HELP! Can I rush a new sorority!?
 

Hey! So I have a quick question.

I am currently an initiated member in a sorority at my current school. However, I am transferring schools and don't want to join the same sorority at my new school. They DO have a chapter, but I have met with the girls and we just don't fit perfectly. However, I still would like to remain Greek, so is it possible to re-rush and start all over?!

Oboviously I would NEVER reveal any of my chapter's secrets to anyone else. I'd never do that.

I know at my school you have to wait a year or something after dropping to re-rush, is that the case at all schools?

How would the girls at my new school know I had ever joined a sorority? I know it's skummy but could I just rush anyways?

HELP Thanks!

No. You cannot. However in some groups you can I believe apply for alumni status. Not sure though.

No. Once you have been initiated into one NPC organization, you are never allowed to join any other.

Check your affiliation policies of your organization. You may be considered an alumna member as soon as you transfer, but don't affiliate. Or, I could be totally wrong. It varies from org to org.

Dang! Doesn't the average member value their organizations anymore?! I don't think I'll ever stop being angry about the shortened new member period. It's all handed to them on a silver platter. Then, when it's convenient, they so easily toss it away.

NO! You can't join another NPC. And don't even bother trying to go through rush again hoping not to get caught. It won't work.

/rant

If you are an initiated member of an NPC (Panhellenic) sorority, you MAY not join another NPC member organization.

And as to the "how would they know?" question: The world is MUCH smaller than you think (especially with all of the social networking going on). Unless you plan on living in a bubble or something, someone WILL find out.

I don't even know why anyone would want to have the burden of trying to "beat the system" and hide something like that. Who wants to be "that shady girl?"

Try if you want to, but just know that you will look ULTRA sketcky once found out. You will also lose membership in BOTH orgs (depending on policies).

I have NEVER known anyone to get away with it. Not worth it.

So you have 3 options:

1. affiliate with the chapter of your sorority at your new school.
2. Don't affiliate with and become an alumna.
3. Be Shady McSketchy, try to break a rule and get caught (while simultaneously looking like an idiot).

Good luck.

Do you really think the sisters you've already met with and deemed not up to your standards will forget your face when they see you prancing through rush at your new school? Do you really think they don't know people in other chapters and won't share that little tidbit about your prior affiliation?

My thoughts, exactly.

So simple. You register for recruitment, your name is spotted on the list by someone in the chapter. Chapter president makes a quick call to the Panhellenic advisor and you are dunskies. It's a shame that reality can't be as drama-filled as I'd like.

no. the problem is actually that they are very perticular with the types of girls they choose to join their chapter and I don't think they'd choose to vote me in.

First off, at your school you have to wait a year after DEPLEDGING (as in, you are still a pledge when you quit, not an initiated sister) to rush/join another organization. I guarantee you that people at your school cannot join another group after they have already been initiated into another one.

Try hanging out with them for more than 2.5 seconds. They may be more like you than you think. I realize that sometimes you do go from a really good fit to a really bad fit, but if you knew you were transferring you should have just not rushed at the first school to begin with.

P.S. If you're going from a very laid-back sort of school to a school with a very competitive rush/Greek system...it is more than likely that the girls in all the chapters will be more alike than different. So even if you could rerush, the girls in the other sororities would probably be just as "particular."

I honestly don't think it's so much the length as the attitude and the content. If your pledge period is more like a Dale Carnegie course or a Pretty Pretty Princess party and concentrates way too much on how the sorority can improve and benefit you (while impressing very little of the other side of that coin) it's not going to instill any loyalty. Not to mention that if you take out the component that makes most girls choose a group in the first place (i.e. liking the women in that individual chapter and wanting to become closer with them) in favor of a completely standardized and regimented program that gives you no time to get to know the majority of the group on a one to one basis, it's not going to magically make you any more loyal to the national group as a result.

sunshine, do you mean that the chapter at your new school is filled with beauty queens, nobel prize winners and campus movers and shakers, while you are more an average girl?

Maybe they just want women who can spell "particular." Would appear to be a problem for her.

Good points.

OP: did they say they were very particular about the girls they vote in/are they known as a competitive chapter that doesn't often allow affiliates, OR did you just get that impression?

It's possible this was a failed attempt to impress you—sending their creme de la creme out to meet the new girl.

If it's the first, who knows what could happen. If the chapter is very different from your home chapter, you may not fit in. It happens.

Ditto to 33girl and LeslieAnne on the new member periods. I came away from mine with very little (except the ability to pomp). My pledge class didn't really gel until later that year.

Edit: this is pomping. Wrap a 1"x2" piece of tissue paper around a marker, stick to board. Put 20 or so boards together to make giant picture. There's a skit that goes with it—usually geared to kids.

Do you just use the marker tops? I don't want to sound like a wet blanket but what do you do with the markers after you are done? That's a lot of plastic to toss.

crash/
That's interesting. I've never seen that before. It looks like it would take forever though. Thanks for explaining. I thought it was some kind of dance. :o
/crash

Pomping does take forever. We pomp floats for homecoming every year. The one year, my chapter did "Pirates of the Carribean" and they made a ship (an entire ship with people sitting inside) that had cannons on the side that would shoot out tissue paper pieces. Our treasure chest on the back of the ship would open and close. It was awesome!

As far as the OP goes, I'm really disappointed that newly initiated members think it is acceptable to just ditch your old sorority/ fraternity and initiate somewhere else. It scares me to think that these are the people who are the future of our organizations. Hasn't anyone ever heard of "loyalty" to their organizations? Maybe just hear about "loyalty" in general.

Re pomping: for us it consisted of brushing a ton of liquid glue over chicken wire and sticking squares of colored tissue paper in the holes. No markers were harmed in the making of our Homecoming floats.

Hahahaha..I was thinking the same thing. Instead of markers being harmed...out fingers were sore as hell once we were done...Pomping starts out being fun, but after a while you're like "Holy Shit this is painful..can we stop...It's done being fun, now!"

Our pomping what somewhere in the middle- it was chicken wire and then strips of tissue paper was twisted around it and then puffed out. And it does take forever- about a week to pomp a normal float.

However I did meet one of my best friends while pomping- he was in the fraternity we were paired with for homecoming. He is now my oldest son's godfather. So for me, pomping will always be a great memory!

As for joining a second org- trying to keep both affilations straight and keep is secret from different people seems like too much work! And I cannot imagine trying to do it today with all the technology around.

-hijack-That's just for house decs—chickenwire pomping is still done for the floats, or freestanding objects in front of the boards (trees, buildings, etc). Groups are usually allowed to start pomping at the end of August up until HC (middle to end of October).

Most groups either save the markers from year to year or donate to childcare centers/schools after Homecoming. Some groups just get dowel rods of the appropriate thickness and cut them up. They also use pencils for more detailed areas.

It's like a giant, super-flammable color-by-numbers. -end hijack-

You say you'd never reveal secrets yet you'll cheat to get into a new one. :( That makes me sad.

Our “pomps” are required to be flame retardant.;)

One of our new members:

http://i372.photobucket.com/albums/o...9_52625930.jpg

Others have answered the how-would-they-know question very well; I'd just add that an amazing amount of information can come to chapters via the recommendation process. Even if you think recs won't be needed for recruitment or getting a bid at your new school, guess what? Some sororities require them as a matter of national policy. So if (when) one (or more) of those sororities checks with alums in your home town, and/or with its chapter at your current school, to get a rec on you, what are they going to find out?

Oh yeah:
1) you lied on your recruitment application where it asks if you've ever been initiated in an NPC sorority;
2) you're ineligible for NPC recruitment anywhere; and
3) most important -- they now have some juicy information that will just have to be shared in an appropriate, dignified manner (or whatever).

That'd be a fun way to start life on a new campus.

I'd also wonder if trying to join a new group, when one has obviously met their own sisters on the new campus, would lead to having membership totally revoked from the original group. That would definitely be a good way to get negative attention from many members of the greek system, and have no alumna experience.

All you can do is try. I would not second-guess them. Look at it this way -- if they are prepared to accept you as a member of their chapter, why wouldn't you return their sisterly regard and give them a chance? If they won't accept you, then take early alum status and investigate other campus clubs and organizations.

You are only in charge of yourself. You can't control the actions of others. Act in an honorable way, and let the chips fall where they may. Think of it as a character-building exercise.

Here's what I want to know....

Why do we have so many young and quite honestly, stupid, girls coming on these boards asking "can I quit my NPC sorority and join a new NPC sorority?". Hello! Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this taught during a new member period? I'm pretty sure I learned it as an Alpha and that was back 12 years ago when I joined and initiated.

I guess some feel so entitled that they should be granted an exception.

I agree with your comments. If I was in a situation as a collegian where I had to transfer and it looked like I wasnt going to fit in with the other chapter, why not go alum? YOu can still sport your letters. You ARE STILL A MEMBER!

Theta is so near and dear to my heart. I just cant fathom doing such a thing to Theta or myself (and I am a 2001 initiate).

These new members are the off spring of Heli-moms. These Super Special Snowflakes have learned from their mothers that rules simply don't apply to them if they get in the way of what they want.

I agree with everyone in this thread regarding these girls who want to quit their NPC and just join another one. I have to say, things like this make me think that the NPHC has it right. You have women that come into our organizations with no respect for them or loyalty. Whatever happened to being a loyal member of your organization? Is it just me or have women (and some men) not learned about this stuff? I remember being told that once an initiated member of the NPC, ALWAYS a member (for whatever organization you were initiated into).

Wow! I'm just in disbelief.

I note that the OP has not responded. I think everyone has disabused her of her notion to transfer schools and go through rush again.

I think the "problem" is that the current generation of students entering college have the "entitled" feeling because they have been given everything they want by either parents, grandparents and even teachers. You wouldn't believe the stupid teenagers I have to deal with in my BIO 201 class who act like they are entitled (ex. they wanted the teacher to push back a test because of Easter. They actually convinced her to push back a test for the super bowl). Now, I'm not saying that all the people in this generation behave this way, but I think this generation will be known as the "entitled generation" (where I grew up as like generation x or y or some letter of the alphabet. LOL)

I thought this was interesting:

Narcissism & Young People

http://www.usnews.com/health/family-...sists-now.html


I'm tempted to purchase that book. Maybe it would help me out in my advising role :)

Was this for this year or last year? If it was last year, when the Cardinals were playing, I don't know why anyone would have scheduled any tests (or Monday classes) to begin with.

And trust me...it isn't just the generation. It's the pledge program. (or lack of same)

Maybe it is a Panhellenic problem by not educating PNM's during the recruitment process that it is for life and once initiated you absolutely cannot ever join another NPC group period.