Texas*princess, I'd always wondered about that, 'cuz I know that ADPi was founded as the Adelphean Society, and wouldn't ADPhi make more sense? But I can see why you'd want to avoid that confusion. :)

TKE209Sweethrt, I'd say go with the letters that you like and that mean something to you.

I say go with the letters you have, even if they do sound a bit like Kappa Kappa Gamma or Alpha Gamma Delta. You can't avoid sounding like some group out there. And there are plenty of groups that sound alike:

AEPhi and AEPi
Sigma Kappa and Kappa Sigma
ADPi and AOPi
ADPi and ADPhi
Theta Chi and Theta Xi
AEPhi and Alpha Phi
Chi O and A Chi O

I even get Delta Zeta and Kappa Delta confused all the time, and they don't even sound that much alike!

I've never really gotten this "being so protective over my letters that I don't want any local group to have anything that sounds like them" thing, but maybe that's because it's hard to find anything that sounds too much like Tri Delta. "Delta Delta Alpha" just doesn't have the same ring. :p

Don't worry about it! I doubt Delta Theta and Chi Omega Alpha are losing sleep worrying that their letters sound like NPC sororities. ;)

*edited to add* AGDLynn, I see your point. However, there's another local sorority at the school we're talking about called Delta Theta, which is similar to DZ, which has chapters everywhere in Ohio (we were founded there). I used to be mistaken for a member of that group every time I went to visit, but it doesn't bother me any. So I really think the name Kappa Gamma Delta is OK.

My sorority gets that a lot, people confusing us with another group. Our name is Kappa Lambda Psi and you have no idea how many times we've been confused with Kappa Alpha Psi. One time, I ordered a pair of shorts with letters on them for a sister, and they came with the wrong letters on them!

LIke I said earlier. I didn't even notice. I just though they had a really nice ring to them. :D So I wouldn't worry about anyone making a wrong connection.
However, something to consider, some local groups do name themselves after the sorority they would most like to affiliate with. I don't really know if that could hurt or help you. But it is something to think about. When I was in school there was a local like that. They were called Beta Omega (I think, it has been a while). It was well known they wanted Chi Omega to colonize them. Not sure what happened in the situation, but they eventually became Theta. So they did get a national eventually, so obviously the Beta Omega thing didn't hurt. I am not sure Chi-O even presented.
But I just wanted to bring that point up. Just make sure that the letters suit your group, and you should be fine.

Well, I have always liked Alpha Gamma Delta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Delta Zeta etc etc.... :D Hell, I've fallen in love w/so many groups on here, it's going to be honestly difficult to chose just one when we have the chance to be colonized!

Question, why hasn't answered my 2nd question in this thread? ;)

I think we just got going on the letter thing. Sorry I don't know anything about expansion. But I wish you lots of luck. :)

Because I am a know-it-all of the highest order, I will answer your question! The answer is...I have no idea. :p What I would do is start writing letters to sororities you want to consider, tell them what's up, express your interest, etc. etc. I'm not sure how all this works because I've never done it, however, when DZ recolonized on my campus about five years ago it didn't take any time for them to come back (which worked out great for me!). So I suppose if a sorority is open to colonization, they will get on it once they are cleared by the school. That's the hard part.

If Alpha Sigma Alpha and Alpha Sigma Tau have coexisted this long (and at a lot of the same schools, no less) I think y'all can be Kappa Gamma Delta for a while - I would go with Kappa Gams as a nickname though since KKG uses Kappa so much.

A national probably will want to wait till school to look you over - mainly to make sure that they meet all the sisters and vice versa. Also, just a hunch but I think that nationals like to see how local groups are doing on campus as a whole, what they are participating in etc. It's hard to do that when everyone is home for the summer.

If you're interested in having a sorority colonize you, you need to get in touch with the NPC. They can set you up with a person who's in charge of expansion, give you materials about that, and let the NPC sororities know that you're interested. When my sorority contacted them about becoming national, that was what they told us. However, we want to become the 27th NPC sorority rather than be taken under the charter of another sorority, and we're still working on that.

Oh Dana, I know I shouldn't insult your intelligence with my trivial questions! *grovels* ;)

Now for everyone else...get this...the school is VERY open for expansion...the advisor sees it as more enrollment = more money, lol, figures :p When she heard about us wanting to bring in a Nat'l she was all up in support for us..so..yeah... :)

Oh 33girl, didn't know they used "Kappa" a lot, guess we'll go to Kappa Gam's :)

Funny thing, all my girls are on campus this summer...well..at least the main ones..which totals to a big ole "7"!

See...this sucks..I want a big name sorority to come in..however..I don't believe they'd be interested in teeny-weeny school like this....or a long shot like us.. :(

Oh, so far all GLO's are doing just fine, they're up in numbers, well, except for Alpha Sig, they lost a bunch of guys do to graduation.

Doesn't hurt to try, right? My sorority has chapter at schools I've never even heard of, and I know the other NPC groups must have, too.

If the school is very open for expansion, maybe the advisor should send notice to NPC, so all NPC sororities will have notice and be aware of the expansion opportunity!

(I realize that there are two groups you are trying to avoid because the other locals used to be them)

I definately agree with AchtungBaby that it doesn't hurt to try to get a "big name" sorority on your campus to colonize you, but like they say to everyone going through recruitment -- keep an open mind! :) There are 24 amazing groups, and each one, no matter how big or small, is something special! So in the end it isn't about being part of a "big name" sorority, but what the sorority itself means to you and your sisters :)

Continued best wishes to you & your sisters!

As long as your greek advisor is behind you, and you are close/can be at school everyday, you could probably start contacting the NPC as soon as you want to. The process takes awhile, and your local college panhellenic has to grant you the right to expand(this became a HUGE sticking point on my campus).

Once the local panhel grants the right to expand, letters of notice to expand go out, surveys by national get filled out, nationals get picked for the next round, presentations get made, i think i'm skipping a few steps, and then the sorority gets chosen. It usually takes about a semester, but since we did most of the work over winterbreak- we got voted on before thanksgiving, and then by the martin luther king jr day, we were on campus.

Just think what are the most important aspects of your *local* sisterhood, and stick to those; make sure that your national is willing to work with your group. our biggest point was we wanted to keep our local history, and our local traditions...and tri delta seemed to be one of the only ones willing to work with us-they were the only national that knew our local's name, and used it often. this impressed us (turns out there was a reason for this- if your a tri delt, you know what i mean;) )


Basic Idea: Stick to your guns...make sure you have ALOT of time devoted to this...become best friends with your greek advisor...and GOOD LUCK!!!!!

I'd have to agree.......