I was one of the girls in high school that knew everyone, yet no one knew me. I didn’t think in a million years that I would be in Greek life, let alone a sorority. “I wasn’t too preppy for them” “I don’t vibe with them.” All these thoughts fluttered through my head as I looked at the recruitment sign-up sheets in my first two college years. I started college in 2021, right when COVID-19 was becoming a smaller issue with the vaccines, though, with an entire school year (senior year of high school no less) done online, I forgot how to socialize. My first year alone in college was lonely. I would talk to people in class but not connect with them afterward, and that is something that I also struggled with in my sophomore year. However, I thought I found the perfect friend group. We all had the same common interests and while things seemed fine on the surface, nothing was fine at all on the inside. Long story short, on the first day of junior year, I had enough and left them, though, that did put me back in square one.
I always admired Greek life since my sister was in a medical fraternity but I didn’t get into it until #BAMARUSH. I loved watching the tiktoks of all the girls getting ready for rush week, as well as initiated sisters, being so happy for their new sisters to run home! Hence why I decided to join a sorority in my junior year. Personally, while I won’t get the four-year experience, I don’t think freshman or sophomore me would have been in a good mental state to be in a sorority due to everything that was going on in my life. My sister, who also went to the same college as me, gave me some pointers on some sororities that would best fit my needs, but sadly, by the time I decided to join, it was too late as recruitment just passed. However, I didn’t lose hope as I waited for my soon-to-be sorority to announce COB (Continuous Open Bidding) but they never did in the fall.
But things worked out because this spring, my sorority sent out interest forms for informal recruitment and I signed up immediately. I waited for days to get an answer until I was contacted by one of the sisters in E-board to let me know of a recruitment event in the next week. I attended, met some of the most wonderful girls, and anxiously waited for an answer. That same week on Friday, I got my bid to Phi Mu and I was so ecstatic. I immediately signed the bid forms and bid day couldn’t come any sooner. Bid day was amazing, and the rest of the new member process has been so incredible. My phi class (the new member class) is only 7 girls including myself, but we’ve already become a family. I am writing this after I came back from big/little reveal day, which funny enough, my big was the first person I talked to during the recruitment event I was invited to!
I never thought that I would be in a sorority. A lot of people have the thought that “you are paying for friends,” and while they are right in some way, as someone desperate for the college experience, my two months in Phi Mu have been nothing but amazing. I did my research, and I knew what I could be getting myself into, but my sorority experience has put me out of my hiding spot and I love it.