When I pledged in "the olden days", we pledged in August and were not initiated until the following JANUARY! Sounds like initiation was only about 10 days after Bid Day for you! It is so special to be able to wear that new badge & letters for the first time :)

I think all of NPC has changed initiation to minimize hazing issues, so it varies, but is around 5-6 weeks. So those August new members should pretty much all be initiated by now.

Swerving in, it sounds to me like Thetas get a standard non-personalized badge at initiation, but then they order their own at their leisure. Do I have this right? If that's the case, the Christmas gift would be both appropriate and awesome.

I have a plain gold quill, but I really want to order the one with the sapphires. Alas, I think that's going to be on my own dime.

Theta's new member period is between 4-6 weeks.

Congrats and welcome, Sherry. Yep, the new member period when I was a pledge was 4 weeks. We were also the first initiated on campus. It has been bumped up to 5 weeks at Zeta Sigma, but I still think they're one of the first to go through on campus.

On the same note, my sister's DG new member period is 6 weeks. In order for them to be initiated within the given period of time, they are being initiated the Sunday before finals week. I'm not thrilled with that idea, but so it goes. They get out the week before Thanksgiving and they don't go back until after the first of the New Year. Finals weekend is pretty much their only option.