I have to disagree with the out of state info, having attended Auburn myself, even way back in the day, rushees from Montgomery, B'ham, Mobile and Huntsville faired way better than us Georgia ones. This is mainly because there were a lot more sisters in the sororities from that particular city. I can name on one hand girls from where I'm from that are active sisters. Big difference. But, it is what it is, everyone will be happy in their chapters, especially when they take the time to get to know them better this semester.

And honestly, is there any private information anymore? I said it, its out there to be found, and the girls all know it from their mommies or sisters or aunts. Now, how they do their bid selection, that is private, top secret info. Or supposed to be!

It will be interesting to see the breakdown.

LOL Titchou I may have to admit defeat tomorrow!!!!! I certainly don't know much about Rush these days!!! But thanks for all that complicated info about the bids and all, I'm glad someone understands it. :)

While there may be an NPC who doesn't require legacies who attend pref to be on their first bid list, I am not aware of who that may be. And as far as we are concerned, it is not private membership selection information as we advise legacies of it up front...as do many other NPC groups where I have friends.

I believe that it's Tri Delt.

Why would you advise legacies of that? I don't think anyone should go into the pref round assuming she is a sure thing.

I know of an instance where a legacy of your group attended pref and was not given a bid to your group.

Yeah, I do too - and you'd think they would have learned by now with all the fallout they've had to deal with. Hopefully it won't happen there this year. But it is policy and printed and everything for the world to see. We don't consider that private information.

And why do you think ICS has a place for that in the software? For those groups where you are required to place them on the first bid list. Otherwise, ICS wouldn't program for it. And that's how you find out that they really didn't flag her. You can see what they put in ICS. So saying they did when they didn't isn't a good thing to do.

This is not true for all groups, including my own. If you can find a public statement that Phi Mu automatically puts its legacies on the bid list before any other PNM's attending their preference parties, I will eat my words, but until then, I don't think anyone should be making blatant statements.

ETA: To be clear, I agree that this is not a secret guarded the way actual MS details are guarded, I'm just saying that I don't think that PNM's should make the assumption they are a sure thing, and I don't think anyone here should make statements that may lead a PNM to make that assumption.

Tri Delta what? :)

I'm not sure which comment you are responding to...

The one before it. Someone put a screenshot on here a couple of years ago of the Tri Delt page that said that legacies at prefs don't have to be on the first bid list.

I didn't say it was true for your group. I just said it's true for many that I know about....I didn't single out any group other than mine. And the option is there in ICS for those that do. Why do you think they'd include it in the program otherwise? Don't put words in my mouth....

Interesting.

That's definitely a change from my college days.

But I've been out of the national level loop for quite a few years so that's possible.

You said the following:

I see nowhere that you qualify that to mean your group, or some groups, or anything else. I read it to mean "any group on a campus using ICS".

Now, I realize after further posts that I was arguing "it's not public for all groups" and you were arguing "it's not private for all groups", and obviously, both of those things are true at the same time, so mea culpa for mis-reading you.

All that said, I want to underscore this point, that I am sure we both agree on:

Even if a group publicly states that legacies are placed at the top of the bid list, no PNM should ever take that to mean that she is guaranteed a bid to her legacy group by attending that group's preference party.

I think that being OOS may or may not make a difference on a case by case basis. While most chapters may have eliminated attaching a stigma to OOS PNMs, it is still hugely advantageous to have someone who knows you pulling for you in the chapter. So, in that respect, an individual PNM from OOS may have a tougher time. (In other words, she may not be cut because she is OOS, but just because no one knows her personally and there are other PNMs who they know better.)

Well, that's a differant scenario not based totally on being OOS...

My group's policy about legacies on the bid list is available pretty openly on the web, and I've seen other groups policies published in recruitment guides, I'm pretty sure. I certainly don't mean that all groups have their policies out there for the whole world to see, but it's probably not MS private level info for many of them.

I agree that you'd be wise never to count on it since we can all think of examples of chapters that don't follow their own groups' policies, but for many you could know what to expect.

out of state
 

Aumom and titchou, I am not a sorority mom so when my daughter wanted to do this is was excited. As a concerned mom about her chances I looked at numbers etc and was happy to see that the out of state to in state ratios are great. However, in finding out what to do and finding rec's we were told that there is a skew towards in state including GA LA and MS. We are from the North so it concerned me that my d would be released. We were told which Sororities did not favor out of state. I did actually count last years pledges. There was an undeniable difference in some of the sororities. I did see that the overall ratios were still great and my d went in knowing she would not be invited back to some just because of her home location. She is very happy with her three remaining sororities. So in the end hopefully it will all work out as it should be. As a note another girl from our town went to two of the same sororities as my d.

AND, Thanks so much to everyone for all the very helpful information on this blog. Good luck to all the girls tomorrow.

I am excited to be going to Auburn's Bid Day for the first time to help with all the festivities!

As is my group's policy. It took me about 15 seconds to find a description of it, and a link to the actual policy. The description was written directly to the legacy. Clearly then, not MS.

My hometown, in Florida, is a MAJOR feeder to Auburn. Being OOS wasn't a liability for women in my town as it would be for a young woman from Connecticut or Idaho. Apparently it's gotten even more popular in light of the fact that Bright Futures and OneFlorida has made UF less of a shoo-in the way it used to be. It's probably the same for the Atlanta suburbs, among other places.

Some chapters skew towards a particular state, town, high school or region. This is a fact at many schools, even those outside of the SEC. One simply has to look at the bid lists to see it. It's human nature to give the benefit of the doubt to those you already know or know of. That doesn't mean OOS PNMs can't receive bids at some schools. It does mean their options may be more limited and keeping an open mind is even more important.

As far as legacies are concerned, I am personally uncomfortable about public conversations discussing their appearance on the bid lists.

Firstly, I think it's important to recognize that policies may vary between groups, both with whether the legacy is automatically on a bid list as well as whether a group has chosen to make that information public.

Secondly, I've been seeing a disconnect regarding legacies at some of the chapters I advise and it's coming from the alumnae side. PNMs are coming into recruitment misinformed about their legacy status, believing that certain relationships make them a legacy when they don't. The worst part is that it's their alumnae relative that's misinforming them. We're also not receiving legacy forms when we should because a growing number of alumnae seem to believe actives are psychic and should know snowflake is a legacy. We don't hear from the angry alumna until after snowflake's been released and she wants to know why we dared to do it.

The OSS/IS discussion could go on and on and on. Truly it will be apparent which chapters are partial to in state/ particular city girls when the bid sheets come out in the morning. Having attended Auburn, and being an active alum, I don't have to see the bid sheets, I already know.

I told my dau and all the girls that I wrote rec's for that it all works out for the best. They will find a chapter that they like and will be happy in. The pre-Rush hype for some chapters is just that, hype. In the end, all the chapters at Auburn are great, and it is a great greek system.

I hope all the girls/mom's affiliated on this thread will have happy outcomes tomorrow!! And after all, we are ALL IN!! War Eagle!!

Interesting talk about all these legacies "having" to be first on pref lists. What if all the other houses have dropped her because she's a legacy and our house is the only house that she's preffing? Seems to me that it would make much more sense to put that legacy (or any other woman that's only preffing our house) at the bottom of our bid list, since we know she's going to come to us anyway for maximizing her options. This gives us the opportunity to get the rest of the women we want as well, possibly quota plus...

I guess it depends on how seriously you take your national or international policies. For many of us, those rules do mean a chapter "has" to do something.

Titchou-----I have a question about that completely complicated program they use for bids. Does it mean also that most chapters fill their quota? Or are some left with open bids to distribute later Just wondering.

Chapters have no idea who a PNM is preffing or how many chapters she is preffing unless the PNM actually tells them.

AUmom2012, RFM helps all chapters achieve quota over time but in any given rush it doesn't make a difference. It helps over time because girls seem to be more open to their options once they realize their choices are limited. The early cuts do really suck, but it's better for the girls in the long run when they get cut early by the chapters who weren't going to pledge them anyway. But the computer program doesn't provide the chapters with girls who simply aren't there. The rushees have to have been at their parties and have to have put them high enough on their list that the chapters get the girls they want.

The process is very complicated, but is less fraught with problems than back when there was a very human element involved. And requiring chapters to cut to a certain level really is better for the rushees in the long run.

Right. But you don't think the sisters have been taught how to casually ask "have you enjoyed your other parties today?" to get an idea if we are their only pref party or not? Not to mention that many PNMs do actually spill that information, without much prompting.

Just saying.... If I were on [insert your orgs membership selection committee name here], I'd be putting all the "only preffed my chapter" PNMs at the bottom of my bid list, so we can try to fill quota with other gals we want first, and pick up all the 1 pref party girls (that we're aware of) with quota plus when they maximize their options.

One thing about the OOOOOLD way that I liked. Back in the day we got everyone's lists.

Maybe these mothers didn't participate personally in a giant computer managed recruitment? I was a PNM in 1982, if I hadn't helped with recruitment from time to time over the last 20 years, including the last three, I would have no clue as a "Legacy Mom." Those legacy forms are ABSOLUTELY necessary. Still something tells me the moms that don't turn in a legacy form aren't reading Greek Chat either.

If I were a PNM, I might be tempted to game the system to maximize my pref options. I might not list my legacies on my resume/registration, but I would make sure that my legacy forms were turned in to the chapters. That way individual chapters would know that I am a legacy, but no other chapters would know that I am a legacy. (If I'm in an in-house legacy and then people might know my sister, but this could work if my legacy is through my mom or grandma.)

Hahaha, you're right. I will add this to my list of reasons that I think unlimited QA's are not all they are cracked up to be.

If your legacy house is not on campus then I would definitely mention it as GLO legacies can be a +1 (or whatever) in a chapter's PNM computer ranking system. To not mention it might shave potential points off a PNM? Yeah it could.

Mentioning a legacy that is not on campus is similar to mentioning a dad or brother who is Greek. It says "my family is familiar with Greek life and supports my decision to rush". This may not be important at a rush where recs are mandatory and all that, but it is certainly a positive in recruitments where women sign up same day and lack of family support can be a huge problem when it comes to retaining NM's.

Titchou must not have seen your question.
YES, and that is one of the best blessings of using RFM - more chapters reach quota and sometimes beyond, and more women are pledged.
There is no such thing as "open bids to distribute later."
If a chapter has openings - and this is really based on average chapter size rather than a recruitment quota - the chapter may use Continuous Open Bidding (COB, or by its old term, open rush) to fill those slots. This often happens for some of the smaller groups, and will sometimes happen now that so many students graduate in December.
But you cannot count on any chapters - large or small - having spaces available.

69 new Thetas is what I heard

Even if a chapter is at or above total, they can COB up to quota after formal recruitment if they failed to make quota. It's not common at all or something to be counted on but is in the realm of possibilities.

AXO 60
ADII 60
AGD 61
AOII 62
AZD 69
XO 58
DDD 58
DG 70
DZ 61
GPB 64
KAT 69
KD 60
KKG 72
PM 59
PBP 60
SK 60
ZTA 60

Auburn Bid List

I think they are great. Because it puts the members where they want to be, the chapters want those members, otherwise they wouldnt have been invited to pref, and this really would only apply to the 1 pref party girls. If I know they ONLY preffed my party, they only have 1 option. We want them... but we want other girls who may list us first as well. We don't want otherPNMs who list us first to be turned given to another chapter because of quota because our first bid list had names on it that were going to end up with us ANYWAY. So yes, it's strategy, and don't tell me your chapters don't do it. Everyone plays this game.

anyone heard what Auburn quota was? 60ish?

I'm the proud mom of an Auburn Delta Gamma! Soooo glad it's over. Added bonus, one of my rec girls pledged Theta!