Originally Posted by psusue
Let me just say a few words to try to dissuade you from your way of thinking as well as try to talk to you, just woman to woman.
First, your thought about how you should be aware of reputations and how they should be a factor in your decision making process is false. Case in point? Pi Chi's. These woman are chosen the previous year and have sworn to disaffiliate from their sorority in order to be neutral guides to the newfound Greek world for PNMs. They forgo their loyalties to their sorority in order to promote Greek life as a whole (much like we often do on this site, although you typically know our affiliations.) These are the women you grow to know and love over the course of the week (not always, but more often than not), and you know what is unique about them? They are all Greek, from different chapters, yet they seek to know you and help you find your home just the same. The point of me mentioning this? When recruitment is over, you realize that (depending on the number of Pi Chi's you have) you have x amount of girls (typically 1-2) from different chapters that you like! And often, you don't even know what sorority they are in! Basically, you find that you like these women, as women, and that in the end their affiliation doesn't matter. In a perfect world, that is how recruitment should run.
A friend of mine once said that she really wished that we could do recruitment with all of the sororities just taking new "letters" for the week (ex: Tri Sigma would be ABC, another sorority would be DEF), and then the girls would not even be aware of which sororities they were going to, and could just completely based on personality and fit. Now obviously there would still be the differences in opinions, and maybe it would not change anything at all, but ideally, this, I believe, is how you should go through recruitment.
Let me break it down further. When you are going to each chapter, think of it this way-- do you like the women you find around you? Now try to be aware of superficial things, like what they are wearing or how good of a rusher they are, because those things can change. But think to yourself, could these women be my friends? Or am I just being an insecure middle schooler again, being nice to the "mean girls" because I want to be like them (superficially accepted, pretty, well put together), even though I have nothing in common with them and am uncomfortable being myself with them? If you fit in with these girls (which of course would mean that they were stereotyped unfairly too, because they themselves were called "mean" when they were not because of jealousy or other utter nonsense), by all means, join the chapter. If you are simply trying to be who you're not because you feel that their letters would appear more favorable across your chest, think again.
Being an ABC does not make you hot, nice, smart, put together, or athletic, and being an XYZ does not make you fat, ugly, insecure, dumb, or a slut. You are who you are, and having letters does not change that. You decide to be who you are and hopefully you will find a sisterhood that complements that. And hopefully you will realize that a sorority is no more than that-- a group of individuals with the common goal of being better women, united at this difficult time for mutual support.
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