Every August, thousands of freshman female college students flood their campuses with their highest heels, prettiest dresses and their best foot forward to impress their future sisters during “rush week,” a name for the process of sorority recruitment. This time period is often documented on social media, under the hashtag #RushTok. Usually, the comments are full of hate, criticizing their excitement and decision to rush. These comments do have a point, to an extent, but they seem to forget the positive aspects of being a part of a sorority.
Sororities have been philanthropic and giving back to their local community since the World War I era, where most donated to the American Red Cross and funded equipment. Now in 2026, there is an entire day dedicated to the importance of philanthropy during the recruitment process.
Mary McKee Williams is a freshman at the University of Mississippi, a Southeastern Conference (SEC) school, where Greek life is a major part of the social scene on campus. Through the national panhellenic, McKee’s sorority Chi Omega supports the Make-A-Wish foundation, and has had a key impact on her sorority experience.
“Being involved in this has honestly made a huge impact on our local community because it brings people together for something bigger than ourselves,” McKee said. “A couple weeks ago, we had a crawfish boil with the community to raise money,” she continued.
Aside from philanthropy, sororities also see immense value with chapters dedicated to and for certain groups. These chapters, such as all-Black or all-Latina sororities, were created to provide support and sweet sisterhood among people of the same race or ethnicity. Thinking most generally, sororities have a key purpose: to build long-lasting sisterhood without having to go through the draining year-long search to differentiate the acquaintance and the life-long friend. The media, like the Bama Rush documentary on HBO, depicts the recruitment process as grueling and unfriendly, but it falters when capturing the value of sisterhood post rush.
“The media tends to overlook the genuine friendships and support systems that come with being in a sorority. From my experience, it’s a space where people really show up for each other,” Mckee said.
Lila Silpe, a senior, is committed to Bucknell University where just almost half of the student population participates in Greek life. Although a smaller university and not like Ole Miss, Silpe still had to make a logical choice in whether or not she wanted to join in.
“At the beginning of the college process and throughout the middle of the college process, I was like no. Eventually, my opinion on it [sorority involvement] shifted because I do really value friendships,” Silpe said.
She continued, “Talking to people on the college campus that I want to go to, that are involved in Greek life, helped me understand what it’s actually going to be like.”
Silpe also notes that sorority life is a personal choice– something that the media seems to forget, illustrating sororities as cults that everyone seems to be drawn into.
“It’s a really personal thing because if you’re not the type of person that wants to be spending a lot of time with friends and people always doing something social, that might not be the thing for you.”
