Reflections on Alpha Pi Phi as a Senior About to Graduate

When I started Brandeis as a midyear in January 2016, I had absolutely no intentions of joining a sorority - literally none at all. The thought barely even registered with me. Neither of my parents or close relatives were involved in greek life in college, so my knowledge of it was pretty much limited to what I had heard from TV or movies - and based on that it was very much not my vibe. But after going through my freshman and sophomore year at Brandeis, my thoughts began to change. I was feeling lonely my sophomore spring semester, and even though I had a friend group, I wanted to branch out more but had no idea how to go about doing that. Brandeis is an academically-oriented campus, and it is very easy to wrap yourself up in schoolwork and forego the social aspects of college here. I was part of several clubs, but they pretty much consisted of meeting up with people for an hour once a week and then moving on - so I ended up with many new acquaintances but few new friends.

In September of my junior year, me and fellow sister Isabel (shout out Isabel) had a conversation about greek life and how it was something we were both interested in but still felt unsure about. My reservations about it were mostly due to the fact that I was studying abroad in the spring, and therefore my first semester as a “real” sister would be during my senior year of college. I felt like I had kind of missed my opportunity, but I was still curious. Well, we ended up going to a rush event for Alpha Pi Phi that night, and the rest of history.

Now, as a senior who is about to graduate in a month, I can firmly say that my thoughts on sororities have completely changed. I admit I was way too quick to judge them, always believing that their central focus was partying and forced social media friendships. Alpha Pi Phi is nothing like that - we are a small, diverse group of women who are here to support one another and are genuinely good friends. Our pillars - academics, philanthropy, sisterhood, and leadership are all incredibly important to me, as well as our strict anti-hazing policy. I have made some incredible friendships that I know are going to last me long beyond my college days. As someone who would strongly consider herself a feminist, I can now say that I believe sororities embody feminist principles entirely - female empowerment being the central one. I am so glad I decided to rush last year and gave myself the opportunity to have this experience it college, my only regret being that I didn’t do it sooner.