[aephi alum]

My sorority faced a similar situation, only it was we, not Panhel, who sought out the national affiliation.

I've posted our history elsewhere, so I'll give you the short version. A group of women approached Panhel with the intention of becoming a colony of AEPhi. Panhel said no, but suggested they form a local instead, so they did. 2 years later, Panhel came to us and said "if you still want to go national, you have our blessing." So we contacted AEPhi again and a match was made. My local's ideals were almost identical to AEPhi's, which I think is why things went so smoothly. We were also able to carry over a few of our local traditions.

When AEPhi colonizes a local, we take all members of the local, and only members of the local (this is what happened in my sorority's case). Not all sororities operate that way - if you've read wishinhopin's thread in the rush forum (if you haven't, read it!) you know that Alpha Xi Delta interviews members of the local along with anyone else who's interested, and they choose the new members. But if your ideals are closely aligned with the national in question, they are likely to invite you all to join.

You lose nothing by going through the process of having nationals present to you, particularly if Panhel is committed to bringing in a new national. On the other hand, as RockChalk pointed out, if there are sororities on your campus that are hurting, why do they want to expand??