The spring semester has started again and for many sororities, that means Spring Rush is just around the corner! Although for sororities, Rush is usually the most stressful time of the year, it’s also my favorite time of the year and I’m actually sad that I graduated because I can’t be part of the festivities! Going Greek was easily the greatest thing that ever happened to me. It boosted my confidence, taught me responsibility and gave me an amazing group of friends whom I don’t know what I would do without. Understandably, it’s not for everybody though, so here are some reasons why (or why NOT) to join Greek Life:

• “You shouldn’t have to pay for your friends.” You certainly don’t pay for your friends in Greek Life. You pay for your letters, your pin and your initiation fee, and the friends that come along with it are just a bonus perk!
• Your letters will help you get places. At least, I’ve been told that. I have yet to meet an older Sig Delt alumn who was able to help me advance in the workplace, but it is a thing that could happen. Most sororities have LinkedIn groups where you can connect to other chapters who’s sisters may be able to help you out. Even if that’s not the case, just seeing that you were involved in something like Greek Life is enough to impress any employer, Greek or not.
• “I’m just not a sorority type.” That’s probably the funniest phrase I’ve ever heard. While, yes, some sororities tend to have a clearly visible theme to the types of girls they accept, there is no definitive definition of a “sorority girl”. I, for example, blog on Tumblr for about 50% of my day, watch Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation EVERY WEEK (like, I’ve left parties early to go home and watch SNL) and know more about ’60s pop culture than any 23-year-old should. I am so not your typical sorority girl, but a sorority girl I am indeed. Some sisters are total girly girls, some are jocks, some breathe in more pot smoke than clean air, some play the guitar, some know how to stomp (like as in Stomp The Yard). Anyone from any walk of life can be a sorority girl, they just have to want to be.
• “Why would anyone voluntarily want to get hazed?” Nobody wants to get hazed. That’s not the point of joining a sorority. In fact, most, if not all, sororities don’t haze anymore. That’s not to say that pledging won’t be stressful and you won’t be asked to do things that you might not want to, but you certainly won’t be covered in cellophane and have your worst features circled in sharpie, you won’t be made to chug skunked beer while upside down and you won’t be kicked down the stairs in a cage (all hazing nightmare stories I’ve heard from back when hazing was still legal).
• Continuing the theme from the above bullet, the stress that you go through while you’re pledging is designed to test you and to make you prove that you want and deserve your letters, but it will in no way put you in any kind of physical danger. Once pledging is over, you’ll be proud of yourself and proud of your letters. Don’t think of it as a bunch of girls telling you what to do. Think of it like they’re Mr. Miyagi and you’re the karate kid. He’s only pushing you to make you stronger. He wants you to grab the fly from his hand. Each pledge program is designed by the sorority’s nationals and has been in practice for years (and in some cases, centuries). It’s not just a bunch of girls making you do whatever they want you to. There’s a system to it. Adversely, if a sister does try to make you do something that you know you shouldn’t be doing, then they are probably hazing you and should be brought up on standards.
• Like crafting? Of course you do, you’re on HelloGiggles! Well, lucky for you, sororities LOVE to craft. That’s pretty much universal for all sororities. I have so many sorority crafts that I don’t know what to do with them anymore, yet I still get the desire to craft something new all the time. It’s borderline addiction, really.
• GREEK WEEK. I’m not sure how other campuses do Greek Week, but ours is an entire week of sports activities and mixers between all of the campus’s sororities and fraternities designed to create community throughout the whole Greek Life system. Yes, the sports games cause some serious competition between sororities/fraternities, but those get set aside at night for the mixers, which typically pair two fraternities with two sororities. Even if you’re paired with a sorority that you don’t particularly like, I dare you to not have fun at the mixer. I’m the least sporty person ever and Greek Week is my absolute favorite time of the year.
• It’s never a dull moment in Greek Life. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been kidnapped by my sisters and dragged to Chipotle, how many random and unexpected water fights that broke out between us and our favorite fraternity (okay, this happened two times) or how many nights we stayed out until the sun came up. All of the drunken nights spent dancing, laughing, eating and occasionally fighting that always ended in midnight mac ‘n’ cheese and Disney movies, and even the hysterical sober nights that happen as well, spent at on-campus activities. I don’t think I was ever bored while I was in my sorority, and if I was, at least I had a group of people to be bored with.

Danielle Romeo once stood behind Tom Arnold in the LAX baggage check line. She is the co-creator of Comedy Nerds United, an aspiring comedian, a writer, graphic designer, sorority girl, Jersey local, foodie, nerd. She'll probably take over the world someday or something. How should I know? When she's not off on spontaneous sandwich-inspired road trips, you can find her basically everywhere on the internet, but for now we'll say that you can find her on this tumblr or that tumblr or on twitter. Be nice to her, it's not her fault that her face is like that.
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