I think everyone has made great and insightful posts on AI.

It may not be for everybody.

There may be some GLOs that do not do it while others are more receptive. I think a post listed at the top somewhere lists those that do and those that dont.

IS AI easier, not really as some have said.

Is the time envolved shorter than some have said.

One of the best points is the fact that Women who have AIed have worked harder, longer and do for reasons other than to just have Letters in their Signature. They are interested in doing something to give back and be part of something bigger than just a humdrum. They are somewhat driven to be a part of and give to more than just themselves.

Isnt that What Greek Life is being all about?

blueangel thank you for the neat post and explanation of why you

are doing and for what reason that you are interested.

Many Women have AIed before GC came into being and have found out more about AI and have been tremendous New Members.

While not an AI myself, and Most NIC do not, I started a Local so I do know how hard it can be and the work and feeling that goes into it.

It can be hard! hard! hard!

I tried many yrs trying to crack the code moreless to gain admittance to a Sorority.

I tried in college: I wanted to be a Phi Mu...wrong place and time unfortunately..my grades and the fact they closed down at my college.


so i was committed to trying AI and tried for yrs to figure out how to do this when no one at that time knew what AI was all about


I gave up for a while to re-try again. At that point i found Alpha Phi and it was meant to be. I contacted A PHI and that same day they contacted me back and got me in touch that SAME DAY with the area Alum Chapter President and 4 month slater i was initated

so from start to finish to join a GLO from 1994 to 2002


It isn't for the faint of heart
you have to be committed
you have to be prepared for heart ache and rejection
and you got to want it from your whole heart


I wanted to be in a sorority ever since i was a little girl when i use to see my older female southern belle aunts and cousins wearing their letters.


So if you are serious about AI it can happen in matter of months and it can happen in a few yrs ...just depends how much you are dedicated to the idea of it

I am going to respectfully disagree with several of the opinions presented here.

1. The AI process has nothing in common with the NPHC grad process except the most superficial resemblamce. To compare the two is to insult the NPHC process and lend a glamour to AI it doesn't warrant, or need.

2. AI is not hard at all. In fact its really easy. As long as you fit within the category AI was originally designed.

AI was created for a national organization to be able to choose to add members as special initiates that weren't normal undergrads.

Specifically, mothers of undergrads, graduated colony members, local sorority alums of new chapters, faculty advisors, other helpful advisors of chapters etc.

IT also allows the special intiation of "name droppers" or people with some dewgree of fame that it would look good to the national to have on its roles.

To a lesser degree it also provided a way for alumnae chapters to recruit people into the group that had been really helpful to their existing operations.

If you fall under any of those special initiate categories, AI is a breeze. Easy as Pie.

And almost every single group has a mechanism for allowing those types of special initiates.

So what you could say, is that in some ways AI is supposed to be a recognition of service already rendered to the sorority.

Where AI gets hard for people, is when you don't fit into a category where the national has sought you out specifically.

Where AI is hard, is when you don't have any dealings with the sorority, aren't working with any chapter in a service role. . . and well to sum up, have no personal relationship with the sorority, its chapters or members at all.

In that case it can be a tedious process because you have to contact them out of the cold and try and bend a process to help you that wasn't for the most part designed with you in mind.

Nothing else about it is "hard" in the way that word is commonly used. And to say that, diminishes the undergrad that pledged in college. Her selection was even harder because she had to deal with a directly competitive process.

Dear all the men who have replied to this thread,

Since you have no experience in either collegiate sorority rush, let alone alumnae initiation, I think you are speaking out of your asses. Until you have experienced at least one or the other, it's very difficult to ascertain which is more difficult.


ANYWAY

I think that in most cases, AI is more difficult than collegiate rush, and it should be. From the women I've spoken to, there is a LOT more to it than there was too my rush process. There are, of course, the handful of cases where AI is very very simple -- just as there are the handful of cases where a girl goes through sorority rush and gets invited back to every house, every round. These are not the norm.

I think it's also very difficult to compare the two just because the nature of the different rush processes is so -- well, different. Approaching one group at a time versus rushing several at once makes it hard to tell which is more "difficult."

Oh hell no!
 

Sugarandspice,
You are everything nice! Tell it sister!
http://www.my-smileys.de/smileys2/35_3.gif

Sorry BOYS, but unless you can walk a mile in our stilettos, you need to stop talking out of your butts.

You can't even compare the 2 experiences (ie collegiate vs AI), don't even try! Both are as difficult and they both need to be respected

You think it is easy? Talk to CutiePie, DGMarie, MelodyCat, tinydancer, adduncan (when she comes back from her long awaited initiation), etc...there are quite a few of us who busted our butts on here and to discount our experiences it downright disrespectful :mad:

Please, check yourself

And you know this how?

When I went through recruitment as a freshman, I didn't put forth any real work. All I had to do was show up, look cute, and carry on a conversation, and I got into the sorority I wanted. From what I've heard from the GC AIs, their experience involved one hell of a lot more work than mine did.

I know that it's your thing to play devil's advocate in every thread, but I really think that the women who've been through AI would know a little bit better than you.

KTHXBI.

Have to agree with my Panhel friends on this, you don't know jack shit to put it a bit more bluntly.........

I agree with everyone and I wanted to add something......

When I stated that the AI process can be related to NPHC Intake process I merely meant that discretion is the watchword of this process, also just because you are invited to some meetings and learn more about the group you are interested does NOT mean that you will get an invitation to membership. PERIOD!!!!

also to #2, BULL****

go sit down somewhere please and just observe the conversation. Until you walk in my shoes in this instance, you will not know the joy and pain that I've been through in this process.

Okay James.Despite your disclaimer of respectful disgreement, your post was too simplistic and more than a little patronizing.Are you suggesting that someone who has a difficult time of the AI process, simply isn't good enough?

For many that do AI,its more now than mothers or housemothers or women who have,as you said,already rendered service to the sorority.Many groups encourage members to invite friends and relatives to meetings to encourage the AI process. These people are going in blind and have to sell themselves to the chapter.The members don't know this person from Adam.They have to show the members that they are worthy to be a part of them.That isn't going to happen with one meeting.Often pnams are invited along to activities for months before they are told that they don't fit in and won't be extended the opportunity for a bid.It takes more than that one sponsor liking you to be extended a bid.You have to have the unanimous backing of the alumnae chapter.

Also pnams are often dealing with people who are highly suspicious of their intentions.I think the surge in alumna initiates is a relatively new thing.Pnams are often up against older,powerfully entrenched woman who don't quite understand what the pnams want from them. That can be quite an obstacle.

I had a very very easy AI experience.It was seven months from initial contact to initiation.I experienced no bumps in the road what so ever.I consider myself very lucky.In a perfect world your scenerio should be correct.However, to disregard what others have experienced just to fit the parameters of your opinions is just plain insulting.

Allow me to be the lone voice in the wilderness...

With very rare exceptions, it's very difficult to become an alumni initiate of Alpha Sigma Phi. Most alumni initiates are initiated by their chapter with approval from the Grand Council; in the case that the candidate was once a member of a colony or interest group that never chartered, or someone who is related to a notable Alpha Sig who did not attend a college where there is an Alpha Sig chapter become Members-at-Large, unaffiliated with any chapter. (Our current Grand Secretary, Jonathan Burns, is the son of the late Ralph Burns, longtime Grand Secretary - he's a graduate of West Point, which obviously does not have fraternities and sororities.)

We did have the case a couple of years ago when a former pledge at Radford University came back to finish his degree in his late forties and pledged Alpha Sigma Phi again, and he was initiated with a group of pledge brothers half his age.

As mentioned in other posts in this thread, AI is not a catch-all for those who missed out on the undergrad experience. It sure as hell ain't easy, as evidenced by many here who have gone through the process; some have experienced heartbreak at one attempt, but tried again and were finally successful.

It's no secret that established alumnae board members may view prospective alumnae initiates with suspicion - I betcha more than once they've been burned by more than a few members who really joined for mercenary motives, who disappeared not long after getting initiated. And I don't blame them for 'scrutineering' applicants to be sure they will contribute to the organization.

James, while your simplistic view seemed appropriate to you, it did not set well with many of the Ladies on GC!:)

I for one never said as a "Male" that AI was easy, in fact, I have always said it is harder than going through College Rush.

For many women who for one reason or another could not join at the College level and who have still had the calling to do this type of thing, it is very hard, time consuming, and frustrating, but when it happens very rewarding.

I have always found it very interesting what women feel and do and become before, during and after becoming AI members of each different Sorority or Fraternity. Maybe more so than Fraternies but, there have been some very productive people (Males) in Fraternities, Harry Truman being one.

He cared, and they care. I just wish I knew HST was a Brother when I knew him along with a few others at that point in time.

<hijack> You knew Truman personally? That is pretty cool, Tom!</hijack>

Well...since your "specifically mentioned" groups include individuals pointed NOT allowed to AI into our group, I would put forth, you didn't do your due diligence in your research and have presented highly suspect and fault premises. :)

In other words.....WRONG!!! WRONG !!! WRONG!!!!

Hmm. Let me simplify.

If you fit the profile where through your personal ties with an active chaper, an alum chapter, or the national office has resulted in them extending you a sanctioned invitation to join . . . its an "easy" process. You just have to accept and wait for an initiation time.

If you are coming on GC with no personal ties to a chapter, an alum association, or the national office and asking whcih sororiities have AI programs so that you can join one of them, you are in for a much rougher time.

Can we agree on that much ?

I would agree on that. If you know someone ahead of time and have shown involvement prior to pursuing AI, it is easier. If you come in cold, with no prior link, shopping for a group, it is harder. I think that is fair to say.