Transferring schools/desisterizing...please help.
 

This is my first post on here! I actually accidentally found this place and decided to join because I am torn over what I want to do about my current situation. Please no judging! I appreciate any advice or input. :)

I apologize if this all sounds confusing...I pledged a local sorority (meaning...we are not national - im not sure if everyone knows that!) my freshman year of college, which was 4 years ago. I didn't take the time to really get to know the girls in the sorority and just kind of fell into it...needless to say I never felt that I got the full experience I wanted from it. My big hardly spoke to me during pledging, etc, and as of this past year I had some personal issues where I actually needed to transfer schools. I am now at a school where there is no chapter of my sorority. I hardly have any friends and I will be in school for another 2 years - I switched my major and I although I am currently a fourth year student I only have a first semester junior standing) Anyway...things officially between my sorority and I are fine and they always have been...but I never really felt that I belonged. I want to meet new people at my new school and I also kind of want to "desisterize" or "resign" from my old sorority (I do not even think they would care all that much) and possibly rush at my new school to hopefully find a sorority I feel I fit well with. I also would be a 22 y/o pledge. I transferred to start over and I feel that by still belonging to my sorority at my old school, I am still kind of held back.

I don't want to go into all details of my situation as to why I transferred but I just wanted to know if this seemed crazy or stupid for wanting to do that. I'd appreciate any messages, thank you!

There are no rules prohibiting you from affiliating with an NPC or local sorority at your new campus. I can't speak for other umbrella orgs like NPHC. Unless your local has rules to the contrary, once you transfer, you'd be considered an alumna of your local. So, you have nothing to lose by going through recruitment. Emphasize that you will be an undergrad for two full years even though you're 22... so you would have two full years as an undergraduate member of the chapter.

Good luck.

I second this. There is no rule prohibiting you from joining an NPC sorority at your new school. Go for it!

Wait, I am confused. Did she get initiated at the other school? I admittedly don't know the rules for local sororities, but can she pledge another group after already becoming a member of another local? She couldn't do that with an NPC one.

Yes, she can. The rules about not being able to join another sorority after being initiated into the first only apply if both are NPC.

I wish you the best of luck. That said, every time I see the term "desisterizing" I giggle a little.

I think you should rush! One of my pledge sisters is 22 and a transfer. She is amazing and I love her, and she fits in well with my pledge class and the chapter as a whole! Good luck, and let us know whar happens!

Thank you SO much for your responses! I truly appreciate all your insight and advice!

Just to clear a few things up...

I HAVE been a sister in my sorority for about the past three and a half years... so I was a member. We are local and we are part of Panhel. I was talking with a friend of mine who "resigned" (we actually use the term desisterize in my sorority! haha) from her sorority and they told her she wasn't allowed to pledge another sorority unless it was local. So I was trying to figure things out based on what she told me, but everyone here seems to know a lot more about the subject which is great!

I'm not sure if anyone's insight changes after knowing this, it seemed like some people thought I was only going through initiation and was not yet a sister. Is there a place on the internet that I might be able to see the rules? Or are you fairly confident that I would be qualified to go through rush? I just don't want to feel dumb for trying! Haha. :)

i also had a 22 year old transfer student in my pledge class... and she fit in very well. She's a second semester junior and still received a bid (then again, our recruitment is not that competitive) but definitely go for it and good luck!

To clarify, your friend was originally in the NPC. Anyone who is or was an initiated member of one of the 26 NPC organizations can never join another one. Locals, even if they participate in a campus Panhelllenic, are not included in this. You may join an NPC organization or presumably your friend who was in an NPC organization may join the local, providing the local has no membership requirements banning this. We are confident in your eligibility. However, the likelihood that you would be accepted as a 22-year old transfer student would vary greatly from campus to campus. At some places NPC groups commonly accept members with this status. On other campuses this would be unheard of.

The reason initiation is important is that if you were a new member (formerly pledge) of one NPC organization and left before your initiation, you would be eligible to join another NPC organization, although depending on your situation you might have to go through a waiting period before you could pledge to a new group.

The other thing I'd add, and this is based more on etiquette and past experience than "rules," but since it won't make any difference to your eligibility for NPC groups whether or not you resign/desisterize from your local group, I wouldn't bother. Doing so is unnecessary and might just cause hard feelings. You're already out of a group you'd lost interest in, so it doesn't seem like you have to make it explicit - you can just drift away. Of course if you're deeply offended by the group or something and want to dissociate yourself with it/its practices, that might be another matter.

You may read about the rules (called NPC Unanimous Agreements) here:

http://www.npcwomen.org/undergrads/s...-policies.aspx

I don't think it is very competitive...it's just a smaller state school in PA and seems very similar to my old school. I don't want to jinx it though!

I think I know where you were, I'll PM you though. If you are going through rush at any of the state schools you might not get into the top chapter on campus, but you should be able to get a bid. Not only that, people there understand the "I'm a ____ but I'm going to be here for 5 more years" concept. :)

Good luck!!

NPC vs Campus Panhellenic
 

I think what may be confusing you is that you are assuming that NPC=Campus Panhellenic. The National Panhellenic Conference is the governing body for 26 member (Inter)National Sororities. For a complete list of all 26 groups, visit www.npcwomen.org

Campus Panhellenics can be called different things at different campuses, including: Panhellenic Council (PHC), Panhellenic Association (PHA), Campus Panhellenic Council (CPC), Intersorority Council (ISC) etc. Campus Panhellenics include all of the NPC organizations on a given campus, and may include locals/regionals/other non-NPC social sororities if they are present on the campus and if that is how the campus wishes to govern them.

You're wondering about your eligibility because you think you can't be an initiated two Campus Panhellenic organizations. The rule only applies to members of the NPC. At your new school, you are eligible to join an NPC, and possibly a local, if they don't have their own rules about it.