Spring semester is a constant reminder of a fateful decision I made during my freshman year – a choice that has had endless repercussions on my college experience.

No, it doesn’t involve declaring my major, choosing classes or deciding where to live.

Rather, I am harkened back to the pivotal time when I, like many other college coeds, found myself reevaluating my social life and asking myself, ‘Should I go Greek?’

I looked into it. I read the posters. I asked around. I decided not to.

No hard feelings, it just wasn’t my scene.

But I would be lying if I said that over a year later I still don’t find myself thinking about what would have been different.

Not a day goes by when the sea of sweatshirts emblazoned with the telltale Greek letters doesn’t remind me that I’m not a member of the biggest scene on campus.

I still can’t help but wonder why so many students chose this alternative lifestyle. A few questions stopped me from pledging. Isn’t college about forging independence? Isn’t this when we’re supposed to break molds with a vengeance and finally become individuals?

But everyone needs some kind of support, no matter how independent he or she is trying to be. Where you find it is up to you. Roommates, family, boyfriend, girlfriend and teams can all provide necessary companionship.

I was lucky to have found stability with my assigned roommate freshman year. I didn’t need to look outside of my six-person suite. I don’t know what I would have done otherwise. I could be sporting my own Greek sweatshirt.

‘I think that if people don’t find a certain group of friends, fraternities and sororities can offer that,’ said Jason Kluk-Barany, a sophomore magazine journalism and political science major.

For many, it’s hard to say no to a guaranteed social life and a surrogate family during the first year away from home. And the glamour of being a part of something exclusive doesn’t hurt the ego, either.

In a campus the size of SU, that sounds perfect.

Just remember that it’s possible to have friends and have a social life without being a part of Greek life. According to the College Board Web site, only 39 percent of undergraduates at SU are in a sorority or fraternity.

That means a significant majority of SU undergraduates aren’t Greek.

That also means that if you decide not to go Greek, you won’t be left to your own devices if your boyfriend dumps you or when you find yourself outside of Kimmel at 3 a.m. There are plenty of good friends out there to be had.

Joining a fraternity or sorority may make it easier to find people with whom you have things in common, but not joining doesn’t make it impossible. It may just require a little more work.

It is just as easy to have a life within a fraternity or sorority as is it out. You have the ability to make your college experience what you want.

Just look at me. I committed social suicide and lived to tell the tale.

Meghan Overdeep is a featured columnist whose columns appear Fridays in The Daily Orange. E-mail her at meoverde@syr.edu.

Published on March 22, 2007 at 12:00 pm