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I've advised at lots of chapters, and each experience was very different from the rest. I'll do my best on your questions though.
1. I fell into one position, was asked to do another, and the third I offered to help a sister who needed it with the chapter she was advising.
2. I am a recruitment person, although I've held other advising positions, but my answer may not be accurate. I'd guess I spent 3 hours or so a week if I was doing a good job (and wasn't involved with recruitment).
3. I attended every meeting. I think this is very important because it shows dedication to the chapter members. If you show up once a month, you won't have any idea what is going on too, even if someone is sending you the meeting notes.
4. Most chapters had their meetings start between 7-8pm, but I had one that was at 9pm. Usually they were on Sundays or Mondays.
5. Usually my relationship would be friendly, but not like a big sister. They often treated me with a little distrust, as if I was going to rat them out. At the one chapter that really trusted me, I felt like a mom or big sister a lot. It was a ton of fun and I made life long friendships with the collegians, but it also made things uncomfortable when I had to put my foot down or be a disciplinarian. And I think in that respect I didn't do as good of a job because of the relationship.
6. My biggest challenges were chapter members who didn't want my help and when there were issues outside of sorority stuff (boyfriend abusing a sister, eating disorders, etc) as I didn't feel as confident helping/directing them to help.
7. My unreimbursed money was very small and usually because I was too lazy to fill out the reimbusement form. Traveling was once a year to somewhere in the region and once every other year to convention. There were other things I could do, but I never did them.
It really depends on what position though. The chapter adviser is a lot of work as that's the "head" adviser for lack of better term. However, the marketing adviser doesn't have as much work or time commitment.
I hope that helps!
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