I never intended to join a sorority or even go through recruitment when I came to college, but I decided to do it this semester because my friend wanted someone to go through it with her. I had no prior knowledge of what a sorority even consisted of, so in my mind, this just seemed like it’d be a fun game of socializing.
At BU, the recruitment process is five days, with the first day online and the rest in person. The first day was 15 minutes with each sorority where you would meet and chat about anything, and then it’s over. This day already prompted me to question my preconceived notions regarding the whole Greek life community. I thought all sorority girls would fit the stereotype that you would find on TV, but I couldn’t have been more wrong and actually had some amazing conversations.
After those conversations are finished, you rank your top eight and drop two, as there are 10 sororities in total. The scariest part about the process is that they are ranking you as well, so a sorority you love might not call you back for another day of conversations. On Saturday we all received an email around 9:20 a.m. with our schedules. You receive a maximum of eight sororities back, but you can actually receive none at the lowest. I was blessed and received eight back.
The next day was business casual and the same process continued with your top five. This was when it got a bit more intense as the odds of getting a sorority you wanted started to become slimmer. So that Sunday at 9:20 a.m. there were a lot of tears and a lot of people dropping out, and competition began to rise.
Panhel said people weren’t allowed to share what sororities they were meeting with to avoid insecurity and competition, yet the conversations were still shared. This was when I started to feel like I was in high school applying for colleges; I was constantly hearing who got what sorority, which sorority they liked/disliked and how popular some of the sororities were.
When I got to the last day of meetings, which was pref day, it didn’t feel like a silly little game to me anymore. At this point, I had amazing conversations with my top two sororities, and I felt really close and comfortable with them. I decided that I wanted to actually join a sorority, but I became torn on which one I should pick. I am now in Delta Gamma, and I am so happy with my decision!
I was lucky that my recruitment process went smoothly; however, that isn’t always the case. My biggest advice is to go into this process with an open mind. So give it a go! You’ve got nothing to lose.
Want to keep up with HCBU? Make sure to like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, check out our Pinterest board, watch us on TikTok, and read our latest Tweets!