House Rules-Is moving into the sorority house the right choice? Part 1
March 29, 2010 by SaraP
Filed under CL ExCLusives!
During collge I have lived in just about every housing option. I spent a year and a half in the dorm, a year and a half in the sorority house, and am now in an off campus apartment. Of all of my housing choices living in the sorority house would have to be my favorite. However, before making the choice to move in with your sisters you have to consider a few things.
Here are a few things to consider before you sign up. Living in a sorority house is great, but it isn’t for everyone.
1. Do you like personal space? Are you annoyed when people use your things? In a sorority house borrowing is the norm. While sometimes people ask it doesn’t always happen. If you are not comfortable with your shampoo disappearing at an unreasonable rate or seeing your shirt on someone else walking to class then this may not be the best housing choice for you. One thing to consider is that this goes both ways. When I lived in the sorority house I practically had 23 closets. The problem of nothing to wear didn’t exist!
Don’t forget that recruitment usually happens in the sorority house too. This is my pledge class getting ready for a “Getting to Know You” party at the house.
2. Do you need quiet time? With 23 or even more girls living under one roof, there is lots of laughter, loud music, and talking. During my time in the house I discovered the quietest time of the day was between noon and 2:00pm because everyone was in class. Aside from that there was something going on the other 20 hours a day. While dorms can be loud, sorority houses take it to a whole new level since there is so much common space. The benefit to this is that you can be part of the noise and not feel bad. Also, as long as you are willing to let yourself adjust you will soon become immune to all of the commotion.
3. How good is your time management? Are you organized? When living in the dorm you have to make an effort to find something to do. In a sorority house your friends and social activities are right there, maybe even in your room. If you are easily distracted or constantly stressed about getting school work done, this may not be the place for you. I loved having 1,000 happening at once when I lived at the house. In fact, I find myself hanging out there now. To make it work you just have to prioritize and possibly find a place on campus to do your school work.
A few members of my pledge class gathering in our living room before a mixer.
I LOVED living the the sorority house! I would reccomend it to almost anyone. Just be sure you know what you are getting into before you commit. All houses are different so talk to your sisters.
SaraP is an intern at CollegeLifestyles that sometimes wishes she still lived in a house with 23 of her best friends.
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Awe, this sounds fun! My school didn’t have “Greek houses.”
I thought this was a great article idea also! I am living in my sorority house, and while we only have 9 girls, i agree with much of what you had to say!
I absolutely loved living in the sorority house… with you
I am SO proud of you Pocket Puckett!
A problem I have with (female) Greek housing–there’s so many restrictions regarding alcohol (even if you’re 21) and men (not that I’m condoning it), that it forces women to interact with men and alcohol on male “turf,” effectively putting them in control in dangerous situations. Rules need to be enforced in both male and female Greek houses or female houses need to lax the rules.
We don’t have houses, we have wings, but I’m going to miss living there sooooo much next year.
Awesome article! As a sorority alumna and current ‘house mom’ I completely agree with this article! Because housing in my chapter was university owned, very few people got to live in house and I never had the experience until becoming a ‘house mom’. As a dual advisor/house mom these are the things I tell the women when they are considering living in house, so true that you have to be ready to be in the “thick” of it to enjoy being in the house.
Stephanie, as far as men are concerned I would say that many rules have eased. As a house Mom, unless Men are causing problems, I’m not overly concerned about them being here. As far as alcohol goes, however, I can tell you that the sorority house is much safer w/o alcohol. I won’t say that some don’t sneak it into the facility, but the fraternity houses are often unsafe b/c of the alcohol. We are trying to teach our women to make good choices, not allowing alcohol in the facility is a way of strong arming them into not having other options when they are making choices for studying, quiet time, and other activities. True, they can always go somewhere else to drink but I find that most of them go to friends apartments or the dorms- not the fraternity houses. Also, it is hard enough to enforce policies with the women as it is, trying to enforce policies by allowing some of the house (the 21 year olds) to have alcohol and the others to not would be extremely difficult. At the end of the day, it’s easier to say no one can have it than some can and some can’t.