Chickering's Theory Reflection

The department of Residence Life in my graduate institution taught me many lessons. I dealt with incidents while on call that related to domestic violence, large gatherings, and alcohol and drugs. In addition, I had educational and social programs that related to the seven Chickering's vectors, I focused on programs that related to interpersonal competence so residents can develop social connections and have a better relationship with their roommates. As an RA for an upperclassmen community, I often had residents who were in their last three stages of the Chickering's Theory. Most seniors were in their five vectors of establishing their identity by developing congruence between what they do and how they are perceived to learning and understanding
I had saved enough money to have through the year and felt like my course load was becoming more difficult. Then I decided to look into Greek life, I was in a non-event transitions that I expected but I did not occur, I wanted to be a part of a sisterhood and wanted to network with sisters from all over the U.S. I became interested in a multicultural sorority after attending a few events and social gatherings. The sisters were giving me a lot of attention and felt I would be a great asset to their sisterhood since I was so involved on campus, therefore I decided to go with the process and pledge. Reflecting back, I was going through the Schlossberg theory of mattering and marginality. Schlossberg states, mattering has four aspects, which include attention, importance, ego-extension, and dependence. I defined Schlossberg theory within the four aspects of mattering, my fellow pledge sisters and I were receiving a lot of attention from the sorority before we decided to go through the process. “Feelings of marginality often occur when individuals take on new roles, especially when they are uncertain about what the new role entails” (Schlossberg 36). During the process, I was subjected to dangerous rituals and forced to give up outside interests in order to pledge for the sorority. Which included wearing a uniform, not wearing makeup or using any hair products, not shaving or waxing, following a strict diet, not socializing with anyone including friends and family, exercising every day, being yelled at and humiliated in front of the older sisters, being blindfolded and taking cold showers, sleeping on the floor and many other rituals. After three weeks I decided to drop out of the process because I felt like the sorority did not care for me or the other pledges, not only was I losing sleep and having to drive at 3 and 4 in the morning, I had to drop a class because there