Skip to main content

So You Want To Go Greek....

As a college student, making the decision to join a fraternity or sorority can be a very personal decision.  The first step in deciding to go Greek, is going through recruitment, or the intake process. Recruitment is when the organizations look at all perspective members, and a mutual decision must be made in order to extend membership.
 Some students, like myself, may come into college knowing they will go through the recruitment process. Others, may be inspired by someone they meet on campus or see their friends doing it, and then there are those who sign up to go through recruitment with no idea what they are getting themselves into, making the decision to dive in and try something new. No matter which category a student may fall into, deciding to join a Greek-lettered is a big commitment, and recruitment is just the first stage.
 Joining a fraternity or sorority may seem scary. It can be a financial, time, and emotional commitment. It means meeting new people and becoming a part of a larger community, learning a whole new vocabulary (we’ll get to that later), and strengthening oneself through service. It actually opens up many doors for the people who decide to join. This article by ThoughtCo. highlights 10 of the benefits of going Greek in college, including a strong network base after graduation, as well as potential scholarships.
 It is important for potential members to do their research before they make the choice, as it can impact the entire process. There are the basics of knowing fraternity = boys, sorority = girls, but there are more details within that. While you may think you want to join a certain chapter because someone you knew was in it, it is important to look at all of your options. The key to going Greek is keeping an open mind to everything. Members should figure out which Greek organizations their school has and learn about these individual chapters, as well as learning more about if it falls under a national council (hint, there’s 4!) and check out their own school’s Fraternity & Sorority Life page, you can find my school Longwood University’s FSL page here!
 Although it is scary, and could at first seem like more trouble than it is worth, joining Greek life is exciting. It opens new doors, and builds relationships that will last a lifetime. Finding the right organization is essential, and through this blog you will learn more about the recruitment process and all it entails!

           


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Fraternity Way

Fraternities have been around since the early 1800s, and if you are a guy going to college, chances are you've probably been asked the question "are you going to join a frat?" Joining a fraternity can open many doors for men on campus looking to find a community, but before they can find the organization they have to go through the recruiting process.  Matthew McConaughey's fraternity composite as a   brother of Delta Tau Delta at University of Texas at Austin On college campuses, most social fraternities, and the ones that will be discussed in this blog, are members of the North-American Interfraternity Conference. There are 70 organizations that fall under the Interfraternity Conference, with the earliest, Chi Phi, being founded all the way back in 1824. Fraternities have been a popular part of apart of American culture since the 1820’s, and many famous men wore Greek letters across their chest while in college. Delta Tau Delta calls Academy A...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Greek Life Dictionary

Sometimes Fraternity & Sorority life can have some confusing vocabulary. There are different abbreviations and terms that don't always make sense to those considering joining. Watch this video I made that includes common words you may run into as a Fraternity & Sorority life member. Hopefully you will learn some new words and what they mean in Greek life! Greek Dictionary on Biteable . If you want to learn even more Greek life vocabulary, there are a lot of different online resources. Here is one of my favorites!
Post a Comment
Read more

Recruiting for Recruitment

You might be wondering, "okay, well I know how theactual recruitment process works , but what about before recruitment? How can I start to learn about chapters now?" Making the decision to sign up and go through recruitment may seem like the first step, but you have even more time to do some prep work before jumping into the recruitment process. At Longwood specifically, students have an entire semester to learn about the Greek organizations on campus before they can join, which allows for plenty of time to learn about the different chapters and councils of which they are a part. It is important to learn which of the organizations your school may have. By going to your school’s Greek life page , you can learn which organizations and councils your school has. Making sure you learn the organizations available your school is an essential first step. It won’t always happen just by looking around campus. I’ve known of many people to say if they had known their school had more...
Post a Comment
Read more