Thursday, October 2, 2008

Major Benefits of Joining a Sorority

Major Benefits of Joining!

Joining a sorority has major benefits. Some of these benefits include leadership skills, especially if you hold a position in the house. For example, if you join and are president you are going to have major leadership skills. This will help you in your future career and also in any job you may have for the future. Being president has you leading your sorority and being the prime example for everything that your sorority stands for, which is a pretty big position.

Being in a sorority is also a really good resume builder. Personally, I have been asked about my sorority for every internship I have applied for. It has helped me a lot and given me a lot of examples to talk about through my experiences. It shows that I didn't go to college just to screw around but that I went and was actively involved. This just happened to me recently when I got an internship position. They asked me several questions about my sorority and the benefits it gave me. They also asked me how I think being in a sorority would benefit me for their company. I think they were impressed with my answers. I landed a position with the company and I think a huge part of this is because I was in a sorority.

A huge benefit is that you will always have an active social calendar. Whether it be planned activities with fraternities, sorority activities, dances, etc. You will always be busy. Some people actually get too busy and see it as a bad thing! Personally, I have loved every minute of my social life in my sorority. I know that a lot of non-sorority members always ask me how I am so lucky to have events planned for me all the time. If you are not in a sorority, you will definitely not have as many events planned for you and you will have to figure out your plans on your own. If you know girls in sororities, you can hang out with them but not do all of the activities that they participate in.

You will have higher grades if you are in a sorority. When you first join, you have to have at least a 2.5 GPA otherwise you won't be able to join. Also, if you do not maintain this GPA your sorority can kick you out. They always push you to do your best whether it be having study hours for you or making sure you stay up to your academic potential. This is a really great way to make sure you have a good resume because future employers will always be looking at your GPA, not just that you were actively involved.

Lastly, the most obvious but perhaps most beneficial benefit of joining a sorority is the lifelong friendships you will make. Your sorority sisters will probably be the girls standing next to you at your wedding. I know this is the case for me! My sister just got married and had her sorority sisters in the wedding. The girls in your house will be some of the best, lifelong friends you will have for the rest of your life. You should take advantage of this and make the best of it!

Friends Outside of Your Sorority

Is it true you can’t have friends outside of your sorority?
Some people think this is true...

I have heard this statement many times, however, I have found through my own personal experience that it is not true. However, some people think that it is true. I joined a sorority as a sophomore, and already had tons of friends when I joined. I was just as close to my non-sorority friends as I was with the girls in my house. However, I did see girls that joined as a sophomore and gave up on their non-sorority friends. I thought this was childish and wrong. I made sure that this never happened to me because I really loved my non-sorority friends. Sometimes, actually, a lot of times I enjoyed hanging out with my non-sorority friends better. It gave me a chance to break away from being told what to do and being around the same girls all the time. It is nice to have the best of both worlds.

Forgetting about old friends is horrible. I lived in my sorority house for a year and never once forgot about my other friends. It can cause a lot of fights and problems between friends. For example, when I had to live in my sorority house my other friends were mad that I wasn't going to live with them junior year. However, there was nothing I could do because it was a requirement to live in the sorority house for a year. My other friends did not understand at first but I let them know that I wasn't going to forget about them. We now live together (my senior year) and I still maintain friends with my sorority sisters. This is definitely the best of both worlds because I was able to not fight with either of them in a tactful way.

It is also smart to have both groups of friends become friends. For example, I would have my sorority sisters meet my other friends and have them party together. It would take time for them to get along since there were hard feelings involved, but if they turn into friends we could all go out together without me having to pick which friends to hang out with. This is the smartest idea for anyone joining a sorority to do.

It is wise to have an open mind when you are in a sorority. Just because you are in a sorority doesn't make you better than anyone else. If you are in a sorority and feel superior, you are wrong. You should treat everyone as equals and realize that if you act like you aren't in a sorority then people will treat you with more respect. So many times people have come up to me and said, "You are in a sorority? I would have never guessed." I took this as a compliment, because most people see sorority girls as stuck up, and when you are nice and don't brag about being in one people see that as a good thing.

Problems With Joining a Sorority

Some Problems With Joining a Sorority...

A lot of girls feel that there are some problems when they decide to join a sorority. I am going to talk about a few of these problems and how they can be addressed.

When I first joined my sorority, I heard that it might take away from my individuality. A lot of people go to college and figure out who they are and grow up. When I joined, I felt as though I was being told what to do and was conforming to other peoples norms and lifestyles. I did not really like the thought of it. A lot of my friends who didn't join a sorority used to ask me, "Why do you let them tell you what to do all the time? You should be able to decide things on your own; you're in college." I totally agreed with this statement and it made me re-think why I actually joined.

You are always in a huge group of girls that are in your sorority. Even when I am walking through the quad I see tons of sorority girls walking together in a pact. Some people see this as a "cult." I think it can be annoying seeing sorority girls walking around together not talking to anyone else but themselves. In a way it almost seems like sorority girls think they are better than everyone else. Sadly enough, this is the case for some girls, but a lot of girls do not feel this way.

It is hard to get out of mandatory things once you are in a sorority. If you do not want to do something ( I know a lot of times I didn't want to do certain activities because I felt uncomfortable or just was busy for the night ) you were pretty much out of luck because they made you do it anyway. I think college should be the time when you figure out who you are and turn independent and learn on your own; not a time to do things that other people tell you.

There is also a lot of conflict with other sororities on campus. There is ALWAYS gossip about who the "best" sorority on campus is. Being in a sorority has a very competitive atmosphere that some girls do not like. However, some girls like the drama of it. When I joined my sorority, I was friends with girls on other houses on campus. However, there was rivalry between my house and those houses. So, girls in my sorority didn't understand why I was friends with them. This was really upsetting to me and I hated it. It is hard to keep friendships with other girls in sororities if you are in one.

However, if you are strong like me you will find a way to remain friends with girls in other sororities. Until this day, I am great friends with many other girls on campus that are in other sororities. It is not always the case that houses will hate each other, but it is just very competitive and hard to stay friends with them.

Being in a sorority has its ups and downs and these problems I have mentioned are not always the case for everyone. These are just some experiences I have gone through and I hope you can learn from them if you ever go through the same thing.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Holding a Position in the Sorority

Holding a Position in the House Brings Responsibility...

When you join a sorority, you can get involved in many ways. For example, every sorority has what is called an "executive board." This board is made up of members of the sorority who are in charge of everything. They are the ones who delegate responsibilities and who are in the front at every chapter meeting letting the house know about upcoming events and rules. They are basically the responsibility factor of the sorority.

The most important position is the president. A lot of people don't want this position because it takes the most responsibility. The president has to do everything for the house and has to keep everything in order. She is the prime example of what the sorority stands for. For this reason, the president doesn't exactly "have a life," because she has to make sure she makes responsible decisions since she is setting the example for the whole sorority.

The vice president of recruitment also has a big job. She is responsible for managing recruitment. In my sorority, the v.p. of recruitment organized the whole recruitment process and was extremely busy. The reason our sorority received so many good new members was because of her. Her job can be frustrating though, because she sometimes has to yell at girls to keep them in check.

The vice president of new member education is the girl responsible for taking the newly initiated members and teaching them all of their responsibilities and duties. Her job is fun because the new girls look up to her since she is already a member of the chapter. However, this job is time consuming and can interfere with homework and other responsibilities. It takes a really responsible girl to handle this position; or any position for that matter.

The treasurer has one of the most important jobs; she handles the sororities money. Money can become a sensitive issue within the sorority, especially when girls don't have the money to pay for certain things. The treasurer collects money and tells girls when they owe money. She also has to be able to let each member know what she specifically owes money for and has to be accurate in doing so. If the treasurer messes up it is a big deal. For example, our treasurer had girls paying the wrong amount of money for things and got into a lot of trouble. This position holds the most responsibility after the president in my position.

The secretary takes notes curing chapter and delegates duties to all other office members. The secretary doesn't have as big of a job as the other members but has to be responsible and able to attend every chapter meeting. She is the one who writes out agendas for members and sends e-mails to members as well.

Any one of these positions is a good way to create responsibility for yourself and establish a good position in the house. It is good to put on your resume as well because it shows you took initiative to be something proactive in your sorority.

Disadvantages of Living in a Sorority

Living in a Sorority Isn't Always Fun and Games...

You may be thinking that it would be hard to live in a house with so many girls at one time. This can be true for a lot of girls. In my sorority, I personally never had any issues living in my house, but a lot of other girls did. Some sororities tend to have a lot of drama when there are 30+ girls living in a house at one time. As you know, a lot of girls cause fights and drama over little things.

Sororities also involve girls sharing a lot of things. Think about sharing a room with more than one girl. I had to share a room with two girls and it got hard to have privacy at times. Also, two big bathrooms were shared throughout the entire house of girls. This could get frustrating if I wanted to get ready and people were in my way. Also, people are always on different time limits. My roommates would sometimes wake up at 6 a.m. and I would be going to bed every night at 4 a.m. It all depends on communicating with your roommates; if you let them know what bothers you or if you want to change something you should tell them immediately before it all bottles up inside and a huge fight occurs. This happened to a couple of girls in my sorority and things were never the same. So, instead of bottling up your feelings you should talk things out right away.

I found that a lot of my things were missing at the end of the year. A lot of times girls would take my things without asking and I would never know who had them. A lot of my favorite clothes and makeup were missing at the end of the year and I never found out who had them. This can get frustrating especially because I spend a lot of money on my things.

It can be hard to have alone time and study time to yourself if you live in the sorority house. As I said before, I was constantly surrounded by girls and sometimes needed a breath of fresh air. If I didn't want to go to the library I would stay at the sorority and study, but I found that it was very loud and I would get frustrated because I wouldn't be able to study as well.

A lot of girls grades tend to go down when they live in the sorority house. Think about it; if you are constantly surrounded by girls who want to party all the time and are constantly doing things, school won't always tend to be your number one priority. I knew this going into my sorority because my sister warned me, so I made sure to have separate time for just studying and said no to going out a lot of the time. Even though it can be hard because girls peer pressure you, the smart thing is to set aside study times because school should always come first.

A lot of girls think that living a sorority gives you a lack of freedom. Living in the house, you have to conform to the sorority's needs and listen to what they say. It is hard to get out of things if you don't want to do them because everyone always knows what you are doing and you can't get away from it.

The food can be an issue as well because if you don't like the cooking style of the food there is really nothing you can do. A lot of times girls in my house would frequently spend money on going out to eat when the cook already made them dinner they didn't want to eat.