Sunday marked the end of formal sorority recruitment. As it came to a close, many Stetson women were welcomed home into the sorority that gave them a bid. I remember the rush of excitement and nervousness from when I went through the process just last year. Being in a sorority, surrounded by all the other new members was both exciting and intimidating. Flash forward to the present and I am no longer affiliated with the sorority I once called home. To be clear, I have no ill will towards that organization or Greek life in general. I just learned that being in a sorority wasn’t for me.

One of my problems with sorority life is the cost. For the life of me, I cannot understand why you have to pay $500 a semester and still pay for every single event and t-shirt. If you miss a “mandatory” event, you have to pay even more. There are even fines for missing events if your excuse is not considered “valid”.

In addition to these expenses, there are certain clothing items you need to wear for specific events. For example, you may need a specific shade of pink for recruitment or open toed, nude pumps. As far as I know, no one really cares if everyone is wearing the exact same shade of pink or the same type of shoe. Spending money on things I would probably never wear again just didn’t make sense to me either.

Sorority life is not only costly, there are also a lot of rules. For example, they may monitor your social media accounts or call you into meetings to discuss your misconduct. When compared to fraternities, their male counterpart, sororities simply are not as fun. Sororities are more serious and strict about rules. For example, during recruitment, the guys don’t have to be as formal and they aren’t limited to one bid.

Even though I had these issues with my sorority, there were definitely some positives. Some of the girls I met were awesome and have become some of my best friends. Leaving that sorority didn’t mean that I lost all my affiliated friends either, and I’m thankful for that. In the end, being in a sorority just wasn’t what I wanted. I didn’t like being told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it by people who were supposed to be my “sisters”.