Question about informal recruitment

[kim90]

Hi!!

I have transfered to my new school and have a question about informal recruitment.
Since I am a little older than the normal pledge student, I think it is my last change to get a bid in this spring semester through informal recruitment.

I've already heard, that this should be less stressful than normal recruitment, because I don't have to go to every chapters house, but my question is, if the time after getting a bid, so the pledge time, will be different in spring than in fall, because the pledge class consist of only one or two people?
How long does it take until I will become an official sister when I do informal recruitment?

As a last, I have heard from one sister, that there are mandatory weekly meetings, usually on weekends and if I don't go I have to pay a fee. Is this right for every sorority? I will definitely want to go to most of the meetings, because that's the reason I want to join a sorority, but there will be maybe one or two weekends in a semester, where I will visit friends in another city, and when those mandatory meetings are every sunday, I would need to pay the fee of 75 usd to be able to visit my friends.
Is it normal that no excuse will count for not attending a meeting, even it's just once or twice in a semester?
I know, I should probably ask this question to the sorority where I want to pledge, but my friends told me, they'll get offended by this question and it is likely that I won't get a bid by asking such things.

So I really hope someone here can may help me to understand how this sisterhood really works.

Thanks for every help!!