Once you have received an official letter of invitation from the sorority, you can begin the membership intake process. Kesha Ward has been a professional writer since With a Bachelor of Science in applied economics, she brings more than a decade of experience in public finance. Regardless of how old we are, we never stop learning. Classroom is the educational resource for people of all ages. Based on the Word Net lexical database for the English Language. See disclaimer.
About the Author Kesha Ward has been a professional writer since Related Articles. Obviously, it goes a little deeper than that. There are real pros and cons to joining a fraternity or sorority. Greek life enjoys a long and storied connection to higher education. However, the price of membership can be one of the largest expenses in your college budget. This sum likely only includes local chapter dues, national organization dues, and insurance.
There may still be other incidental fees associated with being Greek, such as:. You can usually calculate the cost of membership while researching the fraternity or sorority you wish to join.
However, you may want to look at the cost breakdown. The main cause for the price differences between Greek organizations, especially those on the same campus, is the amount of dues that go toward the national organization insurance bill. Organizations that have banned alcohol from their events will often charge a lower annual bill to members.
By contrast, organizations that have a history of alcohol- or hazing-related violations or fatalities will usually pay astronomical amounts for insurance. This is an expense that gets passed along to esteemed members. Learn more about the history and culture of each organization before making a commitment. Networking is an integral part of the college experience and Greek life provides one of the strongest foundations for social interfacing with a network of peers.
Greek organizations help build networks that often prove beneficial to students when looking for internships, employment, recommendations, or employees. The connections gained through your organization, both within your university and at the national level, can have serious long-term benefits. There are currently more than nine million alumni of fraternities and sororities working out there in the real world. Joining one of these organizations makes you the member of an exclusive club.
This membership affords you an instant connection with any other members of that club. As you advance in your college education and your career, these connections can become increasingly valuable for landing interviews, listing references, or getting letters of recommendation. Imagine showing up for your first day on a new job in your nicest shirt, every hair in place, and your fingernails nicely manicured. Hazing is technically forbidden, but the reality is that it still happens and is fairly widespread.
At least one hazing death has occurred on a North American campus every year since As noted above, this is the leading cause of costly insurance. You should also bear in mind that not all new member hazing is brutal. Some of it may just be annoying or mildly demeaning. Most commonly, pledges are asked to do trivial, pointless tasks, many that may be publicly humiliating.
Pledges are often required to prove their worth and learn their place in the pecking order of a fraternity or sorority. The first Greek organization for African-American women did not come about until much later; Alpha Kappa Alpha was founded at Howard University in The National Pan-Hellenic Council oversees traditionally black sororities and fraternities. Today, cultural-interest sororities are starting to crop up on a growing number of college campuses. These sororities cater to a specific cultural interest -- a sorority for Asian-American women or Latina women, for example.
A multicultural sorority encourages not a particular cultural interest, but actively recruits multiple cultures. Theta Nu Xi is one example. In this article, we'll discuss the sorority recruitment process, what pledging is like and what to expect from life as a member of a sorority.
Potential new members -- commonly known as rushees -- must go through a recruitment process, traditionally known as rush. Recruitment differs depending on the college campus. At a large university with a large Greek population, like in the South at a state school, sorority recruitment may be a highly structured and dressy event, with girls teetering around in the heat wearing high heels and their mother's pearls.
At a smaller university or a college with less Greek interest, sorority recruitment events are usually much less formal gatherings. Rush usually consists of a few rounds.
During these rounds, sisters meet potential new members. The women talk, perform skits, sing songs and share personal stories about what the sisterhood means to them. As rush progresses, potential new members and sororities list their choices in order of preference.
Desirable rushees will receive invitations to the next round. Ideally, rush is a time for potential new members and sisters to meet one another and see if they would be a good fit. But, the larger the Greek population and university, the more difficult that goal is.
If more than one thousand girls go through rush, realistically most of the sorority members will not meet each girl. This is one instance where people get the idea that sororities can be superficial -- snap judgments may be made based purely on looks. At some schools, a rushee has to rush all sororities -- meaning she must meet with each group at least once and attend each rush event.
At other schools, a girl may choose to rush just the sororities she might like to join, based on reputation. At these schools, attending a rush party can be seen as an indication of your interest in joining that sorority. If you're considering going through rush, there are some sorority recruitment terms you might want to know:.
Each sorority has a different private way of voting for new members. It may be an open discussion between members of the sorority or a more confidential, written process. At the end of rush, when finalizing a list of desirable potential new members, voting members will likely discuss each rushee, pointing out why she would or would not match the sorority's values and desired attributes.
With a large recruitment group, sometimes a computer algorithm can help by matching sororities and their favorite rushees with rushees and their preferred houses. For a smaller group of rushees, sorority members could simply discuss the merits of the potential new members among themselves and then hold a vote on each potential new member. At many colleges, the sororities give out formal bids on one special day, which is called bid day.
At some schools, potential new members dress in a particular way white dresses, bright T-shirts and go to the sorority house to spend time with their new sisters-to-be. If a potential new member accepts a sorority bid, she becomes a new member , more commonly known as a pledge. Because of negative associations with words like "pledge," many sororities have chosen to adopt new language. At present, NPC-affiliated sororities usually refer to the pledging process as new member education.
During the new member education process, pledges learn more about the organization. For example, a new member might learn the history of the sorority and its values. She'll meet the other new members and spend time bonding with current members. There might be mandated study times, weekly meetings and optional social events. New members must also spend some additional study time getting ready for a sort of entrance exam, which each pledge must pass in order to join the sorority.
The test might have information about the organization's history, symbols or founding members as well as general information about the Greek system -- pretty much whatever a pledge has learned during the pledging process is fair game. Rushees should understand that pledging involves a hefty time commitment. The pledging process is somewhat different for traditionally black sororities.
Along with the incredible time investment dedicated to studying, meetings and social events and learning the sorority's history and ideals, many pledges must also learn how to step. The pledge class practices together to perform a stepping routine during a campus step show.
Stepping is a dance that involves using the body as percussive instruments -- steppers stomp, clap their hands together and against their bodies to make a rhythm for sorority chants and songs. Routines are highly choreographed and often rely on a call-and-response technique.
Stepping began with black fraternities in much the same way the white fraternities ' tradition of glee club-style singing sprang to life. Black sororities took up the tradition some time later. Some Latina sororities step as well. The first step show of an initiated member is called a probate show.
When you think of pledging, it's likely hazing is the next thing that pops into your mind. Most universities and colleges define hazing in a similar way; Dartmouth describes it like this:. Hazing can happen in any organized group including sports teams and military groups. On college campuses, it tends to be a bigger problem in fraternities , but it certainly also happens in sororities.
Most universities have specific rules forbidding hazing, and every sorority's national organization forbids hazing as well. Despite these restrictions, hazing is still happening on campuses throughout the United States.
Hazing in a sorority might include forcing pledges to go without sleep , forcing them to binge drink, scaring them or forcing them to do degrading tasks. Stories circulate about girls being told to bring markers with them to meetings. Sisters use the markers to circle areas of the pledge's body to indicate where they think the pledge needs to lose weight. Universities and national umbrella organizations take hazing very seriously -- and for good reason as hazing has resulted in injury and even death.
Because it is such a serious concern, each school has a system to handle hazing complaints. If a potential new member meets all of her pledgeship requirements, she may be eligible for initiation, a secret ritual event during which she will become a full member of the sorority. During initiation, she will learn the sorority's secrets, from the secret meaning behind the Greek letters to secret passwords and secret handshakes. Yes, lots and lots of secrets.
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