 Hey guys, my name is Sonali. Welcome back to my channel. Today I'm going to let you guys in on a little secret and tell you guys what actually happens after sorority bid day. I wrote a couple things down in my notes, so these thoughts are pretty random, so sorry if they're not super organized, but let's get started. So if you're a new member running home, you might feel so many emotions at once, like maybe so super excited. Maybe emotional because you got a bid from the sorority you really wanted or maybe super super happy that the week is finally over. In any case, you will be filled with so many emotions at once and it is very overwhelming and you might think, oh my god, what did I just get myself into? But it is so worth it and take it all in. Take so many pictures to remember it, but also don't be on your phone to edit the pictures. Like you can always do that later. You definitely need to take this time to meet as many people and just have so much fun. So after bid day, you usually get a lot of paperwork, like maybe you have to sign something. Maybe there's a packet for your parents to look over, some payment plan type things, maybe stuff about the meal plan, the door codes, stuff like that. And it might feel like a lot of information is kind of getting thrown at you, but personally I was so excited to like receive all these packets. I was definitely that girl who was like reading it so thoroughly. Like I was just so excited and eager to learn everything and anything about the chapter. So when you're running home, you might not feel that instant love for the chapter that gave you a bid because maybe that was your second house on your preff night ranking. If you just went through recruitment because your mom told you so or just for the heck of it. Or maybe you're just not a mushy gushy person and it kind of takes you some time to warm up to people and that's totally normal. Everyone is super different, especially with their emotions. So just try to remember that when if you see a girl crying because she's running home to her bid day buddy, you don't have to cry. Just deal with your emotions, how you deal with them and don't worry about anyone else. Also, if you open your bid day card up and you did get your second choice, please try to be as positive as you can. Because if you waste that day being negative and actually end up loving that chapter later on, you're going to really regret spending bid day in such a negative mood and just like not really wanting to meet a lot of people in the chapter. So I would definitely say give it a chance for like two weeks or a little bit more just to like feel it out for yourself. Also on bid day or the day after, you usually get a mentor that you could go to to ask any questions about what to wear to meetings, what time to be at meetings and anything like that. I mean, even if it's just for school or asking them what their favorite brunch places are around campus, they're there to help you and guide you up to initiation and even after that. So the period between bid day and initiation varies for each chapter. Some can be like as soon as five weeks and some can go as long as a whole semester. And by the way, initiation is when you become an official sister of that sorority. So I would really, really highly recommend refraining from getting any like car decals or just like any decals to put on your laptop until after initiation and plus your bag will probably gift you car decals and stuff like that in your initiation basket because you should only really be putting these decals on your things when you become an official sister of the chapter, if that makes sense. In the weeks leading up to initiation, you'll actually find out a lot more about the sorority in detail. So instead of during recruitment, you'll talk about like your full AFP and why it means something to you. Maybe you'll learn the history behind like the full AFP and why the sorority picked it, stuff like that. And by the way, there's absolutely no hazing at all. So please just don't even worry about that. Don't even think about it because it doesn't happen. So usually you get your bag before initiation and during this process, it might seem like the most stressful thing you've ever been through. But trust me, it all works out in the end. A lot of sororities organize things with like older sisters like the PC above you so that it's easier to get to know each other and maybe like find people that you connect with that could possibly be your bag. So please take advantage of this because even if you're so set on your bid day buddy to be your bag, this is a great time to get to know older girls. And even if they might not be your bag, you can still make friends like that. There are such things as random bags and there are such things as twins and both of them are not bad at all. I feel like they have such like a negative connotation to them. But trust me, a lot of times random bags work out so awesome because whoever is doing like the big little pairings really knows you and really knows the new members too. So they compare you based on your personality and it almost always works out. A lot of times for twins, your twin could be like your best best friend in the whole sorority. So trust me, those two are really not that bad. And remember during the big little process, please remember to stay positive because if you're negative, that could set like a really bad first impression. There will be so many opportunities to meet your sisters after bid day and please try to take advantage of this. Please try to go to everyone that you can because if you really think about it, it's kind of like a crucial time to be coming around the house and being involved because that's the time you're getting to know the older PC to relate to someone that could possibly be your big and plus you could be making your forever friends in your PC and it will be a whole lot easier to find those people if you start coming around the house and getting involved and participating in like all the events that are happening. If you don't come around the first month, it could possibly set the tone of your involvement in the chapter but you could also change that if you really wanted to. Like for me, I didn't go to like every single meal plan the first month because I was kind of intimidated to come around the house slowly but surely I started coming around a lot more and it just helped me make friends a lot easier. So yes, I said there would be organized events through this sorority but I highly recommend trading around phone numbers in your member class because maybe if you're standing in line for books because it will be the first week of school, you could ask someone to come with you and get to know you there because that line is like always super long. Or just go out for a sweet treat. Like I said, I was kind of intimidated to come around the house and like eat meal plan so you could text anyone in your member class and be like, hey, you're going to lunch, like come with me and stuff like that and if you sort of ease into like the whole Greek life thing, it's always nice to have that buddy. So right after bid day, someone will probably make a group me with your whole member class in it and if this hasn't happened already, you can definitely take the initiative to do it because then in that member class group me, you could like set up like a little movie night for your own member class. I know that's what my member class did when I was a freshman and we would all bring like our own snacks from gas stations and just kind of get to know each other on our own time. Fall semester is already overwhelming enough with football season and just a new course load of classes and on top of that, there's a lot of philanthropy events and stuff to get involved in with your sorority. So all these events means there's double the opportunities this semester. I feel like this is so cliche to say, but my biggest advice is to get involved because this is the way you can meet people first of all and second of all, you can build up your sorority resume. So if you want to run for bigger positions or chairs in the future, then you kind of have that experience of doing the small parts of maybe helping out with a committee or like painting banners or something like that. So I'm definitely not telling you guys to like take on planning a whole event if you don't feel comfortable, but start trying to help out where you can. Speaking of getting involved, it is so important to take the time to do so because if you think about it, you are in the process of becoming an active member. Membership is a privilege and it's important to recognize that by showing up on time, being positive and participating in a lot of the events. On bid day by accepting these bids, you're actually making a commitment to that chapter. So definitely keep that and put your best self out there. One thing that I wish I did more of was keep in touch with my friends from row gamma groups or just people that I met through recruitment. During recruitment, it's kind of frowned upon to talk about like your schedule and your friend schedule and the girl in the other row schedule out loud. So after recruitment, you can pretty much openly talk about it if you feel comfortable doing so. So you can always meet up for coffee and just talk about your experience, maybe the differences and it could be interesting. Plus it's a lot more fun to go to other sororities philanthropy events when you have friends in that sorority. So after bid day, you might realize a big difference because there's no crazy recruitment decorations around the house and a good percent of the girls around the house just have no makeup on. They have sweatpants on. They're just chilling, getting ready for school to start. And you might find this kind of shocking because you were so used to everyone dressed up and being in like a formal environment. But trust me, we are normal people and we might not have time to like do our makeup every single morning like recruitment. And I want you guys to remember that when you're going through recruitment because it might seem really, really intimidating, but trust me that next week will be a lot more chill. Also, you might see a lot of sisters walking around campus with letters on and please say hi to them or at least smile. It's also a really great way to get to know people just like seeing them on campus. And the longer you put off getting to know more people, the more awkward it gets because if you're in like your third year of being an active member and you don't know like half of your sorority, that's a problem. That's definitely a problem. So break the ice and say hi. Maybe if you're walking the same way, get to know them in that time. So I don't know how many times I can say this, but it is overwhelming. But if it starts getting too much, like maybe you're worried about the finance part. Maybe you're worried about how to handle your time management with school and Greek life. I'm pretty sure any older girl can tell you that they've been through that same panic attack where they just don't really know what to do and maybe their life is like in shambles because everything's going on at once. But before giving up on your own, ask for help. And people will definitely have advice to overcome that feeling. So that's it on my video. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Greek life is something that's kind of hard to understand unless you've gone through it yourself. So if you still are kind of confused about some stuff, just wait for your own experience to happen and everything will start to make sense. So I will see you guys in my next video. Bye guys!