Does Being in a Sorority Look Good on a Resume? — Answered

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You dedicated some time of your university experience to be a part of a sorority and whether you’ve had a memorable experience or not, you may be wondering if it belongs on your resume.

 

Does being in a sorority look good on a resume?

Sorority involvement looks good on a resume because the skills, traits and professional experience gained, depending on the role you had, can be transferrable into a business. On the other hand, if you didn’t have a meaningful role and didn’t gain transferable professional experience, it’s best to leave the sorority out of your resume.

 

Being in a sorority demonstrates valuable traits 

Being a part of a sorority means you had to handle responsibilities.

It could also mean you were charitable, a good leader or teammate, proactive, innovative, etc.

Whether you helped your community or raised awareness for an important cause, you would have developed a few favorable traits from sorority involvement.

All traits that make you a good candidate in a working environment should belong on your resume.

 

You get transferrable skills from being in a sorority

As mentioned previously, the responsibilities of a sorority would have provided you with desirable traits.

You would have also received the opportunity to polish your corporate skills.

For example, if you were President of the sorority, you would have gained proficiency in leadership, team building and recruitment skills, as well as the ability to set and track performance targets.

If you organized an event for fundraising or awareness, you were practicing your philanthropy skills. 

Even if you did not have a role as significant as the rest and were just a sorority team member, that in itself is a skill.

You can get good teamwork, collaboration and communication skills regardless.

If your sorority helped you gain skills that make you an ideal candidate for a job, like with character traits, it will look good on your resume.

Just keep in mind when adding a sorority to your resume, don’t just list the traits or skills you now have because of it.

Explain in preferably quantifiable details how your sorority helped you grow into a candidate fit for your desired position.

 

You get transferrable professional experience from being in a sorority

Each sorority role comes with transferrable professional experience that looks good on a resume. 

As mentioned before, if you were President, you would have gained leadership experience including managing teams and their performance, recruiting new members, delegating responsibilities, and leading the sorority’s objective goals.

If you were the sorority’s treasurer, you would have acquired financial experience from budgeting and distributing finances for the overall sorority operations to managing event transactions. 

As the sorority secretary, you gained administrative experience including scheduling meetings, recording minutes and maintaining or updating the Chapter’s records.

You could have also gained marketing experience if you were in charge of developing social media campaigns.

Being a part of the sorority’s judicial board means you would have received important legal and compliance experience through managing policies and procedures, ensuring sorority rules are followed, and giving legal advice.

There is no doubt that all these experiences should be mentioned on your resume. 

 

Don’t add a sorority if you didn’t receive meaningful professional experience

Sororities can have a negative connotation because of the stigma around them.

Therefore, if you cannot frame your involvement in a way that focuses on your individual contribution rather than just going off of the sorority’s name, it will do more harm than good.

 

Don’t add a sorority if you need to list more relevant information

Perhaps you have experiences to add where your contribution was greater than in your sorority and are running out of space on your resume.

In this case, don’t mention the sorority on your resume.

It will especially not look good if it is irrelevant to the job description.

Although, it really does depend on the industry.

It is common for medical school applicants to question if a sorority will help their application or not- it will, and here’s why.

 

Does being in a sorority look good for medical school?

Being in a sorority does look good for medical school applicants because of the social development, including emotional intelligence and compassion, and the possibility of network building and medical-centric projects completed. Sororities are also great practice for medical school interviews.

 

Sororities are good for social development

There are many social aspects of being in a sorority, these include developing your emotional intelligence, compassion, teamwork, team building, mentoring and overall sociability.

All these traits are important for prospective medics to have and are something medical school recruiters look for in their candidates.

 

Sororities help you network

There are, in fact, many doctors and other healthcare professionals who have been part of sororities or fraternities.

Your medical school recruiter could have also been part of one and this will be advantageous to your selection because you can discuss and bond over your similar experiences.

 

You can complete projects focused on healthcare in a sorority 

Your sorority could start a volunteering project in a hospital or raise donations for it. 

Having experience like this on your resume and on your application will give you a competitive advantage because you would have gotten first-hand experience in a healthcare environment.

 

Sororities are great interview practice

The recruitment aspect of a sorority is very similar to an interview for a medical school.

You would have to be poised and well-spoken to clearly communicate the benefits of having you as a candidate and to articulate what makes you qualified.

You would also have to be confident to reassure the recruiters that you are a good fit for driving their objectives.

You might not be strong in these areas before joining a sorority, but you will get practice from the events, meetings, and duties that come with being a part of a sorority.

So, contrary to what many might believe, a sorority does help medical school applicants come off as favorable candidates.