Joining a Sorority as a Legacy

By: Paulina Hart​ - Alpha Omicron Pi

Deciding to go through formal recruitment in the fall can be a big decision and there are a lot of things to keep in mind throughout the process. Being a legacy, you may feel additional pressure from your family, in addition to the worry of feeling that you won’t get the same recruitment experience as everyone else. A legacy is a member who has immediate family in a sorority. It can be your mother, sister or grandmother. If you join the same sorority, then you will be considered a legacy. As a legacy who went through formal recruitment in the fall of my first year at Western, here are my tips to optimize your experience in recruitment and the sorority of your choice. 

Tips for Legacies During Recruitment:
1.    Stay Open-Minded!
It can be difficult to have one particular sorority in mind because of your family. Whether they have raved to you about that sorority or not, you will automatically have it in mind. It is important to remember that every sorority is so different. Each sorority has different key values and activities that they are involved with. Additionally, they each have their own unique philanthropy; their own charity/cause they hold events for. Some sororities are more crafty, some take part in more social events, and some are more focused on their philanthropy and volunteering. It is important to remember that you are different than who you are a legacy to and their sorority may not be the best fit for you and that is totally ok! 

2.    Avoid Showing an Obvious Preference to One Sorority 
During formal recruitment, it is important to have great conversations and present yourself with your best foot forward. During recruitment, every sorority wants members who are interested in their sorority. Avoid talking about other sororities when visiting a different one. My advice would be to avoid saying that you are a legacy. To other sororities this may come across as uninterested, which you do not want! Even if you are set on one sorority, keep your options open during recruitment and don’t limit yourself. 

3.    Make Your Own Impression
When visiting the sorority that you are a legacy to, they will know that you are a legacy, but it is still important to talk about yourself and ask questions. No two people’s experiences in the sorority will be the same, it is important to ask questions to make sure to find the best fit for yourself. If the fact that you are a legacy to that sorority gets brought up, make sure to still talk about yourself so that they can get to know you for who you are! 

Things to Remember:
1.    It is still important to make yourself memorable to each sorority that you tour. I did this by making sure I wore outfits that would make myself stick out… in a good way! For the second day of recruitment, I wore a yellow dress that people still remember and talk to me about! 

2.    Just because you are a legacy, doesn’t mean you will automatically get a bid. You still have to show interest and meet the criteria that they are looking for. It is important to have the minimum grades and come across as your best self. Remember to tell them about your cool summer experiences, your involvement in high school or thus far in university, brag about yourself a bit! 

3.    Ask questions and learn for yourself. Sororities can change overtime and it is important to learn and make judgements of each sorority yourself and not based off of the information that you hear from others. At the end of each day of recruitment, ranking the sororities can be very difficult but it is very important to rank them accurately and from your own experience.

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