Another PNAM
 

I am going to take inspiration from Sister Havana and call my potential new home "Bichon". (I like bichon frises.)

Here's my story:

Over the summer, I decided I would like to become a member of an NPC. Being out of college for five years, I was obviously going to work harder at this process. I researched each NPC in Baird's. From Baird's, I narrowed down my choices to ten sororities.

I contacted Bichon. The officer said it was the summer and other officers were on vacation. She suggested we wait until autumn.

I went on with life. Last month, I contacted the same national officer of Bichon. I wrote a lengthy introduction about myself and why I want to become an initiated member of Bichon. Rapport was built and I was sent the first form for alum initiation.

After filling it out and sending it to the particular national officer, the national officer contacted me about finding a sponsor, which would be an initiated Bichon in good standing.

A friend of my from a local organization is an initiated Bichon and agreed to sponsor me. Bichon HQs sent me the next form, which is the application plus the recommendation from my sponsor.

The Bichon officer said my sponsor and I will send the form to her and "we will take it from there".

to be continued.... :)

Only way to find out is try!:cool: :D

Let us Greeks know!


The Best of Luck!:)

Wow, that sounds good.

I do not know how much work would the officers of the sororities I like would be doing during the summer. But I did not find out about AI till last month. And I will be going on vacation soon. So I cannot really begin the contact process till mid to late May.

I have no deadline for this.

And I named my sororities after stars. I listed them in alphabetical order of the stars- not of the sororities they correspond to.

Good luck with everything!!!!!!!! I named my groups after shoes. If you need anyone to talk to feel free to pm

Best of luck to you!! :D

UPDATE:
I came to the part in the application where I have to specify the chapter at which to be initiated. I picked my alma mater, which has a chapter of Bichon. I emailed the officer to clarify my choice.

The national officer said she will work to get me initiated at my first choice. She said I should specify that I will affiliate with the closest alum chapter, but can change to another one if I find a better fit.

I emailed her back asking if I could get initiated at convention this summer. She said that they already have their initiates for convention, but that it was a "good question". She said we can work with the collegiate chapter for their fall initiation.

I'm bummed that I can't get initiated this summer.
But, it's a blessing in disguise because I do have to take 3 classes at a local college for my paralegal certification. And, it would be a stretch to afford college tuition AND transportation, convention, initiation, and badge fee. So, it's all good in the end.

I'm feeling really good about this. :)

You're completing paperwork and discussing when you can be initated and you haven't even met anyone in the local alumnae group?????? That's bizarre......

It's not strange depending upon the organization. I know of a couple of organizations where the local alum group isn't involved if the woman has a sponsor.

I believe we have an ASA AI on GC who started an Alum chapter because there wasn't a local one. I guess it's not that strange.

"Bizarre" was actually me being polite........

You are accepting a woman who has never met the local alumnae so she has no idea if she will get along with any of them and will want to be involved with them. If it's an area with only one chapter then she's not likely to get very involved if she doesn't have anything in common with the other women in the group and isn't comfortable with them. And what's the point of initiating someone as an AI who isn't going to be involved? We already have PLENTY of those who joined in college.

Plus, you are inviting a woman to join based on the opinion of one person and how she looks on paper (the application). You certainly can't judge someone's commitment level based on that. If someone looked at my volunteer commitments they might conclude that I do a lot of things at once (which I do) and they might think that my commitment to each one is low (which would be very wrong) and that I don't have time for something else.

For sake of discussion...

What if the woman interested in AI is looking at the org to be involved in an advisor capacity at a local collegiate chapter? Why would it matter if they get along with the local alum group?

Because they are going to need that local alumnae chapter if they ever need additional help (or monetary donations). If the alumnae chapter members don't like the chapter advisor they are quite unlikely to want to show up at any collegiate function to support them. Plus, it's a bit hypocritical for an advisor to advocate to the collegians that they should get involved with their local alumnae chapter when she doesn't. And I can only speak for my own group but we put heavy emphasis on what a local alumnae chapter can do for alumnae and that the graduating seniors should get involved with the local group when they settle in after graduation.

Well, there was a semi local one, but not local enough - as in "it's too snowy to go" local. :)

The alum chapter does not have the same weight in all orgs where AI is concerned.

Unlike the OP, I do not know anyone in the sororities I am interested in. I had several acquaintances in them in undergrad, but nobody that I interact with on a regular basis or lives near me is an alumna or potential sponsor.

Hence I will have to contact the alumnae chapter after the national headquarters refer me to it. Lucky for me, there seem to be alumnae chapters for all in or near this county.