First bid list is in alphabetical order, so if the legacy has a last name starting with A, she will be at the top of the first bid list :)

Most likely, since I think most sororities do it that way. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there one or two that don't?

No. If you have 30 legacies, and quota is 25, you must decide which 25 go on the first list. You don't just alphabetize those 30 and say sorry to Suzie Zimmerman.

Groups that require their legacies be on their first bid list would release any legacies they couldn't issue bids to before pref so this wouldn't be a problem. If quota is 40 and you have 50 legacies left before prefs, you've gotta release 10 of those legacies. Most chapters would have released them earlier anyway since it's not desireable to have a pledge class full of only legacies.

Is the "Fab Four" an AGD thing? Are you allowed to say what it is? I'm nosey; sorry! :)

She knows that, she was making a joke. Your first bid list is your first bid list and it doesn't REALLY matter if they are in alphabetical order, height order, or in order by how white their teeth are...so, the chapters that alphabetize only technically have their legacies on the *top* of their bid list if they happen to fall that way in the alphabet.

shadokat's school actually did do this because so many women were suiciding and then getting COB bids afterwards.

This mainly happens with chapters that are not at total...but if that many chapters are having that issue that they can do this...you need to lower total.

I went through this past January, and I doubt I'm remembering it wrong. I know they were strongly trying to discourage girls from ISPing, so I don't know if she said that just to do that. (I also remember a couple girls being worried they wouldn't get a bid, and wanting to be able to pick up a snap bid, so several girls just didn't sign there MRABAs. I had two other friends, however, who put both houses on their pref cards, even though neither saw herself as XYZs. They both got bids to XYZ, one tried to go through the pledge process but dropped midway, and one just didn't show up to bid day.)

For those reasons, I don't think ISPing is bad. At all. Especially if you don't see yourself at XYZ. As has been said previously, it hurts the chapters, especially those who are lower tier and are less selective in their process (I hate labeling chapters as being top tier and lower tier, but I don't know how else to word it). If a girl prefs top tier ABC and lower tier XYZ, they hope for ABC based on reputations (this happens a LOT at my school), but end up getting a bid from XYZ, and they decline it or depledge. And it hurts the chapter.

From the NPC Manual of Information:

4. If Preferential Bidding is used, women who indicate an Intentional
Single Preference and do not receive an invitation to membership are
eligible for Snap Bidding and Continuous Open Bidding, but are not
eligible for Quota Addition.
Resolved (1995), That a Potential New Member who withdraws from
the Fully Structured Recruitment process before the signing of her
membership acceptance shall be eligible for Snap Bidding and
Continuous Open Bidding.

No, it was their thing. I think it was important at the time to them, I think it still holds importance to my daughter and her 3 friends, but it's not an Alpha Gam thing.

Maybe it is different at your chapter but our quota range is not set until Pref. So how would a chapter know to release 10 legacies before Pref? Not that we have this problem since we don't get very many legacies.

Also why would it not be desirable to have a pledge class full of legacies?

Right.

Anyway, this is a lot of nit-picking, and I think my original point was lost.

A woman who is a legacy to a chapter should NOT ISP that chapter thinking she is a sure thing. Her legacy status is not some magical protection against ending up bidless.

I'm sure the battle over legacies happens the night before preference, and making this estimation is part of the process. Although quota can't be stated for certain until after preference, it can probably be guessed within a handful. But this would be an additional reason why you wouldn't want a full pledge class of legacies. You'd REALLY be hamstrung about who you can invite to preference - 40 girls you have to have and another 40 (or whatever) who you'll get if any of those 40 legacies decide to go another way. If you're a high, oh crap, what's the phrase, return-rate chapter and you can only invite a few more than the expected pledge class, you'd REALLY have no flexibility.

I doubt anybody from a high performing chapter on a huge pledge-class campus is going to say how it works, but I'd be willing to guess they say at some point early in rush that they are willing to take 20 legacies (or whatever) and work around those numbers from the get-go. A quota within a quota, maybe?

Because legacy doesn't always = stellar rushee or stellar member. Of your chapter, or of any chapter (or of any sorority, for that matter)

Also, it can kind of suck if you feel that you have essentially no choice in who you want to be your members - say you meet an awesome girl but she has no chance of getting in since she's a 1st gen college student and there are enough legacies to fill your pledge class and then some.

Most campuses know an approximate number for quota through out the week. Since you don't have this problem, it's silly to nit pick. For the chapters that do have "more legacies than quota," I have yet to hear of any of them pledged a class that is 100% legacy. Reasons to not pledge a full class of legacies 1. Your chapter likes other girls better. 2. You want to appear inclusive as an organization and not elitist. 3. Your legacies don't all meet your MS criteria. I could go on, but I'm sure you get the picture. Chapters that actually have this "problem" likely have a pretty good method to keep from having too many legacies at Pref so they don't break their own rules since a sister whose legacy doesn't receive a bid after going to pref would start WORLD WAR III!