<p>I am a freshman and I know I want to join a sorority this year. I know that all sororities have sophomore live in requirements. Are basically all of the rooms in sororities doubles? I would love to live in the house and get involved in everything about the sorority, but I really don't think I could deal with having a roommate and not having at least one room for my own personal space (please don't start attacking me about the benefits of learning to live with a roommate). If I sign a lease for a collegetown apartment now, will I still be required to pay for a room in the sorority? Would having a lease work against me in the rush process? Could I wait until after rush to tell the sorority that I have a lease and work out arrangements after I'm offered a bid somewhere? How much does housing at a sorority usually cost, and would I be completely looked down upon if I both rented an apartment and lived in the sorority?</p>
<p>Some of the sororities are very strict about their live-in requirement for new members. Room assignment is done by priority...President is #1 and new members usually end up in doubles or some kind of suite...they rarely are given a single room. If you signed a lease now and the sorority absolutely required you to live in...you'd have to find a subletter or risk paying rent for the sorority and the apartment. </p>
<p>On the only day I participated in rush...I was asked at every house what my housing plans for the following year were. As I've stated on this forum before...I know a lot of things about sororities that I shouldn't...and I know with one sorority...they had a lot of new members tell them after they showed up for bid night they had signed leases elsewhere and it did not go well...the new members depledged once they found out the cost of living in and that the sorority was going to make them live in the house. Theoretically...you could pay rent for both an apartment and the house...but that's a lot of money that you could spend on better things :-)</p>
<p>I know there is a lot of hype about off-campus housing right now....it seems like everyone is signing leases. But to everyone else who feels stressed about this...I assure you, you can still find a great apartment in the spring. Sometimes...landlords start promoting awesome deals and drop rent prices in order to attract students. I signed a lease for a studio in Collegetown Plaza in April...and had a decent reduction on the monthly rent.</p>
<p>Not all sororities have a live in requirement. Mine didn't, and a lot of girls already had a lease signed, and a bunch of girls never lived in the house. I lived in my sorority house and had to live in a double, but I loved every minute of it. I got to live with all of my best friends, had amazing dinners cooked for me every night, not to mention that sorority houses are basically mansions. And having everyone together to get ready and pregame before going out was great.</p>
<p>I think you should decide first whether or not you want to live in the sorority house. If you know for sure that you don't, then you might be cut from a couple of houses during rush, but you also might end up in a house without a live-in requirement anyway. You could always sign a lease in the spring, but if you are looking to rent a place with a bunch of people, they might not want to wait for you. But you might go through rush and change your mind once everyone in your pledge class gets soooo excited about living in. You will still have 2 years to live in ctown.</p>
<p>My housing actually cost a lot less than the dorms and a collegetown apartment btw</p>
<p>I would definitely like the experience of living in the house, I just worry about not having any space to myself. I'm not good at keeping my stuff tidy and I keep kind of strange hours. I've never had to share a living space and I'm not sure I'm ready to start. All in all I don't think I would make a great roommate. However, I'm not willing to sacrifice being in a house that I really like. Would it be a problem if I had already signed a lease but was also willing to pay for living in the sorority (ie have 2 living spaces for the year). I know its a little unconventional, but its the only way I see that I can have both the bonding experience of living in the house and the comfort of a place I can retreat to (and dump all my stuff).</p>
<p>it would be a real waste to live in collegetown AND in the house...like a waste of around $4000. i have a single in my house. i still have my privacy, and yet im still living with my best friends. it is okay if you already signed a lease. you can still go to the house and eat dinner and get ready with the girls. just because you dont live in the house doesnt make you any less of a sister.</p>
<p>but if you know you want to rush, dont sign a lease.</p>
<p>were the sororities unhappy because the girls didnt want to pay for housing in the sororities or because they wouldnt be spending as much time in the house? would they be angry/cut me if i had a living space in addition to a room in the sorority? has anyone heard of anyone doing this?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>if you have a room in collegetown AND a room in the sorority, you are potentially keeping someone else from living in the house who actually really wants to. the rooms in a sorority arent your typical cramped dorm rooms...and its not like you are moving everything you ever owned in life with you into the house or anywhere while in college. </p></li>
<li><p>you wont be cut automatically if you say you are living in collegetown</p></li>
<li><p>i agree with CUA11...if you want to rush and are intending on joining a sorority, just DONT sign a lease! its that simple. if you need storage space, you can rent a locker type thing from the storage company in the commons. </p></li>
<li><p>are you having a problem with not enough space in your dorm room now? if not, you wont have a problem in the house</p></li>
</ol>
<p>OP - you are worried not having a place that you could just be by yourself, which is a legitimate concern. The extra cost of keeping 2 places is the cost of apartment rental, whatever that is. I think it is up to you and your family to see if it's the money you are willing to spend. Fact of the matter is most rooms at sororities are smaller and they are usually doubles, and there are a lot of girls around all the time, therefore could be a lot of drama. My daughter was very apprehensive about having to share a very small quarter with her friend because the friend is a neat freak. My daughter also never shared any space with anyone. I told her she could move out if it didn't work out. Well, it has worked out fine. She and her roommate have learned to compromise to live together. She loves living at her sorority and her room is tiny.</p>
<p>During the rush week I would not tell anyone you have signed a lease, I don't think it would put you in the best light (most houses need enough people to pay for the cost). Once you have gotten the bid, you could decide whether you want to keep the apartment or break the lease. If you could afford to have two places, I think you could afford to pay the penalty of breaking the lease.</p>
<p>^^My friend has this issue. When she approached the landlord and explained the situation....my friend's only option was to work with the landlord to find a new group of tenants (she and all of friends decided to pull out b/c they decided living together wasn't going to work...a complication of signing a lease in early October) or they would be obligated to keep the lease. Eventually they found a new group...but it was a lot of stress.</p>
<p>So...to the OP: if you rented an apartment...would you still like to live alone or with friends? If it's the former...wait until you go through rush...you can still get a great studio or one bedroom apartment in March/April if you decide sorority housing really isn't going to work out for you.</p>