10 notes

“As Princeton women, we have almost priced ourselves out of the market. Simply put, there is a very limited population of men who are as smart or smarter than we are. And I say again — you will never again be surrounded by this concentration of men who are worthy of you.

Of course, once you graduate, you will meet men who are your intellectual equal — just not that many of them. And, you could choose to marry a man who has other things to recommend him besides a soaring intellect. But ultimately, it will frustrate you to be with a man who just isn’t as smart as you.

Here is another truth that you know, but nobody is talking about. As freshman women, you have four classes of men to choose from. Every year, you lose the men in the senior class, and you become older than the class of incoming freshman men. So, by the time you are a senior, you basically have only the men in your own class to choose from, and frankly, they now have four classes of women to choose from. Maybe you should have been a little nicer to these guys when you were freshmen?”

55 notes

It’s clear to me that sororities can be considered feminist. After all, the concept of sisterhood is intrinsic to feminism. In the face of a patriarchal society, belonging to a community of women is vital. Knowing you will always have strong women to support you is incredibly empowering, especially funny and intelligent women, like the stereotype-defying young ladies in my sorority. And my sorority is all about support: Columbia University has a strict anti-hazing policy, which the sororities here actually abide by. My sorority’s philanthropy also focuses on raising awareness about domestic violence – a clearly feminist endeavor and noble pursuit. Of course, I had to deal with a lot of judgmental questions, comments and blatant stares of disbelief when I told my friends that I’d be rushing. Which actually reminded me of another feminist principle at the heart of rushing a sorority: choice. To me, feminism means a person having the ability to make choices that will make him or her the happiest, most fulfilled version of himself or herself. For me, that meant joining a sorority.

36 notes

It seems that while guys may take their studies seriously, they approach their work with less of a sense of cutthroat competition and perfectionism: they worry about themselves, know their own limits and are able to approach the whole thing with at least a little bit of humor. But girls are used to trying to live up to impossible standards and trying to tear each other down in seemingly mindless competition to get ahead in all other areas of our lives. Be it our bodies, popularity, competition for boyfriends – whatever the (admittedly stupid) thing may be, we’re constantly striving to be the best no matter what the cost. When put into an academic context, our goals and approaches are no different. If anything, they’re heightened. Guys, no matter how motivated or ambitious they may be, don’t seem to approach achieving their goals in the same cutthroat, intensely perfectionist way — at least not as overwhelmingly as girls do, and at least without detrimental repercussions for themselves.

19 notes

Being away made me realize that I had missed my new friends and my school routine. It truly solidified the fact that I had made the right choice in coming to my school and that I was happy there — something that I guess I wasn’t entirely sure of before.