, you can definitely find a few girls to fit that mold. What many people don’t realize though, is that there are so many girls in Greek life who definitely do not fit the stereotype.

When I came to college, I was still stuck on this idea of what a sorority was, still stuck on not joining one. But as the months went by, I noticed how many girls were actually in sororities. I mean, come on, we have 20 sororities here at Penn State. But here’s the thing that really shocked me: most of these girls didn’t fit this preconceived notion of a “sorority girl”.

I decided to rush because why not? I figured if I liked it that’s great, and if I didn’t it was no big deal and I could just drop. But let me just tell you, I was shocked at how much I’ve liked it so far.

In case you’re not familiar with the sorority recruitment process, here’s a really simplified overview: basically there are 4 rounds and each round you talk to a few girls in each sorority. After each round, you start to narrow down how many sororities you go to based on which ones you liked the best and which ones liked you the best. Each round is longer so that you can really get to know the girls in each sorority that you are considering.

I tried to just go into this process with an open mind, literally without knowing anything about any of the sororities. This turned out to be the best thing I could’ve done because I went in with absolutely no pressure to get into any certain sorority or “tier”.

On the first day, waiting in line to go into the first sorority, the girls in line with me were insanely nervous. But me? I was cool as a cucumber, no worries at all. I went in and just had fun, easy conversations and genuinely just enjoyed the entire experience. I love to talk to people and this has literally just been an entire week of fun conversations and meeting new people.

So….what’s my point in writing this blog post?

1. Stereotypes…yeah, just don’t listen to them. More often than not, they are completely wrong and you might have missed out on a great opportunity just because you wrongly assumed that a stereotype was accurate. So go into everything with an open mind, free of any judgement or preconceived ideas.
2. Take. Every. Opportunity. I cannot stress this enough. I have been trying to take up any opportunity I could possibly like that comes my way and it is amazing!!! I am trying so many new things and finding new hobbies and interests. I realized I don’t want to be old one day, thinking about things I should’ve done or should’ve tried. I would rather try something, hate it, and never do it again than wonder “what if?” or “what could’ve been?”

All in all, Greek life? Pretty cool so far. I definitely would recommend trying it because you never know what you might discover about others or even yourself.