i’ve joined a sorority by Cami M. '23

You’ll recall in this blogpost I talk about joining Greek life and dorm life and all of that.

TLDR: I did continuous open recruitment for two different sororities, ended up joining the more “popular” one even though I liked the other sorority a bit more/knew it was a better fit, did not like the one I joined, and dropped. I have been constantly wondering “What if..?” when it came to joining the other sorority.

This past spring, I did continuous open recruitment once again for Delta Phi Epsilon and got a bid…and actually joined.

I don’t regret my decision one bit. I love the sorority a lot and I love the people in it.

I often go back and forth between having joined a sorority. I get upset because of the archaic Panhel rules like how sororities aren’t allowed to throw parties or go to fraternity rush events. I get annoyed when I see the double standard between frats and srats, where frats have seemingly boatloads of money to spend on lavish events like rock climbing and lobster dinners and actually fun rush events, whereas sororities have a) a smaller budget and b) aren’t allowed to actually throw fun events due to formal recruitment. And perhaps I’m writing a bit too casually and uncensored and I’ll probably get backlash for what I’m saying, but I wish more people would highlight the incredible double standards between the two and how some of these really old, boring systems should be overthrown or, at the very least, modernized.

That being said, I didn’t join DPhiE for the sake of the title of Greek life; I joined it for the people. I went back and forth a lot between my decision, knowing the costs that came with joining a sorority (all these rules, semesterly dues every month, the possibility of having to live in the house). But, really, the connection with the people in the sorority itself outweighed all of those negatives. (I think, still, it’s crappy that these are the decisions people have to make and weigh when joining a sorority.)

Now that that’s all said, I think it’s also a good time to announce a major shift. I’m not living in Random this incoming fall, which is…eerie and strange and still weird for me. I feel like a fake, in a way, with all the ways I’ve hyped up Random, only to leave it. I got a message that I was chosen by lottery to live in the house and my options were to a) get a doctor’s note saying I can’t live in the house by some medical reason b) find someone else to take my place c) pay dues while not in the house or d) basically deaffiliate from DPhiE and leave the sorority.

And I made the crazy decision to stay in the house, despite looking so forward to living in Random…and I don’t feel too? bad about my decision. I’m actually really excited. I’ll be living in a (granted, much much smaller) single on Boston side, meaning I’ll have to walk across the bridge every day to get to class. It’ll be weird not waking up to cats and the chaos of Random, but I think there’ll be a lot of new adventures in this new house with new people in a new setting. I ultimately did this because I want to really get closer with my sorority and branch out and meet new people, and I think this is the best way to jump right into it.

I’m definitely very…nervous. I’m nervous about the walk over the bridge every day, and how my schedule will change as a result of that. I’m nervous about not being as close with my dorm-life friends since I’ll no longer be directly living with them. I’m still nervous about cooking for myself, cause, well, it’s hard. But despite all the nerves, I think this is good. (Hopefully.)