hmm- I remember a girl from my dorm freshman year would tell anyone that would listen that she was cross-cut from her first two choices and that's why she ended up where she was (her sorority was good, but not a "top tier"). We always just thought she was trying to make herself feel better, so we would ignore her. Now I wonder if she really was cross-cut. Hmm.

Either way, she was annoying.

Not necessarily. If they have maximized their options and the campus guarantees bids they will be placed. That is what recruitment advisors do at bid matching.

We're trying to explain cross-cut to TSteven, who is a guy. You get into the whole bid-matching, maximized their options, guaranteed bids, etc thing and it makes their head spin and their brain shut down. Therefore, if a PNM is too low on all of her pref's bidlists (not getting into university spesfics, such as guaranteed bids, etc) she is cut.

Cross-cut as I use it ocurs (or used to) when a girl is ranked on both (or all) sororities' SECOND bid list. It is possible that both of her pref parties rank her on their second bid list, and if she doesn't advance far enough in either one - she's bidless.
Let's hope with all the improvements this is now no longer common.

Correct me if I am wrong, but you get your first choice unless they fill quota before they get to your name on the list. It doesn't matter if you are a legacy to your second or third choice and therefore on their first bid lists because they give you your first choice unless they can't.

There was a girl in my chapter that was all like "Oh, I didn't get a bid from XYZ top chapter because I was at the top of Sigma Kappa's list." Lies. You didn't get a bid from XYZ because you were at the bottom of their list and they made quota before they got to your name.

For what it is worth, I'm a numbers and statistics guy, so I understand bid matching as it applies in the general sense. (Bid matching may varry campus to campus.)

This (SWTXBelle's post) has been my understanding of what it meant to be cross-cut. (see following quote)

You are correct. Although the girl may not actually have been lying, because very few people actually understand bid matching.

On the campus where I advise a girl was matched as a quota addition to a house that was her 3rd choice. She also happened to be the very last PNM on the chapter's bid list. At a Panhellenic event early in the year I overheard her telling one of her pledge sisters that she got her third choice because she was first on their bid list. It was difficult not to say, "You got your third choice because all three matched to quota before they reached your name, then your top 2 also passed on you during quota additions, and your third choice was forced to take you because they had not maxed out on quota additions."

Wow, I'm mean.

From The University of Kentucky Fraternities & Sororities Affairs Office

Panhellenic Bid Matching Training - A slide presentation explaining the Panhellenic bid matching process

Handy Dandy Guide to Bid-Matching

Nah - actually saying it would have been mean. Thinking it was a natural reaction to a girl who was making a condescending remark to one of her own pledge sisters!

Exactly. The point is that PNM's end up in their third choice, or bidless, and they think it would have ended differently if they had ranked the orgs differently. This is simply not true.

PNM's should rank their chapters in order of preference. I can't think of a single situation where this would not be true.

It's amazing how many girls don't have enough sense to keep their mouths shut! My opinion has always been, if you want to have the best experience, let everyone think your bid was the one you wanted all along. No use advertising to everyone that you got "stuck" in a chapter you don't like. Why even join?

So true, especially when a lot of times the one you're "stuck" in turns out to be the best fit and you can't imagine you ever even considered the other ones.

Which brings us to another recruitment myth:

You should choose the "best" chapter that invites you to preference, regardless of how comfortable you feel there.

I have heard several stories about PNMs who do this and then they end up being unhappy. Go with where you feel most comfortable. Likewise, don't feel pressured to go back to smaller chapters just out of sympathy.

Agreed. Join the sorority that you feel comfortable with, not the one that everyone else likes, so you feel like you should like them too.

My friend preffed 2 chapters (AB and CD). AB was considered by PNM "talk" to be one of the "top" groups and CD was "average", but a pretty good group. She figured it was a no-brainer that she should put AB first over CD, since AB was more popolar amng all the other PNMs that year.

She got a bid to AB. It turns out that was a bad decision because she had NOTHING in common with most of them (since she only picked them because other girls liked them). She stuck with AB and got initiated just because everybody "wanted to be an AB." She ended up resigning her membership 2 weeks after initiation because she was so unhappy. She even walked up to the CD recruitment chair on campus one day almost in tears saying that she should've pledged CD. It was too late for that.

Agreed. Recruitment is about where you feel comfortable, not where you feel "guilted" into joining.

Right, you may hurt them worst of all. If you know that you wouldn't take a bid from a group and have no intention of listing them on the bid card AND you have a chance to cut that group before you go to their pref, please do. That group needs to be able to focus its energy on the PNMs who actually do want to pledge there. If you have your mind made up, don't string them along.