Anonymous wrote:My dd at uva said it looks like tri sig got six pledges, which is better than last year at least. I hope some girls COB and get them back to a decent size.

It was like 3-4.

Honestly, I put those girls up. It takes a lot more courage and independence to join a sorority like that than follow the herd to some cookie cutter top tier house.

My dd at uva said it looks like tri sig got six pledges, which is better than last year at least. I hope some girls COB and get them back to a decent size.

As someone who has very little knowledge of greek life, what do the fees pay for? Especially, if DD is not living in the sorority house.

It depends. But, generally:

-Each college chapter has to pay a fee to the national organization
-insurance
-housing fees (this can range from groups that have large houses with hundreds of girls living in and eating 3 meals a day, electricity, house "mother" salary, housing insurance, a fund for maintenance and upkeep, etc. to a mid-size room that is rented from the University for meetings and a storage unit for things like rush and rituals equipment)
-website (unless this is part of the fee paid to the national organization)
-probably Panhellenic dues for the university Panhellenic chapter to pay for things like organizing rush
-social events
-leadership training (usually for officers who may get to go to the national training or convention but also to bring speakers in)

Note also that some sororities have strong scholarship and interest free loan programs. And, some pay for officers such as the President or Treasurer to live in the house free.

Anonymous wrote:I learned these past months about the current sisters having to wear certain types of outfits, including color schemes, for rush week. My daughter was scrambling a bit to find tbe right clothes. She enjoys her sorority, but thought this requirement was a bit over the top. It is an extra expense that was not explained during rusn week last year. Some sisters probably have enough clothes, but we had to pitch in to help pay for this expense. She gets to keep the clothes of course.

Obviously, your daughter saw that last year when she went through it, but she probably thought nothing of it. The outfits don't have to be designer and can be worn each year (fun to thrift for these items!). However, I should warn you that the real additional money comes from "Littles" baskets! Great fun to get as a freshman, but pretty pricy as a sophomore! All that said, my daughter loves being in a sorority and loves her friends and the house. She is living in this year and it has been the highlight of college so far!

Anonymous wrote:And even Princeton has Greek life (in addition to their pseudo Greek Eating Clubs); per online they can’t pledge until sophomore year and not formally recognized by the University (same for Harvard). Penn and Cornell definitely have them, and my online search says Duke, MIT and Stanford so yes, even ‘elite’ schools have them like the lowly state unis.

Yale has Greek life too.

Anonymous wrote:I learned these past months about the current sisters having to wear certain types of outfits, including color schemes, for rush week. My daughter was scrambling a bit to find tbe right clothes. She enjoys her sorority, but thought this requirement was a bit over the top. It is an extra expense that was not explained during rusn week last year. Some sisters probably have enough clothes, but we had to pitch in to help pay for this expense. She gets to keep the clothes of course.

I am sorry this is not expensive and it is fun. You clearly have an issue with sororities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did the struggling sorority get any one

+1 I came here to see the same thing. My dd said she has not seen anything and there’s nothing in their Instagram. Makes me so sad. I am praying they got some people at least for the sake of the sisters that out so much work and hope into rush.

I saw some of the yikyak posts…a bummer people were being so rude. Although I will say that sorority is oddly one of the mid-expensive ones, which is probably a barrier to entry.

Another unexpected expense: running their Instagram accounts means they need to do trips that make them seem fun and cool. So expect your daughter to start asking for money to go to the beach, Europe, and NYC.

I learned these past months about the current sisters having to wear certain types of outfits, including color schemes, for rush week. My daughter was scrambling a bit to find tbe right clothes. She enjoys her sorority, but thought this requirement was a bit over the top. It is an extra expense that was not explained during rusn week last year. Some sisters probably have enough clothes, but we had to pitch in to help pay for this expense. She gets to keep the clothes of course.

Anonymous wrote:Did the struggling sorority get any one

+1 I came here to see the same thing. My dd said she has not seen anything and there’s nothing in their Instagram. Makes me so sad. I am praying they got some people at least for the sake of the sisters that out so much work and hope into rush.

Anonymous wrote:Did the struggling sorority get any one

What school?

Anonymous wrote:

My advice is always to be yourself during rush. If they accept you as you are, you’ll be happy there. The people who are unhappy are the ones who overdid it during rush and wound up somewhere that was not a fit with their genuine self.

This is verbatim the advice DD's Pi Chi gave her last week.

It’s very safe advice. But how does anyone really get to know another person in 20 minute shifts with 150 people? I think we can all stop pretending that they actually get know each other.

Did the struggling sorority get any one

My advice is always to be yourself during rush. If they accept you as you are, you’ll be happy there. The people who are unhappy are the ones who overdid it during rush and wound up somewhere that was not a fit with their genuine self.

This is verbatim the advice DD's Pi Chi gave her last week.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone willing to talk about the negatives of sororities?

It’s pretty time consuming, it’s expensive, and most girls outgrow it before they graduate, but they have to continue to participate or else they’re fined (like for rush week). There can be pressure to drink and dress and behave in certain ways instead of being yourself.

Sadly, this is true for some sororities. Though not all.

My roommate was in one like that and it was a pretty negative experience. Lots of angst about inviting the “right” dates to parties, wearing the “right” clothes, and saying the “right” things during rush (including voting sessions re new members). On the upside, she met some wonderful lifelong friends who are interesting and kind, even though the overall sorority vibe was not.

My sorority was more chill and accepting. Lots to f room for people to be themselves. It means that we did not have as much of a coherent image, and we certainly were not Top 3 on our campus. But we had a great time together without the drama and angst my roommate experienced.

My advice is always to be yourself during rush. If they accept you as you are, you’ll be happy there. The people who are unhappy are the ones who overdid it during rush and wound up somewhere that was not a fit with their genuine self.