The following from the Purdue Greek Life web site seems to indicate that they are going to a split schedule..

------------

Women interested in sororities, note these important dates:
- Sept/Oct 2003: Register with Panhellenic and participate in various group meetings with a Greek Counselor
- November 9, 2003: Pre-Recruitment Convocation
- November 15-16, 2003: Open House Rounds
- January 8-10, 2004: Invitational Rounds
- January 11, 2004: Bid Day

Thank you!!!
 

God bless you AZ-AlphaXi and all you stand for. That would have made me nuts trying to think of it!!

When I went through rush at Purdue in the 70's, the recruitment schedule worked like the schedule outlined above. There also were "coke parties" (I think that's what they were called--it's been a long time) that took place between the open house rounds and the invitational rounds. The PNMs would meet a small group of sisters at the Union for a half hour or so at some mutually convenient time.

There was so much time between the first part of rush and the invitational rounds that I really lost interest in the whole process and didn't feel like coming back early from winter break to finish up. In retrospect, I wish I had, but that's water under the bridge...

This might sound harsh... BUT...

Half the problem with rushees going bidless is the rushees themselves, the other half is the system...

First off, PNMs often drop-out or suicide if they do not like thier choices!!! 90% of the time if they stuck-it out through recruitment, then they would end-up with a bid to a house. However, if your choices are limited to a house(s) that you are not interested in or that you can not see yourself at.. then you should not pledge, it is not fair to the you or that chapter!!

Second, if there is a large percentage going bidless.. it is time to bring a new chapter on campus. Someone mentioned last night that VSU will not bring a new chapter on campus, until everyone is at total (5/6 chapters consistently make quota and are at total).... Let me just say, I doubt that one chapter will ever make quota or be at total. So let's just hurt 30%(+/-) PNMs going through recruitment each year? I do not get that... I am not saying it is right or wrong that the PNMs have no interest in the one or two houses on campus that are struggling... however, it is life..

I agree. In many cases, the schools with "cutthroat rush" are the ones where almost all the rushees going through have quite a bit of experience with Greek life and many of them have an idea of where they're going before rush even begins (i.e., "Even though we have twelve sororities, I will only accept a bid from Pi Phi, Tri Delt and Kappa"). It seems that some schools, for whatever reasons, attract a larger percentage of girls who have their minds made up before rush begins or who will only accept a bid from a couple of the campus's sororities. In that case, I don't feel sorry for the rushees who go bidless -- they put themselves in that situation.

However, if 90 percent of rushees all want the same three sororities, you have to start asking if there's a reason for that. Is it just that freshman superficiality of "I only want to be in the very top tier of sororities," or is it that the rest of the groups are just legitimately that much worse than the top three? If it's the latter, there is something seriously wrong with the Greek system. And ditto for the situations in which 9 out of 10 groups are making quota and the last group never will, yet Panhel refuses to allow expansion until the last group is full -- if you give them a year or two to shape up and they still can't, it's time to bring in another group.

Someone had touched on this earlier, but I know a big problem at my old school was that the big houses that everyone wanted to be a part of often strung girls along when they knew very well they wouldn't bid them. For example, everyone wants to be in AB, CD, and EF. Of course not everyone can. But these houses still invite back the maximum number that they can, regardless if they plan on bidding them. So after the first round, the PNMs see that they're invited back to the bigger houses, and drop the smaller ones. Pref comes around and many girls either don't get invited to any pref parties or possibly get invited to one of their top houses and 2 small ones. Then they suicide the big house and don't get a bid. It doesn't happen to a huge number of girls, but there is a chunk of girls that end up bidless because of it.

re: "That house that never makes quota or total..."
 

That would be my house (actually I was in 1 of the 2 groups on my campus that never made quota or total). I think it's completely WRONG to just say that the smaller house(s) will never make the numbers, so let's just give up on them and bring in a new group. Chances are, that new group won't help the situation AT ALL, because girls will still be superficial and want the top few houses. What's to say that the new group will do well, since they won't be established and they'll be starting from scratch? I doubt that the girls who drop out/single pref the top houses and end up going bidless would be interested in a new chapter because they're not interested in joining a smaller chapter that's already there and trying to help them improve their situation. Why take a chance on the no-name sorority? Introducing a new chapter will probably also kill the smaller group that has already been established on the campus for however-many years, and how fair is that?

As far as the idea of "give them a year or two to shape up," I can say from personal experience (and I'm sure that anyone else from a small/struggling chapter will tell you the same) that it's NOT THAT EASY. I think that a lot of the time, the small chapter is doing everything in their power to get back on their feet, and they're doing everything by the book, exactly how they're supposed to, but outside forces (i.e. stupid reputations and stereotypes) keep them from attaining their goals.


Ok, I'm going to refrain from writing more right now and sounding like an even bigger b!tch than I already do. I just hope that those of you nodding your head in agreement about expanding when not everyone is up to total will SERIOUSLY rethink your stance. (And I don't mean anything personally against Angels&Arrows or sugar and spice, but this issue just really ticks me off, so I'm sorry if it seems like I'm flaming you!)

[/rant]

Re: re: "That house that never makes quota or total..."
 

I don't think you sound like a b*tch -- I know this is a subject that a lot of people are very passionate about because of their experiences. I'm sure there are a lot of other people out there who agree with you.

The problem is that on some campuses where reputation is very important and the top groups seem to remain the same for decade after decade, the sorority that is small because of a bad reputation will probably not be able to break from the cycle. Your point about rushees not wanting to take a chance on a no-name sorority is valid at some universities, but at other campuses where reputation is so important, if the rushees can't join an established "good rep" sorority, many would rather join a sorority that has no reputation, whose reputation they can help shape and mold, than a sorority with a bad one. At other schools where rep isn't such a big deal and the sororities seem to cycle through reputations (the group that was "the bottomfeeder" ten years ago is now the biggest on campus), the better solution is generally to wait it out and see if, in three or four years, they seem to be catching up with the rest of the groups and membership is stable at or near total pretty much across the board before expanding. Those are the schools where it's easier for the smaller sororities to pull themselves up and make it to total.

But there are some schools where it might be impossible for the smaller sororities to do that. For whatever reason (bad reputation, earned or unearned, they're bad rushers, the cycle of being the smallest group is impossible to break, whatever) they have been the smallest for years and can't seem to change that no matter what they do. And if the rest of the sororities at their school are at total, and many rushees are going bidless yet your sorority can't seem to make it to total no matter what, you have to start questioning if you're holding the system back by refusing to allow expansion. I know the NPC likes to worry about keeping the bonds of sisterhood intact and that is great . . . to an extent. But what about all the girls going bidless that are denied the experience of sisterhood because they don't fit in with your group, they were cut from other groups, and Panhel won't allow a new group on campus even though there's the need for one? In that case, it might (emphasis on might -- depending on your campus culture) be better for the Panhellenic system and your national organization to bring in a new sorority or reorganize/recolonize yours in a few years.

Like I said, this really does depend on the campus. And it's always sad when a chapter closes due to numbers. But sometimes we need to look at what's best for the system overall and Greek life in general rather than what's best for our chapter.

There are some chapters that are small because they haze, or they're all engaged in a variety of questionable activities, or they have no desire to do anything. If those die out, well, groovy-poo.

But there are times when the rushees come back from a party and say "I really liked XYZ, they seemed like nice girls and they all love their sorority so much. But I don't want to join there. They are too small and they have a reputation as the "unpopular" house."

I will paraphrase I believe KappaKittyCat, and say FU#$ING HELLO!! If you all join the small chapter, it won't BE small anymore!! If you are so friggin popular :p, join the unpopular house and change it.

Now I don't expect a bunch of freshmen women who don't know each other to get together like one of those Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland movies (hey kids, let's revitalize a sorority!). This is where the Panhellenic and Greek advisor should come in. Don't try to get the women to join by stealth means like not letting them drop the smaller group. That just makes people mad. Get the unbidded women together after recruitment and ask if they are interested in being part of a block class. It's easier to go out on a limb when you know there will be other people with you. Not only that, let campus leaders who maybe didn't go through rush know about this opportunity. Lots of women would love being Greek but they hate rush.

Oh, and I understand the concept of only wanting one sorority. I would never say go where you don't feel comfy. But if the only reason you want Gamma Phi is because they hang out with the Pi Kapps, or you want Theta Phi Alpha because they have the homecoming queen, well, you deserve to end up bidless...shallow beeyotch.

Edited to add partly in response to s & s's post, a lot of it also depends on the attitude of the sorority's national headquarters. If they are happy with the direction of the chapter, find positive things about them, don't mind that it is slightly smaller and accept that the group might never be on top that can go a long way. If the sisters feel that positivity from their higher-ups, they will be able to translate it into rushing. However, if they're doing nothing but hassling the sisters to improve numbers at any cost - even if it makes all the sisters miserable and desperate - they probably won't be able to crawl out of the hole. It's hard to be positive and upbeat in rush and tell women how wonderful your sorority experience is when you (metaphorically) have a gun at your back.

Can something be done? Sure, lots of things probably can be done. I think the easiest thing is to follow NPC recommendations and use release figures! No, it won't solve all the problems of unbid rushees (and smaller chapters) but if all chapters followed release figures from day one of recruitment, it would help.

Say ABC and DEF have 90%+ return figures this year. Quota is 30, and there are 6 sororities on that campus. Return figures state they can invite 2.5 x quota back (and I'm just pulling that figure out of thin air, because I don't know what it is, just that there is a way to calculate release figures.) So, each should invite a max of 75 back, but ABC always invite back around 120 and have about 110 at their prefs (based on return figures). They don't want to risk not getting quota (although they've achieved quota for decades) so they ignore release figure recommendations. DEF invites 100 back, and 95 accept. So both sororities have two sets of jam packed Prefs. Reality is that only 30 girls will be bid at ABC and 30 at DEF. What happens to the rest of these girls? How many of them got bid? How many of them only went back to ABC and DEF? How many of them would have explored the other sororities if ABC and/or DEF would have released them earlier in the week?

I know this is not the case on every campus, but it does happen. And I'm sure there are campuses that use release figures across the board and there are still unbid PNMs and smaller chapter(s). I just think that this is another part of the problem, as well as a part of the solution.


Christin
(nah, I'm not passionate about this, am I?)

33girl, woohoo! I've been quoted! I'm honored!

I agree with AOIIalum that release figures are crucial. Panhellenic needs to come up with some sort of sanctions for groups that do not adhere to release figures.

Adding to AOIIAlum's post, when big, popular houses like this are ignoring release figures, it leads to quota plus, which hurts the smaller groups in the end. If a PNM is going to 3 pref parties at houses that will make quota regardless, she has to get a bid somewhere, so many of those houses end up with quota plus.

Thanks, 33girl. You said it a lot better than me!

Well- since we don't know how many girls are invited to the bigger houses, or how what their # of returns are- Only our own house figures are given to us- how could we prove that they didn't go by release figures.
Our campus just tells each group how many girls to release
They go to XYZ and say- you have to release 200 or whatever. And down the line.

The problem at our school is there aren't enough girls during Pref for quota for all the houses, they set quota in the middle of the 2nd rounds. And the bigger houses don't have to do severe cuts till after 2nd rounds, so you get a lot of girls that dropped because they don't get invited back where they want to go.

Then they look at the smaller houses and say "well I don't just want to be a left over" and never experience greek life.
It is sad but true. Most of my sisters came through COB mainly because they were girls that never rushed and never thought they were sorority types. We are talking about beautiful, smart, fun women, that never thought they could be in a sorority.

The larger houses (minue one at my campus) helped sustain that attitude, too. They dropped all the girls that didn't seem to be the stereotypical sorority girl. It was really sad to see girls get so excited about these houses, get invited back 1st rounds and get dropped after 2nd rounds... so they weren't even able to return to the other 3 houses!!! It is really really sad.

I dont think there is an answer. I think every campus has the powerhouses and every campus has the smaller houses.
That is just that.

Re: re: "That house that never makes quota or total..."
 

DWAlphaGam, I do not take people's opinions personally. As I hope you do not take mine as a personal attack on you, your chapter or your sisterhood.

I think we might need to agree to disagree! I understand your feelings. I do not think they are in the best interest of everyone. If a large percentage of PNMs go bidless and a campus will not allow another chapter to establish on campus, then you have lots of young ladies missing out on Greek Life. If a struggling chapter has truly tried to turn around and has been unsuccessful after several years, it takes a toll on the sisters. I can only imagine that turning around a chapter's perceived reputation is a full-time job, causing frustration and straining sisterhood (how is that good?). If the niche for that chapter is a small chapter is a better chapter... than great!!! That is definitely appealing to some PNMs. However, do not stop a new chapter from establishing when there is such a need.

Please understand, I am talking about the chapters on campus that have 25 members, when total is 100 or 45 members when the average chapter is 190. Not chapters with 30 members when total is 50, or 70 when total is 100.

The chapters at Ole Miss (after recruitment) range from about 150-225, that is a full pledge class difference and there are certain PNMs who would not dream of pledging the chapters closer to 150. However, that chapter of 150 has a lot to offer and is not having trouble financially.

When your numbers drop so low that you can not afford your housing or have to choose between certain campus events... that hurts your sisterhoood. In the late 90's there was a chapter that had to close due to numbers... financially they could not survive. There was a chapter at FSU a few years back that could only afford to participate in a few Greek Life events a year. They just did not have enough sisters to financially afford to participate in every event. In my eyes that hurts your members and the Greek system.

While I respect your opinion DWAlphaGam, and I've been in your shoes, I disagree.

#1. You CAN turn a house around in a year or two if the situation is right. I know it's not always possible, but we did it at my school with my chapter, and went from 16 to 43 (total is 50 and nobody's there) in one year. How you ask? We found a whole lot of freshmen who wanted to start their own sorority and said, no need for that...we'll take all of you. They were an amazing group of women, all of them. Not one bad apple, and it has changed the entire landscape of the sorority life there.

#2. If a sorority system is growing and thriving, sans one group, and that group makes the effort to turn things around and are unsuccessful, bringing a new group in won't harm the system. You're right, it may be the cause of the closure of the small group, but unfortunately, most women going through recruitment hear the rumor mill and know the reputations associated with the smaller houses, whether they are true or not. They don't want to be a part of the sorority with the bad reputation, as I said, whether it's true or not. The stigma that follows chapters who get into numbers troubles is hard to shake unfortunately. Bringing a new group in without a reputation would be much more likely to succeed on a campus with limited spots.

I know how you feel DW, trust me I do. I just know that campuses that have chapters that aren't measuring up with the others are starting to think that they just have to cut their losses with the struggling group and start anew.

I don't know your chapter DW or your campus, and I don't know what your reputation is, etc. These are just my thoughts. I respect your hard work and determination to be successful.

Well, all the invite lists have to go through Panhellenic, right? I don't see how it would be so hard to enforce, especially at the schools that use computers. Of the 300 women who came to first round, ABC can only invite 200 back to second round. They cut 50 based on grades and such, and they're left with 250 women whom they'd like to invite back. Well, they pick their best 200 and rank the remaining fifty in order of preference, like the would on bid lists. Polly PNM finishes round one and ranks the ten houses in order of preference. She can only attend seven parties, so she's automatically matched with the top seven on her list, and the arrangement of invites is similar to bidmatching. That would guarantee that all houses invite the maximum number of PNMs allowed under the release figures, and that the women receive the maximum possible number of invitations.Perhaps a change should be made in the way quota is set. I know that the Green Book says that quota = (the number of women attending the second invitational round) divided by (the number of chapters). Well, for our campus, with only three rounds of recruitment, the second invitational round is Preference. That way, if 30 women attend Preference and there are 3 sororities on campus, quota is ten and there are enough women for each sorority to take quota. I'm not sure this would work at bigger schools, but it's definitely something to consider.

Regrets with Interest
 

I am not totally familiar with certain aspects of recruitment parties, but I do have this question to refresh my memory?

At my school, pnms are able to decline a party bid with or without regrets. With regrets means that, for whatever reason, I don't want to/can't come to your next party but I would like to be reconsidered for the next night. That way, if a sorority is able, they can invite back a pnm who regreted them with interest. Without interest means, sorry, I don't want to come to any more of your parties.

Is this NPC standard???

Re: Regrets with Interest
 

AFAIK, it is not an NPC standard (Barbara, our local Green Book expert, may be able to weigh in here). We don't use this at my school. Of course, we don't do a lot of things at my school. :)

I think that "regret with interest" happens this way: Polly PNM gets invited back to seven houses but can only go to five. She doesn't want to go to one, so that's easy, but she has a hard time choosing between the other six, so she finally chooses five and regrets ABC with interest. If, for some reason, she's cut from all but three houses on a four-party day, ABC can invite her to their party if they want to.

But I don't think there's anything in GB about it.

Re: Re: Regrets with Interest
 

My school uses "regret with interest," and you are correct. I have no idea if this is in the Green Book or not.


Regarding my earlier post, I think I'm going to make a point to not go off on tirades on GC about recruitment and the smaller house when I'm PMSing. shadokat, you made some excellent points in your reply, but it does definitely vary from campus to campus. (At my school, most of the bidless PNMs were ones that wanted the big popular chapter or nothing, even though the smaller houses-mine and one other chapter-have fantastic, welcoming, and close sisterhoods, so it's hard for me to have any sympathy for them, which definitely clouds my opinion.)

Re: Re: Regrets with Interest
 

We also use regret with interest at my school. It works really well and we have invited girls back who cut us early in the week and they have become great sisters!! It also helps to make snap bid lists and do COB stuff because you know who will consider joining and who has absolutely no interest.

Re: Re: Re: Regrets with Interest
 

That's exactly my situation, too.

release figures
 

Release figures are a recommendation in the green book and cannot be enforced unless in is stated that they will be used in your school Panhellenic Recruitment Rules. If it is in there then you cannot invite back more than whatever you number is. This number is figured by the computer and given out by panhellenic to each chapter.

Release figures are based on an individual chapters return rates for the last three years. I don't remember what the exact formula is, but it figures in what quota would be at that point, the average return rate for the last three years and the number of events a pnm can attend. For the chapters will higher return rates this equals into a higher number of women to release. For those with lower return rates it equals a lower number of women to release.

Unfortunately, this is only a recommendation from NPC - so panhellenics do not have to use it unless they want to. NPC is also piloting a new release figure system this year - supposedly it will have the chapters with higher returns releasing more than the old system. I haven't seen the formula yet so I don't know for sure how it works.

Giving this thread a great big BUMP so as not to start a new one on a similar subject. With regard to bidless rushees, when you see girls after recruitment, do you feel guilty? We had a girl go through recruitment when I was a rho chi who didn't get a bid. She friended me on facebook and myspace and is social with some of my friends. Every time I see her and we talk, I tend to feel a little guilty (especially if I'm going to something sorority-related) because she never got that chance. I was talking to one of my pledge sisters about it and she thinks that we have no reason why we should feel guilty when girls go bidless because there are reasons for it. What are people's thoughts on this?

a lot of campuses have large #'s of pnms going thru recruitment,so remembering a pnm who is not invited back, unless you personally rushed them one evening, is low. you have not made any promises to the pnm, she has had as fair a chance as anyone else and the chips fell the way they did. i have felt bad for pnms whom i met and felt would not be asked to join any group.

in that same vein, the pnm should not feel guilty if she receives an invitation to a party and declines the invitation. she needs to find the group that best fits her needs and wants.

At my school we usually have between 8-45 girls rushing and at most 2-3 of them don't get bids. It's a rarity by us to go bidless which is why I tend to feel bad.

I think that everyone puts their best foot forward at recruitment. If all play fair, there should be no regrets. Recruitment counselors counsel, sorority women are gracious hostesses and PNMs go in with good intentions. Some women are not right for certain chapters, and others refuse to make the effort with the chapters that have shown interest in them. Still other women are just not a good fit for the Greek System.

Yes, there are cases of great ladies being cross-cut, shut out of chapters because of their perceived legacy preferences, etc., but I think overall that everyone does make an effort to fill the new member classes with the women who are right for their chapters.

As has been said in past threads, if we match every single woman with her top choice minus the chapter's preferences being considered, where is the mutual selection? Just because you have been asked back to a second job interview doesn't mean that the hiring manager should feel guilty for giving an offer to another candidate. Everyone has a shot.

I think one thing that has been working on some campuses is giving PNMs a better idea of where they stand earlier in the process-- when the chapters with historically higher returns have to cut a larger percentage of women earlier on.

Even in a smaller system - or maybe I should say especially in a smaller system - there are times when the woman isn't a good fit for any of the sororities or vice versa. It would be worse to give a "pity bid" to someone you didn't really want, or for them to feel miserable in a sorority they didn't really want.

Question about IU- Is the situation with FR still the same now (2006) as it was in 2003?

Here's another thing I kind of question, if the school does in fact have 1000 girls rushing (I'm saying this number after the grade cut, and it is probably more now being 3 years later) but roughly only 800 girls get bids, it seems to me that probably every house is at total, correct?

I don't know a lot about expansion, but it seems to me if you have 19 houses (is that the right number?) and there are 7 chapters not on campus, each house is at total (quite possibly above total), this would be the perfect time for expansion. Because obviously your greek life is getting more girls who want to participate than you can accomodate. Plus, if all the houses are at total by the end of FR, forget COR.

Someone who knows more about expansion or IU, because I don't get it.

My guess with IU is that the problem is more a housing issue than one of numbers. How would a chapter do at IU without a house?

Crappy.

Didn't someone post early that AOPi came back to the campus in 2003 (sounds like) without a house and then still got 150 girls? Their house is probably done now, but if AOPi could do it, it seems like the other chapters might be able to do it. (Brianna is shrugging her shoulders though)

My understanding was when AOPi recolonized at IU, plans were underway to build a chapter house and my guess the house was ready by recruitment the next year. The problem with IU is that there isn't a quota or total that applies to all of the chapters at IU. The individual chapters take how many women they need to fill the house the next year. So total is how many women can live in the chapter house and quota is how many women are graduating the May after recruitment.

I also know for a fact at least two chapters at IU participate in COR annually.

You can get as many snap bids as there are houses who are not at quota (at least, this is the case at UGA). During my senior year at UGA (Fall '03 rush), a staggering amount of houses needed to snap bid girls to reach quota (some needed as few as 1 or 2 girls, but this still resulted in a lot of busy signals as every house tried to call the gals who mismatched). I remember hearing a story from a new member of another house about how she was awakened beginning at 6:00 in the morning with snap bid phone calls and had already heard from 3 houses before she heard from the house she ended up pledging. As long as a PNM does not commit with a "yes" to a house, she can still receive and potentially accept snap bids from other houses.

In my experience with snap bidding, the recruitment counselors did the actual calling on Bid Day morning to their PNM's who had not been matched (that is still one of the worst experiences of my college life-- I felt so helpless listening to them cry on the other end of the phone line when they found out that they hadn't gotten into their top 2 or 3). Some women got multiple offers; others only had one. This left the PNM not feeling as pressured by the sorority to accept, and it ran a bit more smoothly.

Where a woman declined a snap bid, she might receive a call from another sorority a few days later directly because they had girls who were no-shows at Bid Day.

Delivering bad news to a teenager is one of the most unpleasant tasks you can do in life.

I used to work at the admissions office at my college, and occasionally the admissions letter would get lost and the kid would call us a week later wondering if they got in. 90% of the time, the answer was no...so once we verified that it was really the applicant calling, I had to personally crush their dream that they'd worked toward for four years (or more).

I hadn't made the decision myself, and in some cases, the kid really hadn't earned an acceptance. But that didn't make it any easier or more pleasant.

Connie Steps on Soap Box and . . . .
 

I heard a story (ok go with me here I do have a point) about an ADPi chapter (I am not going to say which one) that had 18 sisters when total was ~150. So, these 18 girls picked themselves up by their "bootstraps" and with fantastic sisterhood, wonderful recruiting (cool recruitment dvd) MASS PR for a year or so and new release figures . . . THEY ARE NOW a chapter with 2 years of quota behind them and ~88 sisters in the chapter. I have seen this DVD and these girls were cute - I mean they didn't look like left overs from the greek system so their problem, apparently, was PR and allot of years without local leadership.

Now, I am sure that these "new" release figures from National Panhellenic are going to help the situation greatly. And, allot of otherwise great "small" chapters will move into the "STRONG chapter" catagory and then the whole greek system will succeed and grow.

I find it hard to "feel bad" for the pnm who won't take a "growing" chapter because she heard they weren't the best (unless that specific sorority has poor communication skills or can't smile at a party or really does make a horrible impression during recruitment) However I, too, come from a small greek university (4 panhellenic sororities.) I think it would be easier to pick from 4 because even the 4th best is still pretty good. But, I don't know how to think about the worst on a 20 sorority campus.

So, my point is if the pnm gets released by her 1st 2nd & 3rd choice on a campus with 20 sororities, I still don't feel bad for them because I mean how bad can her 8th choice be ( I mean 20 for goodness sake) and if she goes BIDDLESS she has only herself to blame - that is like your parent telling you you can live in my house but you cant smoke and then you moving out and telling your friends that your parent kicked you out - that is rediculous.

woops got alittle floopy there I hope it made some sense.

Is there ever a good time to "suicide"? Like when a girl gets invites to two sororities on pref night. One she is crazy about...the other, she knows she will not pledge. It is drilled into her head not to suicide...so she dutifully puts both the GLO's down on her pref card, and the worst happens(at least in her mind)...she is offered a bid to the sorority she has no intention of joining. Wouldn't it be better for her and the sorority she will refuse...for her to go solo and hope for the best? I have heard stories from girls that maybe they would have gotten their first choice if they would not have listed the second on their pref card because the sorority they didn't want had them high on the bid list...and the one they truly wanted had them somewhere in the middle...but because her second choice ranked her so high...she basically had no shot at her first choice. I suppose this could apply to just first and second choices period. Doesn't alot of the matching have to do with how high each sorority places you on their bid lists?