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This is Why You Should Live in Your Sorority House

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at SMU chapter.

It’s around that time of year where housing contracts come out. You may be cringing at the idea of living in a dorm again, or searching for an apartment that’s not going to ruin you budget, and boy do I have a solution for you! Live in your sorority house. Trust me. Lot of sorority women balk at this idea. “I couldn’t live with that many girls!” “I just want to be away from the drama.” Yeah, okay, great excuses. Let me explain why living in your sorority house is one of the best decisions you can make in college.

You’re basically living in a house full of your friends.

Sure, you may not loooove everyone in your sorority, but you also know you’re a lot closer to liking them than any of the randos in your dorm hall. All of the women joined your sorority for the same values, and the same sisterhood. Coming home to a house full of women who love you is so much more fun that trying to avoid the people in your dorm lobby. Sure, the commons system is pretty great, but you can’t beat living with a bunch of women who are crazy about the same organization you are. You’ll always have someone to eat dinner with, to complain to and to talk about all the drama.

Speaking of drama, you have access to all the best gossip.

Girls will talk in the house. You live in the same house that most of the exec members do, and things are bound to get out. What better way to know the dirt when everyone is talking about it? No more waiting for your big to tell you the #goss when you get to chapter on Monday, no ma’am, you’re already in the loop. You are the loop.

Your wardrobe expands like three times.

In a house full of, on average, 30 other girls you’re bound to find a few girls who have your same dress and shoe size. Forgot you have to go to a date dash this weekend and don’t want to buy a jersey for the “mathletes and athletes” theme? Well don’t worry, someone in your house has one. They’re your sisters, they basically have to lend it to you.

The food is a billion times better than the dining hall.

Sorry Umph, your pasta bar cannot beat having a personal chef. You’ll never use all of those meal swipes anyway. Most houses have brunch anyway. How can you choose the wilting salads of Mac’s Place (sorry, Mac’s, you know we love you, but only because we have to) when you could have brunch? It’s also about a billion times cheaper.

You never have to walk to chapter again.

That twenty minute walk from Loyd? Yeah, no longer. You live where the meeting is held.

Home away from Home, especially during holidays.

Do you ever feel lonely not being able to go back to your hometown for long weekends, for Valentine’s Day, or on a Wednesday when things just suck? Not when you live in a house full of your bestest friends, you don’t. Plus, a lot of times, your house mom will decorate for the holidays—my house had two big Christmas trees and a menorah on our mantle—so you never have to feel like you’re missing out on the joy because of school. It can be hard to feel supported when you are away from your family. In the house, you have your new family, your college family, who helps make that space feel friendly and familiar all year long.

There’s not nearly as much drama as you would assume.

Yes, yes, I know I just said you get to hear about all the drama. But trust me, the house is a lot different. There’s no more running into some guy while you are in your bathrobe or having to deal with an RA yelling at you. The house is big. If one of your sisters is pissing you off, you don’t have to be with her. You can go hang out in your living room that’s much better than a common room couch where some frat boy fell asleep. You can hide in the chapter room, or commiserate with someone who is probably just as cranky as you are. Living in a house full of girls doesn’t mean it will be a house full of drama. You’ll have a mixed bag, just like you would with any huge group. Except this time, it’s a group full of people you like. That’s a whole lot better than dorm drama of people you just want to avoid anyway.

You never have to put on pants.

Living in a public, and probably coed space means that you have to maintain some sort of decency. Walking around in your bathrobe, or without pants to the bathroom in the middle of the night can get really embarrassing when you run into that cutie on your hall. This is not a problem when you live with a bunch of girls. you’ll never have to put on pants in the house again! Who cares about makeup on a Sunday, they’ll like you without your eyebrows filled in anyway.

Cost efficient. You’re basically living in a mansion for cheaper than a dorm/meal plan.

It’s no secret, the SMU meal and housing plan is super expensive. Most of SMU’s sororities will have a housing and meal combo that ends up being cheaper than the SMU plan. And you’re living in a house nicer than your parents’. Pretty good deal when you think about it.   

Moriah is a Senior at Southern Methodist University majoring in English and Psychology. She is currently the Campus Correspondent of the HCSMU chapter, and has held the positions of Senior Editor, Profile Editor and Associate Editor. She is also a member of the Alpha Xi chapter of Gamma Phi Beta. She loves coffee and satire, and she is not a morning person.
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