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You see other students on campus wearing stitched letters and you want some of your own. Maybe you think the patterns are really nice, or maybe you’ve just always wanted to join a Greek organization but didn’t think the sorority lifestyle was for you. Whatever your reasons, you can still join a Greek organization and have the stitched letters you always dreamed of.
There are professional and honor fraternities on campus that allow members to have stitched letters. You’ll still be able to make friends and have a great time even in a professional or honor fraternity. The only real difference is there may be stricter requirements. There are some that require you to be a specific major and others that ask that you have a certain GPA or a certain amount of credit hours.
If the cost of joining a sorority is what’s deterring you, know that professional and honor fraternities generally have lower costs for members. You’ll have your dues, of course, but, that’s usually the only cost. Any extra money you put into it is money you’re choosing to put spend, and you won’t be judged if you can’t afford an extra shirt here and there. However, costs vary from organization to organization, so keep that in mind when choosing one.
Don’t let the word fraternity scare you off from joining one. There are some professional and honor fraternities that allow males and females to join. Just look for the organizations that advertise themselves as coed or gender inclusive.
Credit: Megan Fahey
ODU has a few of these organizations! Phi Sigma Pi is a gender inclusive professional honor fraternity here. It’s not major specific, so any student with 12 credit hours and a 3.0 GPA can join. Other similar organizations are Alpha Psi Omega for theatre students and Kappa Kappa Psi for band students. A whole list of honorary organizations can be found on Monarch Link.
Just remember that you shouldn’t join one of these organizations to make it a resume booster. If you’re paying dues each semester, you should be actively involved in it. There’s no point in going through the process of joining and paying for something if you’re not going to do anything in it. You can join an organization and use it to boost your resume, but you can also join an organization and get something out of it too. Don’t just join to boost your resume, join because you want to get something out of it.