When you go through recruitment you hear all kinds of perfect stories. They tell you living in is the best time of your life. Girls charm you with stories of the unlikely friendships they made staying in on a Saturday night, the “best sleep I’ve ever had” on the sleeping porch and the hilarious pranks played in the middle of the night. It’s sisterhood on steroids.

You have a chef and a cleaning lady. Handsome boys serve you food and clean up the cereal that you spilled. As you tour the mega mansion, you think “this sure beats living in Bean.”

But as these girls are convincing you to pick their sorority, they forget one small detail, the rules — lots and lots of rules.

No boys above the first floor. No alcohol in the house. You must sleep on the sleeping porch. You have to eat when the food is ready. No music too loud during finals week. Boys must leave by 1 a.m. You can’t burn candles. You can’t eat in your room. The house mom reserves the right to tell you when you’re too loud. The chef doesn’t come on weekends, but you can’t cook.

So how is a fun loving sorority girl going to survive living in the house? Here are 12 things you’ll learn very quickly after moving in with 52 college-aged girls.

1. Your boyfriend just got 52 new girlfriends.
2. You thought the freshman 15 was bad? Your chef loves butter — and salt.
3. The shower might be the only time you’re alone, except when the shower curtain falls
down.
4. Want to have a midnight snack? The kitchen is closed.
5. You plan on staying in on a Friday night, until Ja Rule Pandora starts playing.
6. You just showered and you’re wearing a baggy t-shirt and no makeup — hello houseboy.
7. You gain 52 closets, but lose your own.
8. Want to pre-game in your own house? Forget about it.
9. You just got used to living on your own? Surprise, you just moved back in with your mom.
10. You’ll never have to ask the question “your place or mine?”
11. Good luck trying to explain the sleeping porch.
12. Your first date went well and he’s leaning in for a kiss — you have 52 faces peeking out the window.

Now that I really have you panicked, I have a secret: despite all of this, it really is incredibly fun.

I lived in my sorority for two years and it really was the time of my life. I did make some of my best friends during unlikely nights in. Those blackout curtains on the sleeping porch brought some killer shut-eye. We did saran wrap a bed or two, and once I found a life size cut out of Justin Beiber tucked under my covers. So as you tuck your sheets into your bunk bed, think of it like going to camp for the next two years.

Unless you turn out to be a celebrity, you’ll probably never live in a house that massive again, and what college kid can say they have a chef? Plus, sometimes it’s really nice to know your roommate can’t bring that wasted guy home.