<p>I know that you have to rush and everything, but I don't know how to find out anything about them. Most of the sororities listed at my school didn't have a page that told me about them. The others all had mission statements that all looked good. I don't know anything about sororities or how to find the right one for me. How do I find put which sorority would be good for me? What criteria should I be looking for when choosing? I don't know anything about personalities of sororities. How am I supposed to find out what to do for rushing? I heard I have to pick a top 3 and then I get to look at houses and meet people but how would I even choose a top 3 if I know nothing about any of them? I'm going to Iowa state. does anybody know anything about sororities and the rushing process? I tried to take a quiz online but non of them seemed serious or only had a few choices. Are all sororities the same? does it even matter which one I get in? </p>
<p>During rush you go to a variety of the houses and meet the women in various sororities. Typically if you “click” with a particular batch of women, then the sorority becomes one of your top choices. </p>
<p>Some sororities have different cultures than others. Some are more focused on the volunteering aspect, while others basically exist to give members a social life. As far as the quiz thing, remember that a chapter of say, Sigma Kappa at one school can be remarkably different than the Sigma Kappa chapter at another one. </p>
<p>To address your specific questions:
How do your interests align with the goals of the sorority as well as the personality of the members? Typically students find this out during rush week, or if they join a sorority later in their college career, by interacting with a variety of members and hearing about the GLO (Greek life organization).</p>
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See my above posts. You should also investigate the dues to find out if you can afford the sorority and some of the non listed expenses (think tshirts, gas money for travel, etc).</p>
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The Iowa State may ask you whether you’re interested in greek life, and if you check yes, may send information about the rush process. If it doesn’t, go online to find out the details, and if that doesn’t work, contact the university’s office of greek life. You figure out your preferences during recruitment where the various sororities try to “sell” themselves to you. </p>
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No. Some may be in a large house with a plethora of traditions, while others may be smaller with maybe 50 members and no official house. Some may be primarily comprised of Asian Americans while others could be predominately white, while others could have a more racially balanced list. There are some sororities which are founded around the Christian/ Jewish faiths although most are essentially secular. Even within the panhellenic sororities (the more traditional ones, usually portrayed by various movies), personalities can differ considerably.</p>
<p>I’m not in a sorority, but I have a friend who is in an NPC sorority and was very involved in her sorority and in Greek life at her undergraduate institution, including being the president of Panhellenic and heavily involved in recruitment.</p>
<p>I remember chatting with her about it at length and she told me that while all sororities have different histories and missions and priorities, the NPC sororities are quite similar to each other in their goals and values. She repeatedly emphasized a Panhellenic sisterhood. We talked about recruitment and the fact that the girls don’t get to choose a specific sorority to pursue; her explanation there went back to the similarities between sororities and their values and goals. Most of the time, she says, girls are seeking out a chance to join a sisterhood of women who will provide friendship and lasting relationships, and are also looking for the tradition and exclusivity of Greek life - and any NPC sorority on campus will likely provide them that. She also said that in sufficiently large chapters, there are so many different kinds of women that it’s not like one sorority is a certain “way” - they’re all made up of very diverse women.</p>
<p>I say all that to make the point that if your goal is to join an NPC sorority, then you don’t really need to worry so much about this. You’ll go through the Rush process and have an opportunity to meet the young women of each sorority on campus, increasingly spending more time at each house that you like. Iowa State has a electronic brochure about their process (<a href=“Iowa State University Panhellenic Sorority Formal Recruitment Publication by Iowa State University Office of Sorority and Fraternity Engagement - Issuu”>http://issuu.com/lettersmagazineisu/docs/408808_isugreeklittlebigbk_updated</a>). During the recruitment process, you will also get a Rho Gamma - a recruitment counselor, an upperclassman who is Greek and who’s job it is to guide you through the process and help you make decisions. (You won’t know what sorority she’s in until after recruitment.</p>
<p>You don’t start out by picking top 3 houses; you start out by visiting every house on campus for 20 minutes each. Then every day you visit increasingly fewer sororities for more time until the last day - Pref Night - during which you visit up to 5 sororities for 60 minutes each. After that night, you rank the last up to 5 sororities you visited; they rank their girls, and then you get matched and offered a bid. If you want to give the sorority a chance, you accept the bid. Even after that, you’re not initiated - you’re new member (formerly “pledge”). Usually you are a new member for a few weeks; it’s an opportunity for you to test-drive sorority life and that sorority without making a formal commitment to it. So if you decide you don’t like your new chapter, you can “depledge” and do formal recruitment again two years later (most times girls who depledge are not allowed to do formal recruitment again the very next year, but they can try two years later). Or if you decide Greek life isn’t for you, you can depledge before initiation and just not be Greek. But after the couple of weeks you become initiated as a sister of the sorority.</p>
<p>Multicultural Greek Council and National Pan-Hellenic Council (MGC and NPHC, the traditionally non-white sororities) have completely different intake processes and in those cases, you kind of do need to know what chapter you re going to pursue before you do so. Most young ladies find out by going to the chapter’s sponsored events on campus and by reading a lot about the history, mission, and values of the sororities, but getting the social cues right can be tricky. It’s best to talk to a member one of those sororities about getting the politics right at your particular campus.</p>
<p>Thank you all. This was very helpful.</p>