Switching from a Local Sorority to a National One
 

Hello everyone!

First off, I'd like to start by saying that I did try to search this topic but I didn't have any luck here so I'm sorry if it's been asked before!

In late August 2008, I was accepted into a local sorority on campus. Two semesters later, I resigned (note: I left on good terms). 1 full semester which was mostly as a pledge & one full semester as a sister

I had wanted to join a sorority that would allow me to do volunteer work, develop my leadership skills, and make new friends. Long story short: it didn't happen.

Anyway, to this day I am still active within the Greek community. I attend formal dinners, eat lunch with Greeks, and spend a large majority of my time with them.

Over the past few months I've been really impressed by one of the sororities on campus. I'd love to join them. I feel that there are many more benefits of being in a national chapter that I really am attracted to. For one, the rules and traditions have been going on for years so they are organized and set. I now understand what it takes to be in a sorority. I don't see the reasons that I left the local sorority for being a problem.

I've already spoke with the greek life adviser once. She had a few concerns with me attempting to rerush.

I've already expressed to her that I would be suicide rushing for XYZ and no one else.

So, I'm really just looking for some advice here. If anyone has any links to similar posts I'd appreciate it!

You quit so suck it up and move on. Most of the time life doesn't go as planned and things happen. I know most Greeks that by Junior year and are fed up with things are so busy they quit. You had drama and didn't agree with the things they did so accept it. If you doubt you made the right choice then you have to come to terms with quitting. The sorority was letting you down and you did nothing wrong so just move on since you still seem to enjoy it. You don't have to be Greek to go to socials with guys so you can still be involved. It doesn't matter how cute you are or if your mom was in a sorority you quit end of story.

...I know I don't have to be greek to go to socials with guys... thats not the point at all

I would ignore the guy above. It appears he just joined and is most likely a troll. Anyway, I would talk to the women you know in the group you are interested in. From them you should be able to gauge whether you would be a good fit for them, and they can also be your advocates to the chapter. Also, I would keep an open mind when going through recruitment. Its always best to give everyone a good look. Good luck!

What? Does this not make sense to anyone else?


Anyway, coming from a small greek life, everyone knows everyone. I can tell you that there are a lot of questions when a girl quits one sorority to "join another" because nothing is guarentteed. We had one girl do that two years ago and the next year she went through recruitment she got cut by all three the first night. Its not like you rushed on year, didn't get in so you tried again. I'm not saying there is no chance, but be careful to put too too much hope into it.
It might be different if you know everyone in the national sorority. They might understand your situation, but if they dont know, they might cut you.

And you know when I was born how? And you posted like a troll. Based on your username I would guess you are a guy, and based on your internet comment, I guess you are no spring chicken either. You posted an irrelevant and slightly mean response, and that is why I called you a troll. This girl was asking about a situation with sorority recruitment.

I just think if you quit you shouldn't rejoin. I thought after initiation you can't anyways. I know personally several guys that went through rush quit before initation to join another and they made it in but most people thought it was shady.

If the local sorority is not in the school's Panhel, rushes completely separately and basically is "apart" from the 3 national groups, you might have a chance.

But if the local is a full member of the school's Panhel, rushes at the same time and competes for the same rushees - do not do it. You would be basically invalidating the local as an entity that's on the same level with the other 3 groups. That would completely ruin any "good terms" you left on, and there are most likely people in the Greek system who just wouldn't cotton to the local being dissed in that way.

My pledge sister had a big who was active the semester she and I were pledging, student taught the next semester, and then graduated. She didn't use it as an excuse to not be active in the sorority. I know it sucks, but seriously, this is not even a factor - and at your state, you're kind of past needing a big to guide you through Greek life. Did you take a little? If so, you did the same thing to her that your big did to you - even worse, since your big went alum and was still a sister. Point being that "my big went MIA" is NOT a feasible reason to want to pledge another group.

That only applies to NPC groups - i.e. if you join one NPC you can't quit and then join another NPC.

Her initial sorority was a local, so technically she can, but it really depends on the local's standing within the Greek community and on campus culture if it would be accepted.

ETA: not that I think this is her, but WHOA bad google choice with teh username.

There is a difference between what you can do when your first affiliation is a local. You cannot join two NPC sororities or a NPC and a NPHC sorority, but you can be a member of a local sorority and a national sorority. And whether it will be thought of as shady or not will be situation dependent. No one on this site will be able to tell her how women on her campus will act. We can only advise her as to how they may respond. That is why I advised her to talk to women in the organization she is interested in. It could be that there is something else going on with her situation that could make the perception of her rushing different from what it appears to be in her OP.

I apologize for the highway hop, as I'm not in a NPC org.

1) How do you (the OP) know if the grass is greener on the (NPC) side? You are not privy to the inner workings of that sorority.

2) I may not be in a sorority, but I am a member of a GLO and I don't presume to know what values your sorority stands for. However, you took the oath and swore to uphold the ideals and code your sorority stands for. Since you were initiated and were a member for 2 years, I assume those ideals mean something to you.

If you don't like how things are going, make an effort to change things. Head up a Sisterhood Chair to increase moral and sisterhood. Learn Robert's Rules and run for Chancellor or run a workshop for your sisters. My point is, you can't bitch about everything wrong and do nothing to (at least try to) improve your situation.

(I apologize again; I hope I didn't leave anyone's toes too bloody.)

If she is already friends with girls in it why join? The bond is already there it just seems she wants to join for the name sake.

Thanks everyone for the advice so far! Depending on what the greek advisor says tomorrow I have a few different ideas. I believe she wants to gather the executive boards of all 4 sororities and let me get the "go-ahead" from them as well. I'm not sure if she wants me to tell the exec's why I'd like to re-rush or what.


@KSUViolet06 For the record, I was only in the local chapter for one full semester and 3/4s of the second semester. It has been a full year since I left the local chapter.

And I know for a fact that this sorority is very organized and well put together. Because I don't want to give away my location nor my actual school, I can't really go into detail here and give more explanation.


@33girl The local chapter is part of the Panhel.

You're right. Perhaps it might mean something to someone else who may search this topic.

I mentioned above that I don't want to give details that can give away my school because I don't want anyone to know about it yet. But I do know that their grass is greener. If I could give you the hard evidence I'm sure you'd understand :/

I did make an effort to change things while I was there. The problem was rallying other girls to care enough to want to put the change into effect.

I am not close friends with the girls I already know-- just hello and small talk. I want to join them because their philanthropy and what they do for it is stellar. It's something that I really believe in! And yes, I could do it by myself but the group effort is really appealing to me. . Since my life already revolves around the greek system, I want to get fully back into it.

I realize that. I don't expect them to give me a bid--I just hope so! I realize that they may not want to give me a bid at all because I have already been in a sorority. I know that's the biggest problem.

KSU are you with me when you wanna just go ugh when a girl states she loves a philantrophy and joins that sorority. The reason you join is for the charity work yeah right! Frankly, any charity you support is helping something so I don't think anyone should be like this 1 is better than the other.

The local I was in switched philanthropies roughly 4-5 times in the two semesters I was there. One we raised money for a specific charity and the check was never (and to my knowledge still not) delivered to the charity.

I listed other reasons as to why I'd like to join... If you'd like to me to go into better detail I could.

Philanthropy is a Good Reason to Join
 

Ummmm...I disagree with your statement, wholeheartedly! One of the main reasons I joined Phi Mu was because I really felt a close connection to their philanthropy of Children's Miracle Network. I'm proud that my chapter from Penn State is largest money raiser for our national philanthropy through THON and our See-Saw Marathon. This year, alone, my sisters raised over $100,000 for CMN.

In fact, when I went through recruitment, I fell in love with a few of the sororities because they have some great philanthropies. Sometimes people join organizations for reasons that aren't always so vain. Sure, partying was fun but, don't look down on this girl for wanting to make a difference. As an Alumna, I give money back to my sorority, as well as, every year giving money to Penn State. Good for her!

If there are national organizations, I don't really understand the appeal of a local sorority or fraternity. I have always said I would rather join a GLO that was national, even if it was the "worst" on campus over a GLO that is local, even if it was the "best" on campus. I have my personal reasons but, I hope you get into your sorority-but, still keep the others in mind. Don't be too picky or you may be disappointed. Also, by you statement about it having to do with women all over, I'm thinking you mean "Heart Disease" and that makes it pretty easy to figure out what sorority you want to join. Good luck, though.

If the local is a full member of Panhel, you should not rush a new sorority.

As I stated before, it would be a total diss/invalidation of your previous sorority, and unless the local is a total and complete joke and no one on campus respects them, any NPC that takes you is not going to be looked at kindly either. "Wow...XYZ must be in trouble...they're taking the local's leftovers."

Seriously, I would not have any respect for a chapter that did this. You would have to be super incredible awesome to infinity (or, as I said, the local would have to be a complete joke on the verge of dying out, and even then people might have pity on them) for a chapter to take on the burdens that might come with bidding you.

It's not heart disease. It's just something that happens to only have occurred to women I know. It effects men too--I just don't know any personally.

Do you say this coming from a campus that's much larger than mine? Just curious.

I feel that ours is small enough that nearly everyone knows why I left the local. If not everyone knows then it would certainly spread when someone saw I wanted to rush again.

Would anyone else feel the way 33girl feels about all this?

I say this coming from a campus that had 7 sororities, about 50 people each. There appear to be things you aren't telling us (to conceal your identity, which I totally understand) that you think would validate your decision in the eyes of the campus. My outlook is, if the local is SO bad that this kind of thing would be accepted, I'm frankly surprised there hasn't been an outcry to shut them down or at least kick them out of Panhel.

I really think you're overestimating how much these girls in the other group (and the Greek system in general) dig you. I also think you're overestimating that lots of philanthropy $$ = awesome sorority.

Oh, sorry. Breast Cancer? I completely forgot about that. I know what organization now. Like I said before, all the NPCs have something to offer. I really hope you keep your options open because some of the women may feel the same way as 33girl. She is giving you honest (and good) advice about how people may look at you. I really hope it works out for you because going Greek was one of the best things I've ever done. Good luck to you!

I'd hope that because they know I've already been in a sorority that they would discuss this within their boards before extending or not extending a bid to me.

You know them. You're friendly with them. They have sympathy that your Greek experience didn't turn out well. That doesn't mean they want you to be their sister.

And I don't know how anyone else's sorority works, but I know that in my group more than the exec board votes on who gets a bid.

i gotta go with my gut and say this is a bad idea. i think you're setting yourself up for failure, especially since you're suiciding. it will become common knowledge that you are. and in my experience, the girls who made it known they WOULD be XYZ or nothing... ended up with nothing.

I am wondering why the adviser has to meet with the heads of the groups. Panhellenic should be able to say very easily (and so should the greek adviser but whatever!) that you can or cannot according to the bylaws (which probably only matters if the local is a member and most likely not at all if they are not associates). the rule would be strictly panhellenic's and not any NPCs and hopefully they are all educated enough to know that.

I really wasn't trying to be mean, and I know the philantrophy is important, even the honors societies I joined have them. I am just saying it kinda fake all the girls that say ohh geez I just love ____ because they worth with Ronald Mcdonold house or whatever and that is why I joined because it really impacts my life. It is good to take an interest in the special work you do but since the purpose is doing something to help others any select charity is the point.

They raised the money and never donated it, illegal much?

I don't think anyone on here will deny they have been in a fight with a memeber or seen members quit over fights. We aren't saying you didn't have something bad happen or a negative experience but that doesn't mean you can join another and another each time life gives you lemons.

I'm the only one besides the advisor that will know I'm suiciding.

Did you not have a good GPA and get invited to join those Shadow? Actually they are harder to stay in than Greek life because the maintain a 3.0 and get 10 service points a semester etc.

Yes, what I was getting at is that my reasoning would be spread and nearly all members would know. You said I'm probably not as well known as I think I am. Just saying that the exec would have to give reason to the entire sorority when they vote.

You talk big for a Latino Fraternity founded only 23 years ago.