My biggest fear when I transferred was that I wouldn't make any friends. I heard so much from my William & Mary friends from high school about how much their freshman hall experience had shaped their relationships, and I knew that these were still the people they spent most of their time with. How would I meet people and form those bonds outside of a freshman hall? I worried that by sophomore year, everyone's friend groups would have already been well-formed and hard to break into. That's when I decided to go through formal recruitment, only two weeks after I had arrived in Williamsburg.
I had already been proven wrong long before recruitment; I made several friends in my transfer orientation group that I still talk to today. But I still decided that maybe Greek life was what I needed, and if not, it was worth the risk. After two weekends of conversations with bright, social, intelligent women who were all interested in what had brought me to W&M and what I wanted to do with my time here, I joined a group of sisters who have become my closest friends and confidants. Here was the support system I had never found during my freshman year, waiting to embrace me. My honorary freshman hall.
Joining a social sorority was my second best decision, right after my decision to transfer to William & Mary. I finally felt at home after a long journey from another school that seems so far away in my mind now. Meeting the women who became my best friends was the highlight of my first year at W&M, and my college experience would be completely different without them.
Hello! I'm a hopeful transfer for Fall 2016, and I'm so glad to hear that transfers can find their place in Greek life! My biggest fear about transferring is that finding a close group of friends will be more difficult without the common bond of the freshman experience, but the prospect of joining a group of women with similar values as mine to share my college experience with is very exciting! I do have one question, did you find it difficult or uncomfortable to go through recruitment as a sophomore when most of the others around you were freshman? Thank you so much for sharing your story!
I'm so happy to hear you're considering recruitment in the fall! Finding my home in my sorority was an essential part of my transfer experience, and I highly recommend trying it. For me it wasn't uncomfortable going through recruitment as a sophomore. Actually, a lot of women on campus don't rush until their sophomore year! So not only was I not alone, but I also talked a lot about my transfer experience during recruitment and it helped the women I was talking to learn more about me. I hope my experience can help you, and if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask!
Thank you so much for your response! I'm so glad to hear that you consider your sorority as your home, because that is exactly what I'm looking for and what I believe I can find at William and Mary!