I did stick it out, and it was worth waiting for! I wouldn't ever want to leave my sisters. It is all about sisterhood, and not reputation. It took me a while to realize that, because I was caught up in superficial things. And yes, I know a lot of girls in other GLO's who feel that way about theirs. Its about where you fit, and who you get along well with.

Forgive me if I'm being nosy, but I was very close to a few Chi Omega friends in college. Back in the day they had a lovely black enameled oval pledge pin. I'm guessing this has changed these days?

We have a black enamaled new member pin. It is very plain with just our letters on it. I can only really speak for my chapter because I do not know if this is a national rule or not, but we are only allowed to wear our badge in badge attire (business casual). We do not wear them every day. We do still get those pins though! And we have ribbons, we wear them underneath our pin in badge attire.

So you didn't mean that you don't wear them at all in your original post? You meant to say you don't wear them all the time.

We have the same rule re: badge attire for the new member pin.

Yes, I meant that we don't wear them all the time. :) haha sorry!
I made my first letter shirt last night. I thought it was fun, it was a bonding experience, and it was hard work! I am soo excited to wear it Monday for classes.

Whew, I'm glad! I always thought it was so simple and classic, I'd hate to think Chi Omega did away with their lovely New Member pin.

As for kappa alpha theta, as pledges we are not allowed to wear anything that has our letters... on lavaliers, shirts, sweatshirts, backpacks... nothing. the only thing that national lets us have is the word THETA along with our pledge pins.

You can't wear event shirts? What about Bid Day shirts with the letters on it?

No. The ONLY exception is if there is a shirt that is promoting a Panhellenic or Greek Life event and the Greek letters "Kappa Alpha Theta" are on the shirt, along with other GLOS' Greek letters. Otherwise, not. Bid day shirts will say "Theta" or "Kappa Alpha Theta".

We're not the only NPC GLO that restricts wearing letters to initiated members.

This has been covered in other threads on GC, and I'm not feeling like searching :D

ETA: it's Headquarters, not "national" because we are an international fraternity (Canadian chapters).

That's one of the beauties of the NPC. Not everyone has the same personal rules, and you can make an argument for either way. And that's fine. I'm happy that I got to where the greek letters ADP as a pledge, and that our Alphas may also do so, but I'm not going to question another GLO's decision to restrict it.

And we're not "national" either - referring to our Headquarters as "Nationals" is akin to fingernails on the chalkboard to me. It's Headquarters, Memorial Headquarters, or International Officers, not "Nationals".