thoughts?

It used to be fairly easy to get into the top tier through the back door pre-Internet. But top chapters know the tea now, and most don't take affiliates anymore because of it. A KD from Kentucky isn't getting into KD at Bama, a Kappa from Auburn isn't getting into Kappa at UGA, a DG from UGA isn't getting into DG at Ole Miss, a Theta from Bama isn't getting into Theta at Texas ...

That doesn’t seem very sisterly...I guess it really is just 4 years not for life if you reject a fellow sister transferring to your school. What if they transfer to be closer to home or because the program they’re interested in is better here? Barring anything too dramatic (like the transfer has a poor standing with her current chapter, grades in the toilet, etc) why would you not welcome a transfer? Isn’t that part of the resining for joining a sorority? So you have this larger network and have a community no matter where you go?

I don't think it's so much being unsisterly as much as the "good" chapter knowing that a transfer wants to affiliate for superficial reasons.

Ex: A red flag would probably be a girl from Mountain Brook who initiated into Tri Delt at Oklahoma State and now wants to affiliate with the Bama chapter.

An even bigger red flag would be someone who got cut from Old Row at Bama, then transferred to a school where the house they wanted was easy to get into, then initiated and transferred back to Bama expecting to affiliate.

Yeah the above is the actual red flag situation. You never know why someone is transferring for the first time, could be a family thing, a program, whatever. Chapters usually let those girls affiliate. But if you’re transferring BACK after rushing unsuccessfully they’re gonna take a second look at what’s actually going on

Kind of. You’ll get the odd girl every once in a while who transfers between two big schools (like UA and Texas or something) and rushes a house intentionally for the second school, but usually what happens is girls will go to a smaller school for a year (like UNA or USA) and pledge a house that’s good here and then transfer. USA is a big one bc they have 5 sororities and all are old row at UA except for AOPi.

Some houses will accept any transfers with good grades/rep (usually the first chapter sends some sort of recommendation) and some houses are a lot stricter.

Alpha Gam at UAB used to be a "feeder" chapter for Psi chapter -- their longtime advisor was a Psi alum with a lot of pull, and members who would transfer to Bama could be assured of a good recommendation from her if they wanted to affiliate and they had the grades and a clean rep. That said, she passed away a few years ago and things may have changed.