Even though Sororities
encourage friendship, leadership, and scholarship there is always going to be
the crass nicknames for every house, rumors that float around about the members,
and (of course) the stereotypes that basically portray sorority women as vapid
girls with no morals.
I must admit that I once bought into
these rumors and was against going Greek. I was totally a skeptic and didn’t
want to be a part of a group that got such a bad rap. Well, I’m here today to
tell you that I couldn’t have been more wrong about what I thought it meant to
be in a sorority. Deciding to go through recruitment was one of the best
decisions I’ve ever made, and it put all of those stereotypes and rumors to
shame. Here is a list of the top five stereotypes that I once believed, but now
know to be 100% false.
1.
“You are just
paying for your friends”
I
cannot tell you how many times I’ve heard this one. It’s hilarious to me that
people think that girls are so lacking in social skills that we need to pay all
of this money just to find friends. Did we not have friends in high school
before sororities were an option? I have found some of my very best friends
through Tri Delta, but I’m certain that we would have been friends even if we
weren’t sisters. The dues that we pay to be in a sorority go toward the
betterment of our chapter home, our philanthropy events, our community, our
National Corporation, and so much more. The friendship that you find in a
sorority is genuine, and not at all monetarily forced.
2.
“All Sorority
girls are dumb”
This
one is just downright insulting. Nationally, we are required to meet a minimum
GPA in order to stay in good standing with the chapter. Because this is taken
so seriously, we enforce study hours almost everyday where we meet up and study
together in the library in order to hold each other accountable. With 130+
girls in the chapter, it is likely that someone has already taken that
impossibly hard BioChem class that you’re struggling through and has notes and
knowledge that they are more than willing to share with you. Greek Women make
up 11% of the women at SFA, and our average GPA compared to all undergraduate
university women, is almost a whole point higher. Those stats lead us to believe
that one could almost say that our academics thrive more than if we weren’t in
Greek life. As far as all of the social events that come with being in a
sorority, school ALWAYS comes first and you will never be fined or punished in
anyway for missing an event for a school related reason. After all, we are here
for our academics in the first place, and sororities understand that.
3.
“Sororities Haze
their new members”
I
think that this one has been played up so much that girls going through
recruitment are legitimately scared. The National Panhellenic Council has a
Unanimous Agreement that states in writing that hazing or hazing-related
actions are, “punished by fines and/or imprisonment as a misdemeanor or
felony.” Look it up to see the rest, it basically all just proves that we
literally cannot and will not haze. We’ve all heard the horror stories that
“totally happened to my cousin’s sister’s best friend” but come on… Sororities
at their very core are about building one another up and creating bonds that will
last a lifetime, NOT forcing you to do crazy things for entertainment. If any
of the hazing stories were true, why the heck would anybody stay?
4.
“All sorority
girls are partiers”
Okay,
so college is super exciting because you get that long awaited freedom, you
finally get to figure out who you are, what you like, and all kinds of exciting
things! For some, that may mean that they like to go out and party (there’s
nothing wrong with that) but for a lot of people that means so many other
things. Of course there is going to be a pretty big party scene at any college,
but if you look past that there are other really great ways to spend your time
and be social. People believe that if you’re in a sorority that you’re going to
fall into that party setting inevitably, this is so false because we offer so
many alternatives to that lifestyle! There are clubs and organizations outside
of Greek life that you are encouraged to join. Many of our members are also in
other organizations on campus. You can get involved with the local church (P.s.
Nac has a pretty awesome college church community) or attend bible study at the
house. My personal favorite, you can just hang out, go bowling, or watch a
movie with your friends! The best thing about being in college is that you can
do whatever makes you happy and you don’t have to worry about what other people
think about you. Plus you always know that your sisters will love and accept
you!
5.
“All sorority
girls care about is looks and materialism”
Some
days I look super cute and put together, some days I look homeless, and there
is little in between. Sure we all look super nice on those three days of Recruitment, but what the girls going through recruitment don’t see is that
when the doors close and we all immediately put on our sweats, take off our
makeup and put on those oh-so-fabulous green face masks. Not that we don’t like
to look nice, but that’s not what it is all about. We know that who you will be
after Recruitment is way more important than what name brand you’re wearing. My
favorite thing about our chapter is that we are not encouraged to change who we
are, but to leave our experience as better versions of ourselves. To be honest,
I personally care way more about what your favorite movie is & where you
would travel if you had a million dollars, than what you look or dress like.
I
could honestly ramble on forever about how much I love Tri Delta and how it has
made me a better and more confident woman forever. But I’ll leave you with
this: There are pros and cons to anything in life, and there are always going
to be people there to hate the things that you love and love the things that
you hate. But the really great thing is that it does not matter one bit what
other people think about you. As long as you are happy with the choices you’ve
made and the life that you live, then that’s all that matters. So forget all
the stereotypes and give Greek life a chance, because I promise that you won’t
regret it.
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