My Greek Experience (for curious pnms)

This is my personal experience as I have been a member of a sorority at FGCU for several years.

Recruitment is easy compared to other universities. It really doesn't matter what you wear, so don't stress about it. In my group we have a solid list of girls we target during recruitment. I won't gloss over that looks are important in my group. Your grades and activities won't get you an invitation in my sorority. It is more of a friend group, so if you know someone you have a better chance than the next pnm. It's kind of like 13th grade and not a new beginning at college.

Membership is not that expensive, but you do need to ask yourself if you want to spend money to belong and remember the money doesn't end with dues. You will spend more on clothes, t-shirts, costumes, events, gifts and travel. Only you can answer if this is worth the investment. That is why many drop throughout their time at FGCU or even why many do not want to belong. They weigh out the cost vs the return.

There are rules and many are just dumb. If you don't follow the rules you are not going to enjoy being a member. Enough said.

There are cliques in the group. There are many like the "run the sorority" clique, the "looks" clique, the "frat" clique, the "mean" clique, The "kiss up" clique and others. Do not join and think it won't be like high school because it is just an older version of it.

I have met some truly nice people and made a few solid friendships. Some people ask me if it was all worth it. I feel it is all in how you look at it. Some days I will answer that it was well worth it and other days I know it was not. You can make the same friendships and fun without belonging. I think what I will tell a pnm is this is your one chance to belong and if it's something you want to do, just go it.

What I will say is I wish we had a house or at least an apartment on campus that represents our sorority. I also wish our sorority was larger in size. It is rough just meeting at the union building or another room on campus. It gives off a feeling no different than a high school club. I know if we had a house that membership, participation, and attitudes would likely improve.

I don't have any regrets being a member. There were times it was fun, but as with anything there were times I wouldn't have minded skipping out. I know the experience would have been different at a major university. One thing I will say is I won't look back wondering what sorority life was like. What I will say is I do not think it is necessary at FGCU and that it makes that much of a difference in making friendships or having fun. I also slowly learned everyone is in my group for a reason and our reasons don't always align. You can take from it as much as you want or as little as you want. One thing I will tell you is the time goes pretty fast. Whether you go Greek or not just be happy because you never get this time back.