I always planned on joining a sorority my freshman year of college. I honestly don’t remember applying to any schools without the option of greek life – (I know, kind of alarming). If there was a package called the “most basic all-american college experience”, a 17 year old me would have bought it with added insurance – just in case. I soon learned within my first two years of school, college was tough, life can be hard, and sometimes the plans you make in your head surprisingly don’t come together as planned. Before I knew it, I was a junior in college, I had transferred from my “dream” school after freshman year, and I was still (*gulp*) unaffiliated with greek life.
I couldn’t believe it. This was something I had really wanted out of my college experience, and I still hadn’t managed to find yet. I felt like a dream of my youth was pathetically breaking in front of me, and that I should just move on, enjoy school for what it was, and get involved with other clubs. Don’t get me wrong, I liked school before. I loved the friends I had made, and I was overall happy. However, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I wasn’t as connected or involved in campus life as I wanted to be. The notion that girls only go through sorority recruitment as underclassmen made me too prideful to consider putting myself out there and signing up anyway. I couldn’t shake the feeling that if it didn’t work out, a pandemic wouldn’t be the only thing keeping me in my apartment watching Love Island UK all weekend. I’m serious.
Spoiler alert! I ended up swallowing my pride, and it paid off.
I went through recruitment as a junior, and instead of treating it like it was something to be embarrassed of or feel weird about, I just owned it. I owned the fact that not everyone’s college experience is going to be the same, and the movies of what it should look like didn’t really mean anything. (I learned this quickly when I got to campus circa 2018 and there were no frat boys that looked like Zac Efron, not even close).
Now this may come as a shock to everyone, myself included.
But no one cares.
(so stop flattering yourself)
I had my mind set that people would have all these preconceived judgements about the crazy lonely junior who joined a sorority, when in reality it was bold of me to assume anyone cared enough to think about it in general. It took me a while, and I continue to learn that people don’t care even half as much as you think.
The truth is, if you are interested in joining greek life at whatever point in your college experience you are at, you absolutely should. I’ve heard many people say that you get out of it what you put in, which couldn’t feel truer. It has added even more to a place I already love. With being adjusted and having a core group of friends at school already, it put less pressure on the process for me. I have two years left at UConn and I am excited to make the most of it in every way I can. When I graduate I will know I put myself out there and did something that will be there beyond my collegiate years.
A few things I kept in mind during recruitment was that it’s awkward and unnatural for most people to have somewhat forced conversations for a set amount of time, including the girls who are already in a sorority! They want to find you and for you to like them just as much as you want them to accept you. I mentioned my grade in the beginning of my conversations and used it as a stronger incentive as to why I want to be in greek life, how involved I plan to be and how important it is to me.
And maybe, for you, it isn’t greek life but a different campus organization, sport or club. This is a sign you should just give it a try.
Honestly – the worst thing that can happen is it doesn’t work out. But you’ll graduate soon enough anyway.
After all, it’s only four years.