<p>So I've always been extremely opposed to sorrities/fraternaties, however, I have only been familiar with the stereotypical state school image of greek life (mtv's sorrority life). But now that I'm in nu i'm realizing that there are many benefits of joining a sorriety- ie social aspects and better housing. I was just wondering how close nu's greek life is to my stereotype of spirit activities and superficial girls. Also what is the rush process like and what are the different types of sorrorities?</p>
<p>first off, congrats on getting in. there are many threads on this, so i recommend you read some of them to get more opinions, but greek life at nu is not nearly as "intense", even if it has such a high percentage of students involved. as a guy, i can say that some frats are "worse" than others, but none are that bad, and i'd imagine its the same for girls. girls rush is definately worse than guys rush, as there are many rounds that include interviews, though i'm sure someone else could expand on this. there is a lot of negative sentiment on this board (not to mention that extraordinarily biased documentary) regarding this process, and the freshman girls were definitely nervous during the 4-5 days that it went on, but i feel inclined to mention that i only know one girl that was disappointed when all was said and done. this is a point that is often overlooked.</p>
<p>Yes, MTV's sorority life is a perfect representation. Just like The Real World perfectly represents how people interact when they share apartments, survivor realistically depicts what it would be like to survive on a desert island, etc.</p>
<p>Seriously, don't base your views of ANYTHING on reality TV. That being said, NU is a very unique Greek culture and avoids many of the pitfalls the stereotypes get right.</p>
<p>Katekate, you can go on NU's website and find information about sorority rush (you'll see last year's process, of course, but same idea). The big thing is that it's held in January, after you've had some time to acclimate to NU, and you can decide then if you're interested and wish to participate, or not. </p>
<p>And no one on here is going to give you reputations of the different sororities - you'll find out yourself if and when you get here. It's just not right to be perpetuating stereotypes. </p>
<p>The girls / women at NU are some of the nation's best and brightest. They are intelligent, driven, and have demonstrated leadership. What kinds of societies do you <em>think</em> they're going to form? Bubble-headed? Hardly.</p>
<p>arbiter, to expand on your comment - just curious, why do you think NU's Greek system avoids a lot of the stereotypes? Are there other campuses that do so? I find it hard to believe that NU is so unique compared to other top schools that have Greek systems. I mean, I doubt that sororities at, say, WashU or MIT are full of bubble-headed bleach blondes.</p>
<p>Exactly Pizzagirl- top school's with greek systems are unlikely to fit the stereotypes of average greek organizations just because they're not average pools of people. The only difference is that, or instance at Dartmouth, the greek scene is much more heavily dominated by drinking than at NU.</p>
<p>If I may paraphrase your quote, you said it well:
"The students at NU are some of the nation's best and brightest. They are intelligent, driven, and have demonstrated leadership. What kinds of societies do you <em>think</em> they're going to form? Bubble-headed? Hardly."</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for their input. I know it's unfair of me to project my stereotype of greek life onto nu, however, I must still admit that I'm nervous that I won't get along well with the type of girls who would want to be in sorrorities. I watched that documentray someone posted up here and I know that everyone will claim that it was horribly skewed in some direction but it was still very unsettleing and did not ease my concerns at all.</p>
<p>that documentary was made by a girl who is very unrepresentative of her sorority and who intentionally distorted what their rush process was like in an effort to look cool</p>
<p>anyway, there are something like 20 sororities on campus and they are all different (and even within the individual sororities the girls are all so different) so i don't think you will have a problem finding a sorority, or even a group of girls within a sorority, that you will like. and there's always the option of not rushing.</p>
<p>a lot of freshman girls get worked up about sorority rushing (especially during the week that it happens) and think it is really important, only to look back a couple of years later and see how silly it was (i guess a lot of things are like that - high school, etc.) so don't worry about it. just be yourself, girls will like you and you will end up where you should be.</p>
<p>Not that i think this is the case, but if there was a really fake sorority at northwestern, would you really want to bother acting fake for them during rush, just to get a bid and have to spend the next four years with a group of girls who don't match your personality?</p>
<p>"Thanks everyone for their input. I know it's unfair of me to project my stereotype of greek life onto nu, however, I must still admit that I'm nervous that I won't get along well with the type of girls who would want to be in sorrorities."</p>
<p>But what is your stereotype of "the type of girls who would want to be in a sorority"? Clue: Is that stereotype consistent with the kinds of women who NU attracts and who can handle NU academics? </p>
<p>Think of it this way - when you're in high school, let's say you're on the track team. You really enjoy the other girls in track team, and you wind up spending a lot of time with them. Does that mean that you won't give the time of day to someone who's not on the track team? Or that you think you're superior somehow? Or that you wouldn't deign to talk to the girl who sits next to you in math class that you otherwise like? Of course not. So now extend that to Greek life. Greek life (at least at NU, and I suspect other top colleges) isn't <em>exclusive</em>. Trust me, there is no crap where the Pi Phis can't talk to the A Chi Os or whatever. They are just clubs / groups of women who happen to enjoy each other's company. They're a structured version of what happens naturally in dorms and classes anyway -- friends find one another.</p>
<p>Katekate: A male poster who was a transfer student was arguing with many of us about the Greek system before he came to the campus. He was convinced that it was elitist, exclusive, problematic, etc. and made a lot of judgments. We (alumni and current students) told him to reserve his judgment til he was on campus and could experience it. </p>
<p>After a few months on campus, this is what he said (from a post dated 3-23):</p>
<p>"From my impression, the Greek system at NU is not about crowning people as most social or most beautiful (as the stereotypes say about Greeks in other places) but rather providing people (anyone) structured space for socializing. They're not exclusive in that people who are Greek are still friends with non-Greeks, and non-Greeks are welcome at Greek social events. Also, it's impossible to tell who's Greek or not because the stereotypes about how Greeks are supposed look and socialize are NOT TRUE at Northwestern (as much as some of them secretly like to ride on these stereotypes). If anything, a lot of the non-Greeks feel confident enough in their social skills to have a decent social life without having to rely on a structured social group and are, in this way, more socially adept. Greek or not, Northwestern students are assertive, classy, confident, humble, and nice."</p>
<p>There is absolutely no reason for anyone to sweat the Greek system at NU. You can ignore it completely, participate in it somewhat (go to open parties, hang out with friends who are Greek), or you can throw yourself into it for all 4 years. It doesn't matter. I'm glad I did, but that's my experience -- I used my sorority experience to gain some campus leadership experiences.</p>
<p>Well said Pizzagirl...</p>