Is 21 too old to pledge?

[Pingyang]

Originally Posted by adpiucf

Sort of...

If you are initiated, you may not join another NPC sorority at all. Ever. If you are initiated, and you transfer to a school where there is no chapter of your sorority, you are granted alumna status. If you transfer to another school where there is a chapter and you do not affiliate, you are granted alumna status. (It is up to the member to petition to transfer to the new chapter, and it is up to that chapter to allow you to affiliate.) If you affiliate, you are then a member of the transfer chapter with all the rights and obligations of a collegiate member.

If you accept a bid from a sorority, but you drop out of the sorority for any reason before initiation (even transferring to a new school), you may not rush/accept a bid from another sorority until the next school year. In your friend's case, it appears she was not initiated so she was simply bound to her bid until the new school year. Even if her new school had a chapter of the sorority she pledged at the old, that chapter isn't bound to honor her bid; it's only valid for the university where she pledged. Otherwise, we'd have PNMs shopping for colleges to join sororities if they could simply transfer their bids.

Has this section of the Green Book changed since October 2010?

Because this came up on GC before, and AGDee cleared up the details:

Per the Green Book, The Membership Recruitment Acceptance Binding Agreement (pg. MR-52) States:

4. Once I sign this Agreement, I am bound by the National Panhellenic Conference calendar year rule. This rule states that if I receive an invitation to membership from any group I have listed and I choose not to accept it, I am ineligible to be pledged to any other inter/national fraternity on this campus for one calendar year.

Page UA-3 under III. The Panhellenic Compact
6. A woman who has had her pledge broken by an NPC Fraternity, or who has broken her pledge to an NPC fraternity, may not be asked to join another NPC fraternity on the campus for one calendar year from the date she was originally pledged. However, she may be repledged by the same NPC fraternity chapter at any time within that calendar year.

7. When a woman who has been pledged but not yet initiated transfers to another campus, her pledge is broken, and she is eligible to pledge an NPC fraternity on that campus at the earliest opportunity.

It's possible that rule has changed, but that was the info I found from searching the forum...

[adpiucf]

Good points! I was mistaken: so that if a pledge transfers to another school, then she may rush at that school right away because the MRABA is not binding at another school? Even in such a case, if the same sorority is at her new school, that doesn't mean they have to take her because the pledge has been broken.

Also, I think the general consensus is that there is a calendar year restriction is only applicable to the next formal recruitment-- so it needn't be a full 12 months. Can another person confirm? I feel like this has come up before and there is a green book provision for it. (But in OP's case it's N/A if se is transferring.)

ETA: I guess we're now way off track from OP's question, but good to know nonetheless!

[adpiucf]

Originally Posted by cecebug

Possibly but i transfered from a community college before and this time ill be transfering from a university so I hope more credits will transfer

Not necessarily... Don't "hope." Figure out how much more time and money you'll be spending by transferring than by staying put. I know that has nothing to do with your original question, but do the homework before you make the leap. Otherwise, you'll be paying for it (literally) for years to come.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by adpiucf

Good points! I was mistaken: so that if a pledge transfers to another school, then she may rush at that school right away because the MRABA is not binding at another school? Even in such a case, if the same sorority is at her new school, that doesn't mean they have to take her because the pledge has been broken.

A pledge can leave School A and sorority XYZ on Monday and (providing her credit situation is okeydokey) begin School B and get a bid from Sorority PQR on Tuesday. If a chapter of Sorority XYZ is at school B, they owe her absolutely nothing. She is tabula rasa as far as Greek life is concerned.

This has been a Green Book rule for forever (unlike the "next formal rush period" BS).

[WCsweet<3]

Originally Posted by adpiucf

Not necessarily... Don't "hope." Figure out how much more time and money you'll be spending by transferring than by staying put. I know that has nothing to do with your original question, but do the homework before you make the leap. Otherwise, you'll be paying for it (literally) for years to come.

A lot of the major schools (especially state schools like university ofs etc) have transfer equivalency charts. Or talk to the registrar. Or the admissions office of the potential new school. There are quite a few options to see how things transfer.

[Blue Skies]

I wouldn't consider transferring for your senior year to be a good idea. Most schools require you to take a certain number of upper class credits (300 or 400 level courses) at that particular school even if they are willing to accept most of your current credits. If you are going to have the school's name on your diploma, the school will want a certain percentage of your total coursework to be completed there. Be sure that you investigate this thoroughly before you make the leap. It could end up being very costly and time consuming for you.

[AnotherKD]

Originally Posted by Blue Skies

I wouldn't consider transferring for your senior year to be a good idea. Most schools require you to take a certain number of upper class credits (300 or 400 level courses) at that particular school even if they are willing to accept most of your current credits. If you are going to have the school's name on your diploma, the school will want a certain percentage of your total coursework to be completed there. Be sure that you investigate this thoroughly before you make the leap. It could end up being very costly and time consuming for you.

I wouldn't necessarily agree- unless you've transferred, and then you'd know what it's like. I transferred halfway through my junior year. I had 78 credits, and they allowed for the transfer to take place as long as I had under 80 credits. That being said, they definitely didn't all transfer. I had to go an extra semester, plus take summer courses my first year at the new school. In the end, it was worth it, but there's still a lot to consider.