Some say women are more difficult than men. Stereotypically, we have too many emotions, we take too long in the bathroom and we need a little extra practice on the road. But the only thing I admit we make more complicated is sorority recruitment.
And to say more complicated would be an understatement.
Fall sorority recruitment is a six-day process with a strict and deliberate method of giving 850 sorority hopefuls a fair opportunity to find the right chapter. Fall fraternity recruitment is a process of getting to know guys with football, food and entertainment.
After going through a week-long training session of up to 12-hour days of practicing conversation, getting the house ready and perfecting “door lines” and cheers, we sorority women reward ourselves by then launching into a six-day recruitment process that includes hours of conversation at deafening levels to try to connect with someone in 10 minutes. Each sorority hopeful receives their bid at the same exact time, where they then run to their chapter to meet all of their new sisters.
Our male counterparts, on the other hand, get to know the men interested in their chapters in a much more relaxed and less-structured manner. Each fraternity can decide what kind of events they want to put on in order to recruit, which include paintball, mini-golfing and house tours. Interested men can receive a bid at any time in the process, with some bids received in the summertime.
It’s a difference that completely represents the double standard that we live with on a day-to-day basis. As the saying goes, men are from Mars, women are from Venus. Why we make things so much more complicated is beyond me.