Greek Life: From The Eye of a Student
Students have been meeting with different Greek organizations throughout January to try to secure a spot amongst them. Sororities made their decision on Tuesday night about which girls would receive a bid.
For the first month of the spring semester each year, people attempting to join greek life participate in the “rushing” process. It involves multiple different events and interviews that students have to attend if they want to be a part of an organization.
“You have to be open and keep an open mind,” said freshman student Ivan Sosa. “Whenever you go to these events, it’s just a lot of talking to a lot of people. Like you have to meet a ton of people,” Sosa said.
`Sosa said he chose to rush because he wants to experience college as a fraternity brother. He spoke with about 10 different organizations and has a few in mind that he feels he is a good match with. Aside from meeting new people and gaining easier access to parties, Greek life has proven to be beneficial in other ways as well.
“The post-grad connections,” sophomore Maria Colon said. “I found some of the top programs I want to do for med school have a higher acceptance rate if you’re involved in Greek life.”
Many students have wanted to join Greek life due to the different networking opportunities it provides to them. While many people have fun in organizations and it provides different benefits, others face different issues from joining.
“It just made me a lot busier and more worried all the time,” said Colon. “It just made school take a back seat even though it’s not supposed to do that.”
Colon said prior to rushing she would complete her homework 4-to-5 days in advance, but now completes it the day before or the day of. She said this is what makes her worried and stressed because it’s something that she doesn’t normally do.
Membership costs and not wanting to follow Greek life policies have been some other common issues students experience.
Guys looking to join Greek life this semester have still not received their bid. Fraternities will be making their decisions on new members next week.
Deitric Murphy is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email him at dsm5653@psu.edu.
