Now that sorority recruitment is over at most schools, potential new members worldwide can relax. After days of dressing to impress and being on their best behavior, they can go back to chugging vat like their lives depend on it, pretending Uggs are real shoes, and wearing leggings as pants. A recent recruitment email was deemed “batshit crazy” by the Jezebel ladies, but how crazy was it? At the end of the day, sorority recruitment is rough — but it does prepare you for the real world in a way college classes can’t.
While recruitment can seem vapid and vain (because it is), it’s also the best way to know how to network after graduation.
At the end of the day, college prepares you mentally for the real world. You learn about art, and culture, and how to pretend to know about both when you’re at a museum. You take enough enough poli-sci courses to speak intelligently about politics and vote accordingly. Without school, there’s a whole world you’d be missing out on. Unfortunately, there are so many ways that college leaves you completely and totally unprepared for what you’re about to face once your world of frat parties and Nike shorts considered fashion is left behind.
After you spend all of the money in the world on college, you walk across that stage and you’re on your own. Sure, your parents might still pay your phone bill, but unless you’re incredibly #blessed like the Blair Waldorfs of the world, the struggle you’ll face is a little bit horrifying. You’re not sure how many exclamation points should be included in a business email, you have no idea to act equal parts friendly and professional in an interview, and you don’t know how to cope with informational interviews that convince you that you’re entirely too awkward to live.
While college doesn’t offer courses on the real world (except for the University of Florida, which I hear has Business Golf), sororities help you build the skills you need to talk to strangers. No matter how shy you are, recruitment forces you to go out of your comfort zone, talk to people you might have nothing in common with, and fake a warmness you might not feel. It’s not being fake, it’s learning how to relate to strangers and connect with them based on knowing almost nothing about them, which is a skill you should be able to put on your resume (along with Pinterest planning, if the real world was more friendly). If you have any kind of social anxiety, it can be difficult, but after a couple of years on the floor talking to potential new members, you’re ready to get coffee with any CEO connection your parents might have made.
So, mock e-mails that recommend Spanx and brushed hair, but if you’re going into an interview you want to look your best — and that’s what recruitment is. Of course, there are parties, and boys, and a whole lot of judgment, but there’s also connections you’ll make that will last you for more than four years. Before you think an e-mail telling girls to be friendly and outgoing is controversial and awful, realize that’s exactly what networking is. Both processes can be kind of the worst, but it’s what they lead to that matters.
Why Sorority Recruitment Isn't As Controversial As People Think
