Chapters were super late with bidlists...but there have been rumors floating around of pledge classes at two houses reaching the number 77. Right now the girls are all at the chapter houses...the decorations are insane (with Theta's ferris wheel taking the cake). The girls ran down the row to get to their houses with hundreds of fraternity members making tunnels for them to run through. Everybody looked really excited although rumors are floating around that there is at least one chapter where a majority of their pledge class did not show up to bid night which may be a result of the higher than normal numbers. When I hear concrete numbers I can let people know.

Thanks - can't wait to hear how we did (fingers crossed!)

Can anyone get pictures of the decorations? I am dying to see the ferris wheel.

the pledge class didn't show up? How could that happen? Can you say which chapter?

Bid Night was late. The early report from a very tired and happy alumna was Tri-Delta took 67 new members. Their theme was "Carnival", but I have no photos at this time since my friend forgot her camera! She indicated the preparations for the theme were elaborate, but I have no details yet. One of the new members is the daughter of Mark Hammill of Luke Skywalker fame. George Lucas is an alumnus of SC.

Our chapter house is at the other end of the row from Theta. We are near Sigma Chi, Kappa and ADPi.

Teeroze,
SC is a private university where there is a strong feeling of family. Many pnms are third or fourth generation Trojans. Unfortunately, some of these women decide quite young which group they wish to join. When the bid is extended and it is not the "one" desired a pnm will drop.
Our chapter is 86 years old. There are sometimes more direct legacies who "rush" than places in the new member class.

But how can it happen that two chapters get 77 new pledges, and another chapter only gets a few? I thought there were safeguards in place to keep that from happening. Can anyone guess as to which chapters took the high number of pledges?

I do love some "frills!" :D

There are limits. Right now I am wondering if that is a rumor. Last year every house took quota. My contact did not indicate any house took 77 new members, but she was so tired I did not hear many details.

As far as I know all the chapters at SC have over a hundred members.

Congrats to your friend and the Beta Alpha chapter of Gamma Phi Beta!

Thanks Football Fan -
The same will probably happen this year, with each house taking quota.

I wonder which end of the row they started running from...jwsteele?

SC Update
 

Teeroze,
An alumna wrote she understands that all chapters made quota except one. A chapter was only one under quota. She believes it is a rumor that two houses took 77 girls.
Her understanding is that quota ended up being 62, much lower than originally thought. My guess is that when the preference cut was made to two chapters from four pnms dropped out.
Fan

so quota was 62, and tri-delts took 67...quota +5...wow, that's great!

Sorry about the 77 statistic...that came from a girl in one of the two sororities that supposedly made that number but she was wrong about her own numbers...they actually made 69 (which is still huge compared to usual). The numbers I have heard (granted, from sorority women as opposed to "official numbers" so they might not be completely accurate) are as follows:

Theta - 69
Delta Gamma - 69
Alpha Delta Pi - 70 (supposedly the largest)
Tri-Delt - 67

The situation with the low pledge class was that they made quota from women who preffed them second ending up on their final bid list. However, when the women saw that they got their second choice they decided not to pledge the group. My guess is that there was some pressuring of PNMs to not suicide and they did so thinking they were going to get their first choice. Who knows, I won't reveal which chapter but I am sure they are handling it quietly and are going to start COB soon. I am sure they will do fine in the end.

The ferris wheel was pretty insane, it wasn't huge but I will try to get pictures from my friends in Theta. Sometimes with the over-the-top frills, multiple generation in-house legacies and sundresses starting Round #1 (not to mention a rabid allegiance to our football team) I feel like USC should be an honorary SEC conference member...but then again, that would be unfair to SEC sports teams.

Oh, and to answer teeroze's question, there is a small low-traffic street that splits the row in half...this street is connected to a super-long pedestrian walkway nicknamed "Trousdale" that starts on campus and leads from one end of campus to the other, then to student apartments/religious centers, and then the row. The girls ran from the middle of campus, past the apartments and then down the tunnel of fraternity members on the smaller street before heading off to either the right or left.