Prompt Essay #5 : Observing Community

Written by Seungyeon Lee 

I am in a sorority, Phi Sigma Rho, which is a sorority for engineering major students. 
As an active sister in Phi Sigma Rho, i have been able to participate in most of the events or meetings. Unlike other social sororities, Phi Sigma Rho doesn't require active sisters to go to every events/meetings. To be clear, they are allowed to miss three chapter meetings and as long as they earn 440 points during the whole semester, they are good to go. Further, active sisters in Phi Sigma Rho are not required to go to any socials either. 

I have also talked to several upperclassmen in my sorority. 
I asked how they got to choose their major, how they like it so far, and what their future plans are. 
I also asked how Phi Sigma Rho helps through out their college life. 

Summarized answers are below:
Q: How did you choose your major and how do you like it so far? What are your future plans?
A: Most of them chose their major based on what they like and what they are interested in. Also, most of the Sophomores and Juniors are planning to start with their internships/co-ops during this summer.
They mostly have plans which are a month, semester, year ahead. Active sisters who already have been co-oped or intern with a company helps us to contact with a company they have worked with. They also give us a lot of useful sources that helps us a lot.

Q: How does Phi Sigma Rho helps you through out your college years? 
A: Like it was mentioned above, a lot of active sisters help us with lots of sources in terms of internships, co-oping, and also they help us how to 4.0 easily on each classes. Also, based on my experience, there are lots of chemical engineers in our sorority, though only five people are freshman. However, it is good that we can get help or ask about our next year's schedules and also those five people become really good friends that we study together for exams since us five take basically almost the same class as a chemical engineer. It is good that we can both bond with friends and also achieve our academic goals.

Many people around me thinks joining in a sorority would affect my grade in a bad way and that i have to go to a lot of parties. However, that is totally wrong. I can choose whether or not to go for socials. Phi Sigma Rho respects all of the individuals in a sorority and our main goal is to bond each other as well as keeping up good grades. Also, I had a good grade last semester and I can claim that joining a sorority actually helped me getting good grades because studying with my friends helped a lot with my cem exams but I could not have done that without them. I think that the statement 'joining a sorority is a bad choice that it could influence your grades in a bad way' is wrong. I totally believe that grade depends on how individual behaves and makes an effort.