I will attempt to reply, though anyone who knows their green book better, go ahead and correct me if I'm wrong.

"Okay, so let's say I rush and I pref KKG, Theta & Pi Phi. So then I rank them and I put Pi Phi first, KKG second and Theta third. "

" So for me to "end up" Pi Phi, Pi Phi would have had to put me on their 1st bid list? What would have happened if they put me on their second?"

Not necessarily. The only way you would be guaranteed to end up Pi Phi would be to be on their first list, but if you are high enough on their second list and they do not bid match their entire first list ( this would happen if they listed "susie" in their first list, but susie listed XYZ first and she was also on XYZ's first bid list - susie would then go to XYZ and person #1 from Pi Phi's second bid list would move up to the first bid list)

"What about if since I put KKG second and they put me first?"

If Pi Phi puts you on their second list and do not get to you before they have reached quota, you would go to KKG


"And what about Theta? If they were my third choice where would I have to be on their lists?"

You would go to Theta if Pi Phi and KKG reached quota before they got to you on their second bid list if you were:
A) on their fist bid list
B) on their second bid list but high enough up that when girls from their first list matched elswhere you were moved to the first list

"Would the "crosscut" thing come into play? "

Crosscut would only come into play if you were listed on the second bid list of all three sororities and none of them got to you before reaching quota. In the 5% addition situation, if one of these three groups was the smallest sorority on campus, you could go to them if they got to you within their 5%.
Also, if you are in a system where you are asked to rank all sororities, you could end up at a sorority you didn't pref at if they hadn't filled quota by the time they got to you on their second bid list. In this system you would only be crosscut when all sororities reached quota before getting to you on their list.

edited for grammar

Ask and you shall receive. :D

The link is to a slide presentation explaining the Panhellenic bid matching process. From the University of Kentucky's Fraternity & Sorority Affairs Office.

Handy Dandy Guide to Bid-Matching

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!!!!!

Pink_bug and oncelurked, you two ROCK!!!!!!

Tsteven, thank you for the link to "see" how it worked.

It is still somewhat confusing (and boy am I glad I don't have to do it :) ) but it makes much more sense now.

It's interesting. We usually sign up about 200 women for recruitment, but by the time we get to bid night we only have about 110-120 actually going to houses. We don't get very many legacies, maybe 5 a year or so. It's fun though. I don't get actually do recruitment this year since I'm a recent alumna, but I can't wait to help! This year they are trying to steer away from having recruitment week during the September 11 anniversary.

Where in Colorado are you from? I have a friend that is KKG in Laramie, Wyoming. They have been completely awesome for her, she's been really sick the last two years and they've taken care of her. I have a whole new respect for your organization!