Greek life. It’s a huge part of the college experience. I myself am not involved in my school’s Greek life, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t dabble in the crazy language that is sororities and fraternaties. I have compiled a list of all the terms that are used in Greek life because honestly, it made no sense to me the first time.
- Recruitment
-
The process of meeting and narrowing down the sororities that you want to join. A super complex system. Always told to “trust the process.” Generally rushed(recruited) by all sororities available at your school.
- Rush
-
Applies more to fraternities. Guys that want to join a specific frat “rush” them, and either get dropped or recruited in after a specific number of rounds.
- PNM
-
Stands for ‘Potential New Member.’ Anyone that is planning on rushing or going through recruitment. The label you have before you join a frat/sorority.
- Bid
-
An envelope you receive from the sorority/frat at the end of the rush process, which proves that you are now in their organization.
- GDI
-
Stands for “G*d Damn Independent” (sometimes individual), refers to anyone that is not affiliated with any Greek life organization.
- Exec/Board
-
Members of a frat/sorority that hold a high position/standing.
- Initiation
-
Occurs a few months after receiving a bid, officially recognizing you as a member of a sorority/frat.
- Pledge
-
The status you have after receiving a bid, before initiation. The couple of months you have that require you to perform specific tasks and understand more about your specific organization before officially initiated.
- Letters
-
Seems pretty straight forward, it’s basically the Greek alphabet symbols that represent your sorority/frat.
- Risk
-
Monitoring the socials to ensure that everyone is safe and that nothing gets busted.
- Social/Mixer
-
Events held where a sorority and a frat party together.
There’s definitely a lot more to know, but this is just a basic breakdown of everything you should know if you are planning on getting involved in Greek life. Don’t be scared, be yourself, and remember, trust the process. Happy purging I mean rushing.