Re: another quick question
 

Yeah, I think it's alright to name groups that cut you

I dont see why naming groups who are cut would be a problem. I would probably be easier for you and us both!

~Allison

Have a good two weeks BlueGBI! See you soon!

bad news
 

I have some bad news....

I found out last week that my mom has MS. She has had it since 1990, but recently she has been having problems with her left leg and shes been falling a lot. Her doctor thinks that her MS is evolving from benign to RR (relaspe-recovery) MS. So, I have to pay for everything this fall. I have a job but I have bills to pay. I can afford sorority dues after the initiating semester (dues tend to be between 200-400) but I know I'll have to do a juggling act for the fall semester if I get a bid to a group because of the initiation fees, dues, and buying the pin and etc. I hope the extra fees arent too high this fall. However, I did get an extra job as a parking monitor during welcome week that pays $7.30 an hour (thats like heaven for a college student) so I know on my first paycheck of the semester I'll have some extra cash.

I can't wait to be back on 8/25 and to be able to read the rush stories of all of the other girls rushing! :D

Oh, hun, my thoughts are with you and and your mom. :(
Good luck with your jobs--I admire your dedication and hard work!

I am sorry to hear about Moms! :( I am rooting for you. Most GLOs will work with you when it comes to fees...at least I think they will

i am sorry to hear about your mom!!! most groups will spread out the amount of money you need in your first semester across your first year. there may be one or two fees that they can't waiver on, but the rest they could add to the monthly fees for the rest of the year. for example, if monthly dues are usually $30 per semester, during your first year, you might be able to pay $80 per semsester to pay off all of the fees for the first semester! don't stress too much bc just about every group will do their best to work with you! we all KNOW that the first semster is very costly!!

Biggest of hugs to you and your mom.

Trust me, you definitely aren't the only student at Penn State who's feeling crunched money-wise!! I would say that is probably the norm rather than an exception.

Sending lots of prayers your way girl!

My prayers are with you & your mom! MS can be so devastating - it's great that she's been okay for so long.

I think you'll find that quite a few sorority women work for their dues! Good luck!

ditto earlier replies. my prayers are with you both. i'm sure your new "home" will work with you to finance the experience.

Aw blueGBI... ((HUGS)) to you and your mom. I'll keep her in my thoughts.

Sorry to hear about your mom. I'm sending plenty of cyber-hugs your way! Please keep us posted on your rush situation and your mom's health.

I'll be following this thread with interest -- my fiance is a Penn State alum!

I'm sorry to hear about your mom! :( I'm sure everything will be alright. Everyone has to work to pay their dues. Most chapters even have a payment plan that can work with what you can pay. As for everything else, just be yourself! You definitely DON'T have to be a size two blonde and wearing a Tiffany bracelet. I'm african american, short and so NOT size two. Most of the girls in my house are all different sizes and colors AND religions. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find a place that is right for you! Good luck next semester and I hope your mom feels better! :)

I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. I will keep her in my prayers. :)

Everybody here has given you excellent advice about paying your dues. Most sororities, if not all, have some sort of payment plan. Good luck!

my best friends mom has MS, so I know what you are going thru (since I am always there) I hope she feels beter

I'm sorry to hear about your mom; :( I will keep her in prayer.;)

I am so sorry to hear about your mom, i can tell that this semester will be a tough one for you. She will be in my thoughts. I know you are worried about paying NM dues, etc...my advice to you is to possibly ask about scholarships that chapters offer. I know that my chapter has different ways that your dues can be reduced...something to keep in mind i guess.
Good luck, and have fun with recruitment.
P.S....my local advisor is a Penn State sigma founder..(just a side note).

greek love,
Violets

My mom also has relapsing/ remitting MS. She was diagnosed over 15 years ago. She has bad days, but a lot of the time she is ok. I tried to turn something bad into something positive. When I joined ZTA, I recruited a group of ZTA's to participate in the MS walk. My chapter still does the walk, even though I've been alum for two years! I hope that you'll be able to have the great support system that I have.

In regards to dues, I paid for all of my dues myself as well. The first semester can be rough, but it sounds like you already have a plan in place!

I'm looking forward to hearing about your recruitment!

Blue,

I sent you a PM check your box

ok, I'm back for good!

I'm soo touched by everyone's replies. My mom has been going to therapy and she hasnt had any falls in the past week. We managed to drive up here without any problems so its cool.

I've decided to work two jobs this semester. I have work-study so i decided to go back and work in a tutoring center i worked at my freshman yr so i can get paid and study at the same time. I'm also working at my other job I've been working at for 2 yrs, but I'm only working 3 shifts during the week and a weekend shift instead of my usual 5 shifts. I'm taking 15.5 credits so my course load isnt too bad.

I have two weeks to rush and i cant wait!!

another thing....

I really was freaking out about rush and being a junior, but Ive been looking at the stats from 1989-2000 (i dont think the trends change that much from year to year) and that many juniors drop out before rush and before pref. However, for the juniors that last to pref, the bid rate is between 90-100%. Mad cool. :D

http://www.sa.psu.edu/greeks/PHCformalrush.shtml

Yay I can't wait for your rush thread to start! I really hope you find a home you love!

AWW I cant wait to hear your rush thread :) Good Luck even tho its still a ways away!

Nichole

Tomorrow is the first big before rush mixer! There was to be a mixer on monday but it was rained out. I have to work Thursday from 6:30-3:00 and the mixer starts at 3:00-7:00 so I'll probably end up showing up at 4:15 after taking a shower and changing.

The beginning of the semester is going fine. My classes aren't hard but they are time-consuming so I'm starting to do some of my work now instead of waiting while I have free time. I'm also taking an fitness walking class and after my first class today I realized that 1. I'm still out of shape despite exercising all summer, 2. I'll probably lose 15 lbs alone from this class.

IMPT NEWS: To protect my privacy, I will not be posting details during rush. I'll post who I'm not going back to but no details until after rush.


:)

I respect your decision to do so! Best of luck to you as you go through recruitment!! :)

Best of Luck and can't wait to find out where you find your home!

Good luck and have fun!

blueGBI - good luck! I'm sure we'll all respect your privacy - but I hope you give us a few details afterwards! I really hope you find a happy home! :)

have fun...no worries...
and let us know whatever happens pretty please 'cause we're concerned. just that.
lol

I would like to echo the above sentiments - we love rush threads, but we respect your privacy! I'm thrilled that you're willing to share as much as you've said you would - especially considering how HUGE the PSU greek system is!!

Best of luck with recruitment....we're all so proud of you! :)

Best of luck - from what looks like one of the only people on the board who have been through what you're going through in Happy Valley! (Although there were "only" 16 NPC sororities there in my day) Your thread is bringing back a lot of fun memories.

It's been a LONG time since I went through rush, but one nice things about PSU is that rushing as a Junior doesn't carry the same stigma that it carries at Southern schools. There just aren't as many of the "born and bred to be sorority girls" - most people find out about the Greek system during their freshman year and rush as sophomores (like I did).

Also, the thing I loved about our sorority system was how democratic it was - plenty of sororities, a place for everyone, and the elitism was kept to a minimum. When confronted by the (tiny minority) "Tiffany necklace" types, I used to think to myself "it's PENN STATE, honey, not Yale. Your dad owns the town's beer distributor - he's not exactly CEO of IBM!" Girls from the "best" sororities worked in the dining hall or the libraries. It's about who YOU are, and not who your family is.

Also, on the religion issue, since there are so many Catholics at Penn State (Pennsylvania's demographics), you'll find they make up a big proportion of the sororities as well, but we all had a wide range of religions - my sorority had a lot of Jewish girls (there wasn't an SDT on campus yet) and also some non-Catholic Christians, including born-again believers. There was plenty of room in the tent then, and I'm sure things haven't changed!

Anyway, sorry this has turned into a novella, but Good Luck, and I'll be eager to hear how things go!!!!

LionTamer,

Thanks for telling us about PSU's greek system. My daughter is in the process of filling out her app to go in Fall '04 (still can't believe she is too old to still be at home in her crib). She has been rather anti-greek until we took a tour of the school in April. At that time, one of the tour guides mentioned that she lives on the sorority floor in the dorms. She mentioned that she went through rush as a sophmore because she wanted to experience everything college has to exerience and sorority life is a college experience. That statement made my daughter's ears perk. We will see what happens eventually. Would be fun to have her go through rush and become my sister should she decide to join the same house.

DaffyKD

edited note: anyone know why my KD symbol is coming out with the weird greek and is not green. I put in [ font=symbol ] [ size=4 ] [ color=green ] KD [/size] [/font] I had taken out all of the spaces Thanks

Just curious, but what made her look at Penn State if you're in California? (not that it's not a GREAT school)

It IS enormous, though, and going Greek is a great way to make it a little smaller and more manageable.

As I'm sure happened to you when you were in college, it will also have to do with the friends your daughter makes freshman year. The girls I roomed with my first year ranged from anti-greek to legacy to sorority-clueless (me). We were housed on the same floor as the smallest sorority on campus. You would think that would be a miserable situation, but they had such as strong sisterhood, were so kind to us, so enjoyed sorority life, and set such a great example that all but one of us ended up rushing. (I understand the sorority we lived with our first two years is doing great now, and no longer among the smallest. I'll always have a warm place in my heart for ZTAs!)

Don't know what the Penn State KDs are like now, but back in the late 70s, they were great girls!

- an old-time ASA

Your color tag is missing a closing [/color] and your tags are out of order...if you open with [x][y][z] you need to close [/z][/y][/x] If you deviate from the order, it won't parse properly.

so (replacing the [ ] with <> so you can see it)
<b> <font=symbol> <size=4> <color=green> KD </color> </size> </font> </b> looks like:

[size=4 ][color=green ]KD[/color] [/size]

yay!! another ASA on here - and one who actually knows what The Diner is, to boot. :D At first I was thinking "oh, cute name, she must be Phi Mu or ADPi since they have lion mascots" and then I realized duhhhhh, Lion as in Nittany. forgive me, it's been a loooong week. :p

To get the Greek Letters that we're all used to using, you need to use capitals. That's probably kappa delta, instead of KAPPA DELTA. :)

rush starting tonight!
 

Rush starts tonight with orientation! I can't wait! :) I hope my pi chi group is cool. My group is all juniors so I know I won't be around freshmen but I kinda wanted to be in a group with freshmen as like another big sister to help them out as they adjusted to classes and rush. :( Oh well, everything is about to start! :)