Why go Greek?

I spent two grueling weekends going through recruitment. I woke up as early as 7:00am on a Saturday to do my hair and makeup and head to a Furman Hall classroom to meet before heading off to up to seven "parties," where strangers would grab me by the arm and start a random conversation. After hours of parties, I went back to decide where I thought I belonged and where I didn't. The next morning, it started all over again, except this time, I went to the Furman Hall classroom to see what sororities had "dropped" me. And let me tell you, each drop hurt.
Now why the hell would anyone want to go through this?
Throughout high school and my first semester of college, though I did have friends, they were never genuine. They never cared about me. And although many believe sorority sisterhoods to be superficial, I wanted to give it a shot. And the room that I walked into on bid day contained some of the most genuine, compassionate girls I have ever met.
It wasn't all for the friends though. I will never explicitly pay for friends. I wanted to go to functions, help with community service, gain a networking system for after college, and of course, get a whole bunch of T-shirts in the process.
Though Greek life can cost a lot of money, my sorority does offer scholarships, which I plan to take full advantage of. Also, my dues are nearly half of the national sorority average (and this average doesn't even include the house that many Greek women have to pay for!).
Additionally, I was never once hazed, which was a concern of both me and my family. Though hazing seems to be more common in fraternities than sororities, it does sometimed happen to Greek women. My sorority, however, has an incredibly strict anti-hazing policy that goes even beyond the policy implemented by Furman Panhellenic. For instance, pledges (referred to as "new members") are not allowed to drive active sisters anywhere, even if it's just a trip to YOMO or to a movie together. Essentially, anything that can be considered bitch work is hazing.
As cost and hazing are some of the biggest factors that can keep people from going through recruitment, I can honestly say that if I could go back, I would do it all over again.