Is Joining a Sorority All It's Cracked Up to Be?

[Anonymous]

A lot of young women going into college this year will attend Rush week with the hopes of joining a sorority. A lot have seen those infamous social media sorority influencers and recruitment videos with the girls dancing, and chanting, and clapping and making sororities seem like the best thing ever, but rarely do you hear what it actually takes to join AND maintain your place in the sorority of your choice.

1. Time Consuming
Rush Week is full on time consuming going to house after house, event after event, and then your social and philanthropic commitments to a sorority once you're in, can be extremely time consuming. If you're on mom/dad's bank account and full rides with your education, you may have plenty of time to do these things, but with a heavy class load, working a job, and other things outside of sorority life, you may not be able to actually find the time to keep up with sorority life.

2. Financial Burden
Joining a sorority, especially a top house, is nowhere near free. Every sorority has mandatory fees/dues. In addition, you must buy specific outfits for every event, when you go out for social events, there is a heavy cost there, baskets and merch you must buy add up, and you could easily be in the thousands just trying to keep up on top of trying to pay for your actual uni costs. If you are already stretched for cash and doing it all yourself, this is something to consider that it's not just getting in, it's can you AFFORD to stay in. Few sororities are transparent about the actual breakdown of all the costs associated with staying in and because of the high costs, some actively search for people who outwardly appear to be able to pay such costs in what they wear during recruitment.

3. Lack of Individuality
Notice something about those upbeat recruitment videos? Everyone tends to look exactly the same. Same hair, same clothes, same body types. Not for all, but for a lot of sororities, again, especially top houses, they create a brand and they look for girls that fulfil that brand/look and if you are not the right skin tone, body type, or share a certain aesthetic, it won't matter how smart and talented and creative and beautiful you are, they won't want you or they will want you to only maintain their look which may not be your thing.

4. Sisterhood Drama
I hate to say it, but in some sororities that high school clique/drama doesn't end when you hit the Uni steps. It can often break out and lead to serious issues.

5. Drugs/Alcohol/Danger
Yes, Universities are taking a tougher stance on underage drinking, drugs, and abuse, but these things continue to happen. Every year there are r*pe cases, and students dying and overdosing associated with sororities and frat life. Universities have to say things publicly and take cases seriously once they are in the media, but think of all the people who don't report because they are scared and want to maintain their status in a sorority/frat or don't want to "make their sisters" look bad by coming forward or go up against a Frat associated with their house. There is also often an expectation that even as an underage member, that you should drink. You have to be VERY careful because if something does happen, you may not be protected or recieve the help you need.

6. Hazing
As with drug/alcohol/abuse, Universities have to take a hard stance on this on the public front, and many have policies in place IF...I'll repeat...IF...the sororities are caught doing such things to their pledges, but it absolutely still happens. Maybe not as much as it used to, but it certainly is not something that is openly talked about because of the consequences of it being outed.

To be clear, I'm not saying all sororities are like this or everything on this list applies to all, but some may, and you just need to be aware and understand what you might be signing up for as with all things in life. I have several family members that have joined sororities/fraternities, and some have made those lifelong friendships and enjoy it to this day and others did not for some of the reasons listed. Just make sure you are joining for the right reasons, and that you are picking a house that is best in league with what you want to get out of it, if you do decide to join.

[ThatoneZ]

Well, it depends on the sorority. If you join one that is about parties and has a reputation of not doing anything but that or, have any bad reputation. Then no it’s not worth it. A lot of sororities and fraternities have those reputations. But if you join one that is, based on your major or religion. It could be worth it. Those ones do a lot of good in different communities. I am in two fraternities. One for is black fraternity (education). The other is for culinary arts.

[myTake Owner]

100% that's why I would never say they are just bad or useless because you can gain a lot of real world experience and connections from them that will help you both in school and far beyond even leading up to your legacy children if you have them.

[ThatoneZ]

Exactly!!

[spartan55]

I dated a sorority girl for a year and all of this is spot on. Especially the $$$. She had rich parents so that wasn't an issue.

[myTake Owner]

It's no secret money is used to exclude a vast majority of participants. A lot of the girls are on mom and dad's bank accounts and more power to them, we all wish we had it that easy, but it can be very hard for those that don't have the privilege because school by itself, can be a major drain on the bank account.

[fantasticass]

The portrayal of a Sorority and the reality of being a member of a Sorority is extremely challenging. You cannot be an individual, you cannot be a leader, and you have many rules to follow. It's extremely expensive. When you have everything in the world, don't limit yourself to a Sorority, be an individual, be yourself. The world needs new leaders.
Yes, you will all be raped, it's part of the Sorority, hazing, etc, it's all part of the Sorority, so you decide 🤔✌️🇨🇦

[SunnyCaliGirl]

It has it perks such as internship opportunities and scholarships, it all depends how serious your taking schooling

[myTake Owner]

That's the part that really should be worth it to enter into it.

[DishLady]

Depends what type. The honors societies are v helpful but the campy ones are basically a useless drain on your academic path (unless they offer a scholarship)…

[exitseven]

Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life.

[Anonymous]

Probably not, but i'm not sure, I never joined one :P

[kavakava]

Sororities are racist.

[myTake Owner]

Yes, there is a lot of racism in sororities, but there are also a lot of universities that have more multi-cultural or single race/religion sororities that can be better opportunities for those that find themselves being treated this way. A lot of the racism now can't be proven as such---for example, if you have an open admission and anyone can apply and you let "the one girl in," are you racist type of tactics.

[kavakava]

And the all black sororities are also racist.

[Anonymous]

Not my thing