Growing up in Florida, an area where everyone’s parents are alumni from the University of Florida or Florida State University, I grew up with the mentality that I would probably attend a state school that had a large number of students involved in Greek life. When I began my college search and realized I wanted a smaller school unlike most of my friends, I still made sure that schools I was looking at offered Greek life. Tufts has always differed from most state schools in their rushing policies, as students were only allowed to rush after completing their first semester. I thought this rule allowed freshmen to establish a friend group that wasn’t solely based on their sorority. However, as a result of the Greek life scandal that went down last year, no freshmen are allowed to rush until their sophomore year as of this Spring. Joining a sorority was something I contemplated, as I didn’t want to join a group of women that selected you based off looks or some small talk we had over the course of a week. My two older sisters attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and they both said they hated how rush worked in the South because it made girls doubt their self-worth, if denied a bid from a sorority.
Tufts having undergone a massive renovation on Greek life and only having 3 Panhellenic groups, I thought that maybe it was worth giving Greek life a shot at Tufts. I had some friends who participated in the formal recruitment last semester and accepted bids; they expressed that Greek life at Tufts isn’t what movies like Sydney White or House Bunny show. They said instead that it was an amazing community of women who supported each other and had social events that introduced them to more people on campus they wouldn’t have met otherwise. After hearing such positive reviews, I decided with a friend to participate informal rush. Two of the three sororities on campus participated in informal recruitment, Chi Omega and Alpha Phi.
The informal rush process was very, very casual to say the least. Chi Omega had two open houses where you could pass though for any amount of time and get to know some of the girls in it and a final open house that was invite only. At Chi Omega, I was able to meet a wide range of girls who I was able to chat without feeling like they were judging me on my looks. Each girl my friend and I talked were eager to meet anyone that walked in and hear about them. The members of Chi Omega made each open house very low-key and welcoming by having food and dressing super casual, no dresses, no makeup. Talking to my friends from home who are in sororities at state schools about the informal process, they were jealous that they didn’t have this option. I also decided to attend Alpha Phi’s open house and upon arrival they were super welcoming and made sure that my friend and I were never alone. Similar to Chi Omega, the open house was very homey and they even had pizza and garlic knots to offer anyone who walked in. Overall, informal rush was a very easygoing, low-stress process that I would recommend to anyone even slightly interested in Greek life.
As a new member of Chi Omega, I can say confidently that Greek Life isn’t what movies portray. It is a place for you to meet some amazing people and be a part of another community.