Before making my college decision a year ago, I told myself that if I went to a UC school I would rush a sorority, but if I went to any of the out-of-state schools I applied to I would not. What was my logic behind this? I have absolutely no idea.
I ended up here at UCSB, therefore meaning that I would rush a sorority in the Fall. This didn’t happen and reflecting back on it now, I am very happy that it didn’t.
I have always watched movies and TV shows that have a very prominent Greek life in them. “Greek”, “House Bunny”, “Legally Blonde”, “Sydney White”, you name it and I have watched it. While watching, I never took it too seriously because I knew that Greek life is and can be stereotyped very differently on screen than how it actually is in real life. But, from watching these things I felt that Greek life was a part of the “college experience.”
I watched countless older friends post picture after picture on Instagram and Facebook with their new sisters hanging out, at parties, or other sorority events. They looked like they were having the time of their lives. And for the most part they were. I don’t have many friends in sororities that dislike it, so I never heard complaints about Greek life.
Yet, when I was looking at the website to sign up for recruitment at UCSB, something didn’t feel right. Recruitment started the day I moved in, and the application was long and tedious. Going through each sorority’s website made me feel overwhelmed, despite the countless smiling faces and positive statements.
In the end, I decided to not rush in the Fall, but if I felt like I was really missing out, I would rush my second year. It’s easy to say now that I will not be rushing my second year.
What helped me make this decision was asking myself why I wanted to rush. And honestly, the only reasons I came up with were “because it’s what other people do” or “It looks cool on TV.” Those are two horrible reasons to decide to do something. I realized during this process of signing up for recruitment that joining a sorority was not for me.
I am not the girl to be insanely peppy or doll myself up every time I go out. I am shy at first which wouldn’t make the recruitment process easy or fun for me, and the girls would not get to know me the way I would have liked. To me, talking with someone for a couple minutes does not give an accurate representation of who those people truly are. Anyone can play a role for five minutes, and I wasn’t about to do that. That’s just not me and I am okay with that. I have friends that are a part of Greek life and love it, and we are still friends even though I don’t have any connection to Greek life whatsoever.
By not going Greek, I have had so many opportunities to join clubs and organizations here at UCSB, while also making a very diverse group of friends. I love having the freedom to go out and try new things whenever opportunity strikes, and even more so, I love that my friends span such a large, diverse field, and I can learn something different from each one of them.
This does not mean sorority girls are only friends with each other, or only ever do activities with their sorority, because that’s not the case at all—but for me personally I know joining a sorority would have made it harder for me to go out and explore as many things as I have.
UCSB has so much to offer, and Greek life is a very little part of that. It doesn’t overpower the social scene and I never feel as if I am missing out on anything. I urge anyone that is on the fence about joining Greek life to take a step back and consider the true reason why they are thinking about rushing. Sometimes the answer you reach might surprise you.