Consider getting involved in the Greek community

More than 25 percent of Penn is involved in Greek life. There are 48 Greek social fraternity and sorority chapters, 29 chapters in the Interfraternity Council, eight chapters in the PanHellenic Council and 11 chapters in the Multicultural Greek Council. 

If you get to campus and decide going Greek might be for you, you'll go through a recruitment process to determine which chapter, if any, you'll belong to.

Penn's main recruitment processes take place in the spring as soon as everyone arrives back from winter break at the end of January. Other schools recruit in the fall as soon as the new class arrives on campus, but here you'll have a little more time to decide whether you're interested.

Recruitment, also known as rush, is always an exciting, hectic time where boys go to open-house type events and eat free food like Shake Shack and Chipotle, and girls visit the nine sorority houses with different rounds on different days. They're guided among houses by a recruitment guide called a Rho Gamma. 

It is important to keep an open mind during rush and not be swayed by other people or by anything you might have heard — positive or negative — about a house. Go back to the houses that you can see yourself in. These are people that you might spend years with. What you originally perceived about a chapter might not be true, so go with your intuition once the rush process begins. 

After Rush is over, new member education begins, and pledges are typically initiated formally into their chapter before Spring Fling in the middle of April. 

While Greek life is not for everyone, it is a fantastic way to make friends that you will keep in contact with, in my experience, for the rest of your life. The bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood can be very strong, so I recommend giving serious consideration to rushing.  

In addition, the connections you make through your fraternity or sorority — through current members, as well as alumni — are some that you wouldn't be able to make any other way. 

As a member of a PanHellenic sorority, I have found being involved in Greek Life to be extremely fun in the social aspect. Weekends are filled with formals, mixers, philanthropy events and bonding with your pledge class and the rest of the chapter. While the idea of being in a sorority can seem like an excuse to party and pay for friends, I have not found the experience to be superficial, as some people might expect. Genuine friendships are made when a group of people subscribe to the same certain chapter philosophy.

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