My daughter is at UT, where they have guaranteed placement if you attend at least one pref party. This girl attended 3. The only thing I can think of is that if she attended 3 parties, but only listed 2, then she would be kicked out of the system...however, if she went to 3 parties, but only listed 1, that would be SIP... who knows, maybe she suicided and is not admitting to that??

This isn't correct. She attends a school with guaranteed placement. If she had listed all three, she would have received a bid from one, although probably the chapter she felt she was too good for. By not maximizing her options, she made herself ineligible for quota additions. The simple truth is she wasn't high enough on the other two groups' bid lists to receive a bid. There was no computer randomly "dropping" her or error.

What I'm confused about is why the computer would kick her out at all; it's not normal for panhellenic to make girls rank all of their pref invites. If that is how it works, I feel like it would've been clearly explained multiple times (in writing, in orientation meetings, before she signed the MRABA); panhellenic and the recruitment counselors want as many girls with bids as possible, so something important like "if you don't maximize your options, even with 3 pref parties, you absolutely won't get a bid" would've been told to the girls over and over again.

She wasn't kicked out of the system. She didn't play by the guaranteed placement rules and did not maximize her options. Please stop spreading incorrect information about a process that worked exactly the way it was supposed to.

Excuse me..I wasnt spreading incorrect information...I have no idea what really happened..as I stated in my later post. This girl could have suicided and not told the real story.
I happen to know this family and was told that she went to 3 parties, but only listed 2 on her card. She got a call the morning of bid day and was told she was released...her Rho G told her, after the fact, that she was probably kicked out of the system because she did not list all 3 of her choices on her card..now this could have just been the Rho G telling her this to make her feel better, or this could have been the girl making this up to cover the fact that she suicided and didnt get her only choice. The mom was shocked because they were under the impression that if she attended at least one pref party, that she would get a bid somewhere...of course when the truth came out that she only listed 2 of her 3 choices, it made more sense.
The computer system is in no way to blame..that's not what I was trying to convey..obviously the girl didnt maximize her options.

The moral of the story is to listen to the rules very carefully when listing on your final pref card...

I agree with you..I would think that there would be systems in place to prevent someone to only put 2 out of 3 choices in the computer...however it lets you put 1 out of 3 (SIP). My daughter also said that she was told many times that she needed to list all 3 chapters on her card so she was even baffled when we heard the story. I just wonder what would really happen if someone put 2 out of 3 on thier card..if the computer will even allow that? Anyone know if this is even possible? Im thinking this girl SIP and didnt want to tell her mom or anyone eles..

I thought that guaranteed placement was only if you had a full schedule of 3 houses and put all 3 houses on your card? I am totally unfamiliar with UT's rules so I am just going off of what I have seen/heard at other campuses girls with only one pref party left not getting a house.

This gets me to thinking wouldn't it be nice if all the campuses followed the same quidelines...

I think they do Arrowlady..I didnt mean to open a can of worms..lol..I have a feeling that the girl didnt tell the complete story and SIP..she still maintains to this day that she listed 2 of the 3 and was not given a bid...I guess the big question is if this is even possible and if so, could she really be thrown out of the system??

The Rho Gamma probably said that to make the girl feel better. Really explaining bid lists, quota additions and such is really not what they want to hear nor will it comfort them (learned that the hard way).

I was told that no program could be made to toss women out for SIPing or DIPing because those women who only had one or two options instead of three would get screwed and kicked out of the system.

It doesn't matter how many Pref parties you are invited to with guaranteed placement. As long as you attend all the parties you are invited to and list them all, you will receive a bid to one, even if you only had one invite. If you fail to list any chapter you visited at preference or fail to attend a party you're invited to, there's no guaranteed replacement. It is my experience that at these large competitive schools that offer guaranteed placement, this processs is explained over and over again. The PNMs simply don't believe they're not going to get a bid from the chapter they want. So they either hear "computer error blah blah" or create a legend to explain the lack of a bid.

Ladybugmom, you are posting a tale based on a second hand story that was told to you. That's gossip and not the way things really happened no matter what the PNM and her family were told or believe and subsequently told you. PNMs have enough things to worry about without having to be concerned with incorrect tales of being dropped by a computer system. Surely you can understand that?

Like I said before, the system worked exactly the way it was supposed to.

No, what I was getting at was that there was no computer error and that the two groups she listed just didn't have her high enough on their bid lists. I've never heard of a CP forcing the girls to sign a binding agreement to every house they pref'd or else they would get no bid at all. Forcing a girl to sign a bid to a house that she thinks she has zero interest in (even though we all know that girl would probably make it work and come to love her sisterhood dearly) takes away the small "mutual selection" bit that the PNMs get to do.

Once again, you have to list ALL chapters to guarantee placement. Listing only two of three attended or SIPing have the same outcome if a PNM is not high enough on those bid lists. Game over. No bid. No kicking out of the system. No computer error.

That makes sense to me now..:) So basically she SIPed, but with two chapters instead of 1..and neither of them had her high enough on thier bid list..so had she put the third one down, most likely she would have gotten that chapter.

Almost. Putting down 2 out of 3 chapters carries the same penalty as putting down a single chapter: you are no longer guaranteed a placement, or, more formally, you are not eligible to be a quota addition if you don't match. You may still get a placement, if you are high enough on a bid list, but if you are not high enough, you will go without a bid. That much is correct.

What is less clear is what happens if you list all three and aren't high enough on ANY of the bid lists to get a bid. In that case, you could end up in any one of the three chapters, depending on how quota additions are placed (and I don't know the rules at every school; it seems there is no uniform method).

This causes all sorts of confusion, because Rho Gams tell women that putting down your third choice gives you a better shot at getting a bid to your first or second choice, which may be technically true (as you can be placed in one of them as a quota addition, whereas you can't if you don't list all three), but it's a bad, bad, bad thing for a Rho Gam to say, because the chances of it happening are extremely small, as all three chapters would have to take quota without you matching somewhere. The far, far, far more likely outcome is that you'd match to your third-choice chapter, because the chapter PNM's dislike so much they won't even consider it is usually the chapter that also struggles to fill quota.

But I have heard of Rho Chi's telling girls that they have to list all the chapters they visited or they will get kicked out of the system which is essentially "forcing" them to list a chapter they may have zero interest in. In fact, when my niece was a Rho Chi at the University of Arizona that is what they told her to say to the PNM's. I told her that was absolutely not true. You can list one, two or three Chapters (not sure anyone does a 4 pref system) I don't think there is a system out there that kicks you our if you don't take full advantage of your options is there?

Well that makes me sad inside, and I hope many of those PNMs fell in love with their sisterhood who would've gone bidless otherwise. I mean it's not necessarily a sad ending, making PNMs list a group that they think they don't want, it just takes away their say in the matter (outside of the say they get by where they rank).

No there isn't a system that does that, but when a PNM doesn't list all chapters, she is decreasing her chances of receiving a bid even at schools that don't guarantee placement. The PNM is essentially kicking herself out of the system even though she'd rather OMG DIE than accept a bid from her third choice. But they don't want to believe those strong chapters really didn't want them as much as they wanted the chapter.

This. Sadly the third chapter is usually the weakest one. It's called guaranteed placement not guaranteed favorite.

We've had this discussion before, but I think in the effort to mother a girl into doing the right thing, they massage the wording a little. The system doesn't "kick you out" in a way that any of us would use that phrase (you didn't fill out the form correctly so it doesn't even look at the card). Girl would either have gotten her last choice if she'd listed all 3 OR she could have been a quota addition to one of the other 2 if she had listed all of her options. However, I'm not a fan of listing all 3 just so you can be a quota addition to only 1 or 2 of them. Although it COULD work, you've shot yourself in the foot if it doesn't. But the computer didn't deny her a place in one of her 2 preferred houses. The houses did that, it just sounds more palatable to blame it on the computer.

True. But I think that we all know that even if the weak chapter had a huge breakthrough and was able to use the same techniques, PNMs would view them as desperate since they've been guzzling the tent talk koolaid.

I have witnessed this. I recall one rush where "the chapter everyone wanted" kept goofing up and goofing around in their skit. It was awful and the adults kept cutting their eyes around at each other as if to say, "I do NOT believe how bad this is." Yet the rushees were laughing merrily and desperately, anything to please the sorority girls. And then I realized that that chapter could have gone up there and had nothing but competitive burping and the rushees would have desperately wanted them.

Whereas the weaker chapters could've been brilliant and witty and sparkled in their conversations, etc., and they still would've been dropped.

Plenty of weak chapters do it, and we see women on here talk say things like "they wanted me so bad, it was creepy". It's like when an unattractive guy hits on you.

And if the favored chapters do the exact same thing, the PNMs are OMG THEY TOTES LOVE ME WHO'S GONNA BE MY BIIIIIIIIIIIIG WHEN I GET MY BID????

Is anyone following rush at Alabama this week? My PNM was supposed to pick up her first round invites at 9:30 today. They pushed it back to 10:30. And now they have pushed it back to 1. Rho Chi's stated that the release forms were not ready yet. Anybody hear anything? Does that mean computer issues or chapters not getting lists in on time?

ICS problems. yeah, computer.

AnchorAlumna---Has this happened before? They were supposed to start parties at 9:30. If they are not starting until 1:30 today, how are they going to fit all of the in?

This is my first time through since we colonized last year, so I don't know, but I think it has.
They'll work in all in.
Today is the first day of philanthropy rounds. There are two days for this round. I can't remember the number of parties, but there were enough parties that EVERYBODY - even girls with a full schedule - would have some rest times.

parties have now been postponed until 4:30 because of the weather... complete chaos

Now postponed until 4 due to weather...it's been a LONG day!!!

Oh my goodness!!!! What are they going to do about those missed parties now? That's a whole day of parties!!

Breathe...it will be stressful, but they'll figure it out. UA is one of (if not THE) most organized in the country. They'll have parties tonight & probably add in more tomorrow to make it all work.

I just hope the PNM's found out which houses invited them back before 4:30. They have been waiting all day.

no we are still waiting.

Long Day
 

Yes, it was a crazy day at Bama today. I had just walked into the house around noon and found out about the computer issue. Seems that a group's computer system totally malfunctioned and they were hours past the deadline for sending in their list.

Then the storm with lightening was about to blow in and they had to delay for another 3 hours. Our girls had been dressed and ready for over 8 hours before the first party started. But everyone had great attitudes despite the long wait!

Everyone realizes that tomorrow will be a very long day too. Hope the computers and weather cooperate.

I did not drive by the new Delta Gamma house today but plan to go back and drool when I come back through Tuscaloosa on Thursday!:D

FYI, my PNM said that the new Delta Gamma house was stunning!

Thank you! We love it too.

How did everything go in Tuscaloosa today after the craziness of yesterday? I only know one PNM that is going through recruitment at UA, but haven't heard much from her mom.

I'm really surprised that there isn't much talk on here about UA recruitment this year like there has been in years past.

I have 6 Bama girls - just haven't heard anything.