My mom didn’t want me to be in a sorority
I was the first girl in my family to go through the recruitment process
As if going out of state for school wasn’t enough, I wanted to start my new life here in Iowa with a place to call home right off the bat. The thought of being part of something bigger than myself, the thought of having a “home away from home”, and last but not least, the thought of growing my family intrigued me to go through fall formal recruitment. I’ll admit though, the process wasn’t easy at all, and it all started well before recruitment registration.
Being the oldest of four girls, I guess you could call me the guinea pig child. I love my parents dearly, however the fact that I’m not allowed to have boys in my room still when at home, while my 17-year-old sister gets to have boys in the basement (she lives down there) isn’t fair at all. Sororities are a foreign topic in the household.
Even though my father was in a fraternity, they do things way different on the East Coast so no help there. My mom wasn’t in a sorority herself, so she didn’t have a clue in the world as to how to help me with the process. She tried to talk me out of going through it too, saying things like:
“What if you join and don’t like it at all?”
“You should get used to your classes and being away from home first”
Being myself, I signed up anyway. But that was only the first step… the biggest thing is what I’d be wearing for all four rounds. The first round was easy – you just had to worry about the bottoms!
Since my mom didn’t go through recruitment, she bought me dresses for the third and fourth rounds – the kind very conservative girls will wear to church.
I am very appreciative that she did this for me, however lets be honest, skin should be shown. I mean look at what my friends and I wore to preference round, we all looked awesome for our final two houses!
I am very thankful for my situation though, because it could have been much worse. There are two sisters of mine in my sorority whose mothers had been in different sororities, and really tried to influence them.
There’s Ella, whose mother was a Tri Delta at Iowa State. The only reason Ella went through recruitment was to please her mom and try and follow in her footsteps, however, her heart wasn’t on it at first. She tried and tried, and when she got dropped from Tri Delta for preference she didn’t know what to think. After finding out that she was dropped, Ella’s mom was upset, but understood that maybe it wasn’t the best fit for her daughter anyway, and that the house she did pick would make her at home.
Then there’s my other sister, Kit. Her mother was a Pi Phi and very so desperately wanted her daughter to follow in her footsteps. At first, Kit didn’t want anything to do with sorority life – she thought it was overrated. She joined recruitment under polite pressure from her mother and some friends. After the first round, Kit was overwhelmed by visiting fourteen houses in two days, but by round two things changed. Even though she got asked back to her mother’s old house and liked the girls, she ended up dropping them after the second round because of stronger connections made at other houses.
Ultimately, what she wanted is what she got. On bid day, her new family welcomed her with open arms and promising friendships that will last a lifetime. Kit’s mom understood that Pi Phi wasn’t the home for her, and let her choose her own path.
Through it all, I’d consider myself fairly lucky. I went through recruitment with an open mind, met some pretty amazing girls, and found my home. The Greek population may be just a fraction of student life, but in reality we’re all just one close-knit community, and I cannot wait to see what’s in store for my next four years as an active member.