Going Greek was the best decision I’ve ever made

I’m from Clarksville, Maryland, but I chose to go to the University of Alabama. All of my high school friends decided to stay in-state, besides the few of us who sprinkled across the country.

I didn’t know anyone when I came to this school, but I chose Alabama for several reasons. Aside from the thousands of people, beautiful campus, and tremendous football team, Alabama has one of the largest Greek systems in the United States with 10,000 students involved.

I am currently a senior who chose to go Greek my freshman year. My mom attended Arizona State University and was part of a sorority — she was truly the reason why I decided to go through recruitment. I didn’t know much about it, but I was in for a big surprise when I learned there is more to it than the parties.

Throughout all the laughs, tears, successes and failures, I’ve had over 300 women by my side — the women of Alabama’s Beta Chapter of Pi Beta Phi. Here are the reasons you should consider joining Greek life like I did.

It makes building friendships a breeze

I find myself rather outgoing, but I was nervous about making friends in college because I had such strong friendships in high school. On bid day, I made 108 new friends who were all in the same boat as me. It made me feel connected with all of them because we chose the same house and we were comfortable there.

My pledge class consists of girls from all over the country. All the time we spend together and the activities we choose to do together has given me memories that I will never forget. I created life-long friendships with my chapter, and especially my pledge class.

You can give back

Each sorority and fraternity has a different philanthropy: Pi Beta Phi’s is literacy. Aside from reading to elementary school kids, our Vice President of Philanthropy provides different community service projects that we can become a part of. In high school, I didn’t do much community service. Once I came to college and went Greek, it gave me more motivation to get involved within the community and on my campus.

You can improve your leadership skills

When you join a Greek organization, there are many opportunities to take on a leadership role. I served a term on our Executive Council as the Director of Recruitment for Pi Phi. By taking on this role, I learned more about myself and my leadership abilities.

I have this position on my resume and know that potential employers will see how I was in charge of the largest recruitment process in the nation, and I will be able to share my experiences with leading my chapter through a successful recruitment.

There are opportunities to network

When you graduate college and get out into the real world, you may start to feel scared or worried you may not get a job. Luckily, many sororities and fraternities are known nationally. You could potentially walk into your dream job and the person conducting your interview could have gone Greek and will feel connected to you.

Greek life is more than its stereotypes

You may hear the negatives of joining the Greek system, such as “they party all the time” or “they pay for their friends.” At the end of the day, when you are a part of a wonderful organization where you make life-long friends, give back to the community and learn more about yourself, you know it’s more than partying and paying for friends. I couldn’t have had the college experience that I did without joining the Greek system at The University of Alabama.