There must be some kind of mistake
 

To start things off, I am rushing this month. Yesterday my mom, who has never rushed or been in a sorority said something that made me nervous. She told me that if for whatever reason I don't get invited back to a party after the first round(hence this is very unlikely at my school) to make sure it had nothing to do with my name being spelled wrong. So my question is, can a pnm's name be spelled wrong on accident causing them to get no invites?

My name was spelled wrong on my pref invites, and I still got a bid.

My daughter's name and hometown were wrong on her nametag when she went through at a large competitive SEC school last fall and she got a bid to a great group she loves. If I am remembering correctly, name and hometown are wrong on the bid list, too.

I really don't think it'll make a difference unless your name is really close to someone else's (and their last name, too). Like if it was Marie Johnston and Mary Johnson, I could see that being a problem. We actually had two girls with very similar names go through recruitment last year, but there weren't any problems.

My last name was misspelled on everything too and it wasn't that big of a deal.

If you have the same name as another PNM or a very similar name , that can cause confusion, but I don't think it would lead to not getting a bid.

I would dismiss what your mom said, or if you are still worried about this, talk with your Pi Chi (Rho Chi, Panhellenic person)

Thanks everyone! I honestly don't think my name will get mixed up with anyones. I have a really uncommon last name. My first name is really common, but I spell it different.

But thank you for putting me at ease that I can still get a bid even if my name is spelled wrong.

Your post made me smile, and brought back memories. No one could PRONOUNCE my last name! And they were not too sure about my first name either. It all worked out the way it was supposed to, regardless.

Deep breaths, lots and lots... you will be fine. We would love to hear the outcome of your recruitment, if you care to share with us when it's all over. Sending you best wishes, and good luck!

My junior year of college we had 5 girls with the exact same name going through recruitment, and I think a few of them even had the same middle name! We managed to keep them straight and ended up with 3 of them in our pledge class. THAT was interesting.

In the case of similar names my school includes middle initials...we had two girls go through last year who had the same first and last name but different middle initials. One was a legacy and it got confusing really fast.

However, each PNM is assigned a number at our school, so last name mispellings don't matter. I assume the OP's school uses ICS, so if a chapter mispells her unusual name she'll still get the correct schedule.

Aw. Thank you AzTheta. I'm glad things worked out for you even though no one could prononce your last name. I doubt they will be able to pronounce mine either, but hearing everything was a ok with you, I'm not worried about that anymore.

I would love to share my experience with everyone when it is all over. I've been reading a lot of recuritment stories to help me prepare for mine, so I'm looking forward to finally being able to write one.

Hoping2bgreek10- I wouldn't worry about it too much. I also have a very unusual last name and a common first name with a different spelling but I still got a bid to my first choice. But even now, years after I got activated, my sisters still sometimes misspell my name and some still can't say my last name correctly.

Also, the different spelling of your first name could help you in recruitment because it may jog an active's memory of who you when it comes time to vote. If I see a girl's name tag with a unique looking name on it, it definitely sticks out to me more than a name like Sarah or Lauren (no offense to anyone with either of those names, but they are extremely popular) and I am more likely to remember who they are when it comes time to vote.

I was well known at my school in the greek circles as I had friends in many chapters, but NO ONE knew my real name! I don' t even think most of my sisters know what they call me is not my actual name and there have been a few times were I've been called by it and seen a lot of :confused: :confused: and :eek: w/ gasps! I'm not sure how much that affected my recruitment, I've never thought about it until now.

On TOP of that, my name was spelled wrong right down to my bid card. I never had a problem once I joined b/c I was really close w/ the secretary before I joined, but I was sad to see my bid card spelled wrong (happy cos it had my first choice though!)

I knew someone who went by her middle name but was listed in half of the places as her first name... very confusing for us when we were trying to figure out who the hell that person was!

This made me laugh because it was the same thing with me! :)

I assume you're talking about NPC recruitment.

I wouldn't stress out too much about it.

A PNM's name can be misspelled in recruitment records, but that by itself wouldn't prevent you from getting invites. At a lot of schools, PNMs are tracked by computer using their numbers.

If your name is spelled wrong, just mention it to your recruitment counselor. Chapters and college Panhellenics do verify PNMs' GPAs, and you want to be sure the registrar can produce your GPA instead of saying "There's no Susan Smith enrolled here" when your name is Susan Smythe.

If you get a bid and your new chapter is misspelling your name, just talk to the chapter's new member educator or secretary, and they'll straighten out your new member paperwork.

Good luck with recruitment.