I'm glad to hear you're interested in AEPhi.
There's an interesting story behind my chapter, that may give you some thoughts. The year before my freshman year, a group of Jewish women got together and petitioned Panhellenic to bring AEPhi to campus. Panhel voted not to expand at the time, but encouraged the group to form a local sorority instead, which they did.
I went through formal recruitment (the local did not participate) and, while FR left me interested in the idea of sisterhood, I knew that none of the nationals at my school was right for me. I dropped out of FR and rushed the local the following week, and shortly thereafter was a very happy sister.
The following year, we did become a chapter of AEPhi (with Panhel's blessing, obviously). My local's values and ideals were very closely aligned with AEPhi's, and if I'd arrived a couple of years later and found an established AEPhi chapter, I would still have wanted to join there.
Good luck with rush... and stop worrying