Greek life

There are definitely both positives and negatives about collegiate greek life. From my own personal experience, there are a few things that I can say about the institution. First and foremost; it's not for everyone, and there's nothing wrong with that. Greek life is just one of many types of organizations that one can partake in during their college career. I was involved with greek life, but there were also a number of other student organizations that I was simultaneously involved in and that well rounded involvement helped make my collegiate career everything that it was. Greek life is fantastic if you are looking to meet a large amount of people and establish connections that will last both through and after college. It is also particularly helpful if you are trying to become more socially outgoing, like I was. Obviously the social aspect is a huge part of it, and yes the social events are frequent, but it was being forced into being social was, for me, basically learning to swim by being thrown into the deep end, and to an extent, it worked. My social skills improved drastically because of my choice to step outside my comfort zone and give greek life a shot. Of course there are downsides to the institution as well. It is very time consuming, and yes some of fraternities and sororities still partake in irresponsible and, in some instances, criminal initiation practices, although my fraternity ditched any such practices long before I got to college. Also, the partying aspect, while fun, has cut many peoples college career short due to them losing sight of what is important. I've seen this personally and while it's definitely unfortunate, in some cases, depending on the persons personality type, it is inevitable. Another negative aspect of greek life is the type of people that tend to be drawn to it. I've met many great greeks, who have gone on to do wonderful things with their lives, but I've also met countless people who were in it simply to party their way either through, or out of school. While it's sad to see individuals waste such an amazing opportunity, a large part of college is discovering yourself and finding the path that you want to take in life, whether that be a positive or a negative path. Ultimately, at least for me, I believe that greek life is what you choose to make of it. If you are in it, and enjoy it, then that's great. Or if it's not really your scene, that's perfectly fine too.