Parent Blog: Why your student may choose to join a sorority

by Aneena Patel (SAR ’17) and President of Kappa Delta Sorority

Last winter, my mom and I were cozied up by the fireplace catching up before I headed back to school for the Spring semester of my sophomore year. It had been a year since I joined Greek Life. As I told her how excited I was for recruitment, she gave me the knowing smile that moms are just really good at. With her next words, she described exactly why I am so grateful that I went Greek at Boston University:

“Aneena, do you know you light up when you talk about Kappa Delta? It’s made you so much more confident and passionate about everything in your life; it’s so exciting to watch. I’ll admit I was hesitant about this sorority thing, but now I think it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”

And she was right. The girl writing this isn’t the one who moved into Warren Towers in the fall of 2013.

Heading into freshman year, I didn’t know where I’d find my place among the thousands of faces on Comm Ave. I befriended people on my floor, joined different clubs, and surrounded myself with people. Still, something hadn’t quite clicked. As my friends told me about the brotherhood they were finding in their fraternities, I decided that going through Formal Recruitment was worth a shot.

I started college with the intention of building a well-rounded experience for myself—one filled with genuine friendships, fulfilling service, challenging clubs, rigorous academics, and inspiring role models. I have been lucky enough to find all of this in one place: my sisterhood.

Our Greek organizations challenge us to become leaders within our communities. They hold us to high academic standards with their strict GPA requirements and countless academic resources and scholarships. They encourage us to enrich our lives with philanthropy, as indicated by the hundreds of thousands of hours of service that Greek members contribute each year. They give us the opportunity to surround ourselves with brothers and sisters who support us, challenge us, and inspire us to be better versions of ourselves.

Somehow, while striving to meet the high standards that this community has set for me, it all fell into place. I’m not quite sure where along the way it happened. It might’ve been somewhere in the pints of Ben and Jerry’s I’ve shared with my roommates, who double as my sisters. It might’ve been in the whispers during study hours in the library. It might’ve been sometime during those walks back from chapter, or in the laughter of a late night heart-to-heart.

The confident, inspired, and passionate woman I am today is largely because of the lifelong bonds and empowering experiences I have found within my sisterhood and in the Greek community. I’ll always be so grateful that I made the decision to go through recruitment and to give Greek life a chance. In doing so, I found a home, I found a family, and I found a better version of myself.

You can learn more about the formal recruitment process at Boston University. If you have further questions, Greek Life is managed by Boston University Student Activities and they can provide more information.