Greek Speak: If We Knew Then What We Know Now…

By Sorority Girl

I made a lot of mistakes my first year of college (and based on some of the Morning After stories I’ve been reading on here, I know I’m not alone). But of all the dumb things I did – hooking up with my next door neighbor during Welcome Week, setting my alarm wrong for my first midterm, gorging myself on Indian Night in the caf (ugh) – my biggest regret involves sorority rush.

Actually, my 2 biggest regrets:

1. Thinking my hair would stay straight as I walked from one house to the next in a monsoon. Hellooooo, frizzy mullet!
2. Trying to be who I thought the girls in the houses wanted me to be and totally losing myself in the process.

Granted, I ended up in a great house with girls who are now my best friends, but I look back at myself during rush and I just want to smack that girl. Hard. (And buy her a flat iron – my god!) I wouldn’t want that fake girl in my house and I totally get why lots of other girls didn’t want me in theirs. I’m just grateful that there was a chapter out there that was full of girls just like me so I could actually be myself and fit in perfectly.

I’ve learned a lot about myself and sorority life since that fateful month my Freshman year and I think now, when so many young ladies are in the throes of rush, is the perfect time for me and my panel of Panhellenic women to share what we now know with this new crop of sorority sistahs. So to all you PNMs shuffling from house to house right now, take our advice and not only will you make the most of your experience, but you won’t be looking back 2 years from now wishing you’d done something differently.

Lisa: UCLA
If I knew back then all that I know now, I would have gone to more activities. At the time, I was so annoyed about every. single. thing. we had to do that I’d just skip them out of principal, but now I realize that there was a method to that madness. Every sleepover, pledge night and activity we had was meant to bring our pledge class closer together and by not going, I definitely missed out on some major bonding time. And room points. Now I’m stuck in a closet.

Jess: Delta Phi Epsilon, University of Michigan
If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have gotten blackout drunk at Big Sis/Little Sis night. Being carried out of the restaurant by my pledge class was not the best first impression to make on about 50% of the girls in my house. Even more, I don’t remember the night at all and according to the stories I hear about it ALL THE TIME, it was one of the best.

Megan: Chi Omega, Purdue
If you knew what I know now about sorority recruitment, you would forget about all the stupid stereotypes about every house that you’ll hear before recruitment even starts. You wouldn’t form an opinion BEFORE going into the process and you’d let your own experiences guide you. That’s the best and only way to know for sure that you will end up in the house that is the best fit for you. Be yourself

Megen C: University of Chicago:
If I knew then what I know now, I would take more time to get to know the sisters who were seniors.

Rachel Cerrone: Chi Omega, Indiana University
If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have gotten so caught up in listening to campus gossip about houses during the rush process. Almost every single rumor girls had spread concerning Greek life were false, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that sororities are pretty drama-free.  You really have to experience it for yourself so you can discover the truth.

Kellyn: University of Michigan
If I knew then what I know now I would have relaxed more.  I went through the first month of so of my sorority like a deer in the headlights, worried if I would fit in with the rest of the girls or not. We were all selected to be in the house for probably similar reasons, so I should have just relaxed more and had fun meeting everyone.

Anyone else got some great wisdom to impart on these new girls? Something you wish you’d done differently? Share it below!