Social sorority and nursing school.

[Prettyladie]

hi allnurses.com

I just wanted to get some views and opinions about being in a sorority and being in nursing school. I don't want this to vary off topic like some of my other posts have =) but I just want to know how someone in a social sorority, not Phi Theta Kappa, or Simga Theta Tau, but social sororities. Nothing against those that I listed, but those are more geared to nursing school and academics. I know my priorities and they are in order, so please don't try to lecture me on, well you should focus on school etc. I know. I know if that I see my schedule and I cannot do both, I'm definitely not going to let my school suffer. I know that there are some ladies on here who are in a social sorority who do both. So my question is how to do you manage your time? How does your sorority deal with your time committment in nursing school? How did you handle the related stress that comes along with being in a sorority. I'm asking these questions because I want to be more involved on campus and in the community of my school. I will be relocating to a different area and I would like to have an impact. And fyi, yes I am a mother of young child, and he is my first priority, then school and a sorority if I have time. Being a mother and a student is very challenging and might be difficult, but I know I can do it, so like I said, please dont let this drift to something its not. The particular sorority I have a strong interest in doesn't mind the fact that I'm a mother with a young child. I just want to know how you manage your time, how you focus on school. Do you attend all of the events that your sorority hosts, etc?

Thanks

Prettyladie.

[firechalice]

Hey,

I'm a guy so not in a sorority but I know plenty of people who pledged and did just fine in school. Of course they didn't have children. Never the less being a mother does not negate being young. If you have a great support system at home and able to balance all of the demands, I say go for it! You are young once and these people will contribute to a lifetime of memories and open a world of possibilities in the future.

I am 32 and finally deciding to pledge grad chapter. When I was younger I didn't have the time to pledge. I won't go through hell week but I will have to put in quite a bit of volunteer time. For me, its an opportunity to create a nationwide network and contribute to my field of interest--public health.

Good luck!

[Prettyladie]

thanks for the response. i might add that i plan to rush in 2010, as most chapters of this sorority rush in the spring, so i will have one semester of nursing school and clinicals down, so maybe that might help me with knowing my time management and my child will be older. thats just a suggestion im looking into. im not saying i will FOR DEFINITE try to be in a sorority, im just looking for suggestions and opinions like everyone is giving me. thanks so much.

[Jolie, BSN]

Other posters have raised a number of good points. I didn't last thru the pledge period because the social demands and time pressures of sorority life simply did not permit enough time to study. As a pledge, you will be expected to participate in virtually every activity the sorority offers. Once you are inducted and become a "full member," you may have a little more leeway to excuse yourself from activities that you really don't have time for.

Others' experiences may be different, but the social sororities on my campus were very expensive, demanded a large amount of time and involved a lot of partying. Few members worked while in college. They either worked a couple of jobs over summer vacation and lived off that money during the school year, or had parents who provided them with an income. In 4 years of college, I only knew 1 student who managed to remain in a sorority while successfully completing the nursing program. Most sorority members were in majors that were not as time-consuming as nursing.

I believe that sororities offer some benefits for students who are living a long way from home, but don't think that the trade-off in terms of expense, time and partying are compatible with the nursing program, especially if you need to hold a job also.

I like the suggestion of another poster that you consider seeking membership in a professional organization that will provide you with a chance to meet like-minded students and do worthwhile volunteer work related to your professional goals.

[Prettyladie]

everybody keeps mentioning partying. the sorority in question is not of a partying type. and paryting is more on the lines of a NPC sorority. and that is not what that im interested in. but i know most sororities do party, but this, i havent "heard" to do as much partying.

[nursepink2]

Well Prettyladie, this is from someone who tried to be active within her sorority and raise two children all the while going to nursing school. If you are willing to have no sleep at all and half way fulfill your obligations to your priorities, then I say go for it! As for myself, God, my children, school, then social activities were tackled in that order. It may seem as if nursing school is forever, but it too shall pass then you can enjoy any social activities your heart desires. I'm not saying to devote your life to just children and school, because all work and no play will definitely stress Jane out. But I am saying that if you can make a calander that will include spare time that will not impede on your time with God, your children, and your studies then go for it. Because in the end, a sorority or any organization really doesn't want a member who half way does anything and it certainly doesn't want an under achiever.

[krisjazzer13]

I was a member of a social sorority while completing a portion of nursing school and while it was great fun for a couple of years, it started to get 'old' before I graduated and I ended up withdrawing from the chapter, leading to hard feelings (and we know that some girls can be pretty catty when it comes to petty things, so they turned on me because I wanted to leave).

It was definitely a time-sucker because not only must you be present for a certain percentage of chapter meetings, but also for fundraising events on weekends, some out of town trips, and devotion to a "title" within your sorority after being there for a while (numerous heads of committees, chairs, etc). Not to mention the cost and very strict timely payment of dues...a majority of sororities also have a house live-in requirement in order to keep their $$ flowing. I did have fun and met some wonderful people, so I cannot say anything badly about that, but my grades did suffer and since sororities also have "academic" chairs, you can be placed on probation if your grades do fall and will not be able to attend certain events. If I had to do it all over again, I would have chosen not to join and concentrate instead on receiving stellar grades....if you want to head to graduate school, those nursing school and pre-req grades follow you wherever you go! Best of luck to you!

[jjjoy, LPN]

These are the threads from the last year or so that I could find about sororities.

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/anybody-here-sorority-313007.html

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/nursing-school-pledging-336436.html

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/there-any-sorority-354335.html

As another noted, it's just not that common for nursing students to be in sororities. Part of it is that many nurses got their RN through schools without any Greek organizations such as at community colleges. Also, there just aren't that many nursing school slots in any one university (eg less than 100 at my school with over 10,000 undergrads) so there's not a big presence of nursing students on campus or in sororities. In addition, the nursing school might not be on campus at all (eg it might be on the site of the university affiliated hospital) and so nursing students may not have much exposure to or awareness of other campus activities such as sororities. Nursing school in a university is often it's own little all-emcompassing world, separate from the larger campus life. Finally, once in the nursing program (beyond the first 1-2 years of pre-reqs), nursing school takes up A LOT of time. As another noted, between study groups, school fund-raisers, community service opportunities, student leadership opportunities, etc there's often more than enough within nursing school to keep oneself busy and to forge lasting relationships with classmates.

It sounds like the sorority you are considering isn't the typical sorority that many of us may be familiar with. The typical Greek sorority does require a rather substantial commitment of time and money and would be difficult to fully participate in just as a full-time nursing student, much less as parent. There are other kinds of sororities out there that work well for non-traditional and traditional student alike. However, the people here may not be able to give you much insight on it if they haven't encountered the type of sorority you are considering. Perhaps if you can describe the type of commitment this sorority requires you could get better feedback here.

[elkpark]

For what it's worth, in the last BSN program in which I taught, I had one student (out of ~100 Jr. year students) who was in a sorority, and she ended up choosing to resign from her chapter because the demands of the nursing program plus the sorority chapter were too great (her grades were dropping and she didn't want to flunk out of the nursing program). And this was a "traditional" college student -- young, single, no kids or job, and v. strong academically.

[ambermichelle]

My daughter is a junior in a sorority of smart girls with an average GPA of 3.2 at a difficult university. They have several parties a year but most of their events are volunteer or school related. They have weekly chapter meetings and many more time obligations. It seems there are always several events a week. What's more, if you miss an event you are fined $30 to $50 on top of the already high dues. They didn't care if you had a test to study for, apparently you should have studied sooner and planned better. They don't have a house, it's just high dues. If your sorority levies a fine for non-attendance, I think that would be hard since you have a child who is higher priority and can suddenly become ill etc.

She is getting out. She cannot deal with the schedule and the cash outlay. As one poster pointed out, they don't want anyone who does it halfway. She was elected to an office a year ago, asked for help in a project she was supposed to head up, and no sister would help her (they are too busy also). She had to do the whole thing by herself, and then it was publicly criticized for not being up to their standards after all her hard work and after no one would help her. The cattiness of a couple of alumni was unbelievable, leaving such a bad taste in her mouth that she quit. So I would recommend not being an officer because no one will help you and you will get in over your head time-wise.

Actually I would recommend not doing it at all, BUT...at every dinner I have attended of theirs, there were several girls who had tears in their eyes as they described how much the sorority meant to them, and how much they loved their sisters with whom they had made lifelong friendships. So I think, if you want to do it that badly, give it a try but check out costs and don't sign up for too much until you see your workload. And be prepared to bail if your priority #1 or priority #2 start to take more time.

[Scorpio, MSN, RN]

Hello! I was in a bsn rn program and took on executive board positions and eventually became Greek coordinator of all of Greek life on campus during my senior preceptorship in the Icu graduated with a 4.0 and worked two other jobs and my good friend in my sorority also in nursing with a 3 year old child did it just fine.. Lots of late nights and found myself missing some fun socials and weekend events to catch up with work but loved it and don't regret it anything is possible when you are driven! Good luck ps I was in alpha sigma tau national sorority!

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

I was in an all Nursing student sorority when at USC. It was called Meditrina and we had big sisters who helped us with classes and studying. We also had the party or two but mostly it was a helping group. I wonder what happened to it. Any one ever hear of it before?

[whipping girl in 07, RN]

I was not in a sorority in college but I graduated with several girls who were. They had all been in for a couple of years when they got into the nursing program, however. None of them pledged while they were in nursing school.

Rush and being a pledge are a big time commitment that semester. It seems like you might have too much on your plate...I'm speaking from the experience of going to school with a young child.

I went back to school to finish my nursing degree when my oldest was about 21 months old and finished when he was almost 5. My husband worked out of town a lot and we were separated for about 6 months as well, so it was like being a single mom for most of those years. I didn't have much time for a social life, certainly not anything that was mandatory attendance.

That's MHO.