Snap Bids
 

I have an idea of how they work but I'm fuzzy on some rules. Are they only extended on his day or can they be given a few days after recruitment concludes? Also, is it possible to give someone a snap bid accidentally and take it back?

Snap bids are bids that are extended between bid matching and Bid Day activities. PH calls women who are offered snap bids during this time period. They are usually women who did not match for whatever reason (SIP) or who may have dropped out but a chapter has still listed them on their bid list. Chapter members do not know who was offered a snap bid. Recruitment officers/alumnae in a chapter may realize it but not anyone else as they come and participate like anyone else.

Once a bid has been accepted, as it would be on the spot for a snap bid, it cannot be rescinded. They would have to terminate that woman's pledgeship - and that might be problematic...not to mention a PR disaster!

LOL!

I feel like we should have an RFM thread

Maybe just copy and paste the whole section from the MOI???

Wait a second. I thought that if you SIP'ed you were not eligible for a snap bid? Can you guys please clarify? I am so confused.

Here's the Glossary definition of Snap Bidding: Snap bidding — An option available to chapters that did not fill quota. Chapters may offer bids to potential new members whose preferences were not matched. This process takes place before bids are distributed. Snap bidding is not intended to fill spaces in the chapter total and is limited to any woman who participated in the designated recruitment.

And as for RFM, there's a separate publication on that. It's pretty detailed. And lengthy!

More information on Snap Bids, from the Manual of Information (MOI) 2014:

If a fraternity has not filled its quota through bid matching in membership recruitment, the College Panhellenic Membership Committee may immediately ask if the fraternity wishes to extend a bid to anyone not originally on its bid list.
Snap bidding is an option available to chapters that did not match all quota spaces in bid matching, whether matching by hand or by computer. Snap bidding is done before bids are distributed. Snap bidding is not intended to fill spaces in the chapter total. Any chapter may prepare a separate snap bid list that can be used at the proper time for determining snap bids. Snap bidding is open to any woman who participated in at least one round of the designated membership recruitment process.
If none of the woman’s preferences have matched a fraternity’s bid list, the Panhellenic Membership Recruitment Committee may contact the woman and ask if she will accept a bid from a fraternity not previously listed among her choices, provided the fraternity has notified the Panhellenic of its desire to offer her a bid.
Snap bidding is under the direction of the College Panhellenic Membership Recruitment Committee, working with the chapters that have quota vacancies. A signed MRABA shall be filed with the College Panhellenic before a woman who has accepted a snap bid may be pledged. Snap bidding shall begin immediately after bid matching and end with the distribution of bids, at which time continuous open bidding will begin.
Panhellenics should keep on file for two calendar years all records used in bid matching and COB. Because of their confidential nature, these records should be carefully protected until destroyed.

True but I know of places that have done it...

I believe a PNM who SIPs is eligible for snap bids, but not quota additions.

My understanding is people who SIP aren't eligible for quota addition, but are eligible for snap bids.

They would also be eligible for COB/COR once Recruitment ends, which the only different between that and a snap bid is timing.

That's right.


When I was in school it wasn't the PH that called the member so I'm not sure if that changed over the years or is campus specific.

I was told to call the girl I had preffed and offer a snap bid, there was a specific time that we were allowed to start calling. This gave Rho Chis time to tell women that they didn't match.

Imagine my horror when I called the girl and she had no idea why I would call her. Her Rho Chi had not spoke to her yet.

I still don't know what went wrong because she ended up getting a bid from another chapter she preffed. We had three parties that year so I don't know if she was snapped by them or if we had just been given bad info in the first place.


And yes, they way it was done meant that a girl could receive multiple calls from chapters offering snap bids. She had to accept or decline and then sign the card with Panhel. Awful really.

I have only seen the greek life coordinator make snap bid calls-mind you, this was a while ago at a small public university that matched bids by hand.

One of my chapter sisters swears up and down that she was offered what would be classified as snap bids from four different groups but I think she's full of poo.

I still assist with one of our chapters at a small University that matches by hand! Snap Bid calls are made by the Greek Life Coordinator while we are all still sitting at the table once Bid Matching is over. I'm not sure how other chaoters do this, but our Snao Bid list is typically women who we invited to Pref but did not attend (maybe they attended the other two sororities' Pref parties) and then did not match.

If we had a woman on our second bid list who did not match anywhere during bid matching, we have been able to get her as a Quota Addition.

Explaining the difference, and the process, to the Greek Life Coordinator was frustrating the first time, because she is not a sorority member, and had not read the Green Book!!!

Really? Now more confusion ensues. I read the MRABA and I didn't think you could do that.

Note to self: ignore recruitment.

Purely speculation but here is something to chew on....Say someone rec'd a snap bid and went along to the bid day festivities and played nice. After the sorority celebration, she stopped off on fraternity row and took a few turns around the stripper pole in the basements of a couple of fraternities and basically embarrassed herself and her brand new sorority. In fact, her behavior was so bad that the sorority decided to drop her-not even allow her to go thru the pledging ceremony. She might invent a story such as the one on the site that shall not be named to save face.

Oh, my goodness! i could have written this exact post word for word with one of the small commuter schools for which I used to be the Recruitment Supervisor (hand bid matching and all). It would get extremely complicated, because usually there would only be 1 or 2 spots to snap bid for each chapter, and just about every PNM that went through recruitment was on each chapter's snap bid list, just in different orders. So, PNM A may be ABC's #1 snap bid, but #3 on DEF's list. But, PNM A wanted DEF more than ABC, so would have to wait until DEF's #1 and #2 declined, but those 2 may have wanted ABC, who was waiting on PNM A to decide. Yes, it was as confusing as it sounds! (Because you can't really have an inexperienced Greek Life advisor call and say tactfully, "you have a bid right now from ABC, and you're on DEF's list but not as high and they want other girls more than they want you, so if those girls turn them down then you may have a bid to DEF…")

The MRABA states "If I do not receive an invitation to membership from a group that I have listed, I am eligible for continuous open bidding"

;)

I was under the impression that SIPs were NOT eligible for COB, that they had to wait a calendar year because they signed the MRABA. I thought that because they did not maximize their options, they were ineligible

You're probably thinking of someone who DOES get a bid to a chapter they listed and declines it. Those people are not eligible to join another NPC sorority for one calendar year.

I swear I'm not making it up - just google NPC MRABA and you'll see the form.

^^^Yup. You got it. Thanks. I understand. I think.

Do these bids actually make a snapping noise when they are issued? Because that would be awesome... I'm thinking like those slap bracelets or something...

All of my panhellenic life, I have thought that the entire concept of a snap bid was that the women who received a snap bid would be able to celebrate their New Member class. The idea was that, if they kept their mouths shut, nobody else need know that they received a snap bid.

This is exactly correct. They show up at Bid Day with the rest and no one is the wiser.

And yet it always seems to leak out which groups took snap bids at the big, competitive recruitments :-)

On my campus, one alum from each chapter was present with their president, VP and recruitment chairs during bid matching. Once bid matching was complete, the Director of Greek Affairs (who could not understand the Green Book in any capacity, nor wished to listen to those who could explain it) called out names eligible for snap bidding, and whichever alum snapped her fingers first got her. :eek::rolleyes:

I wish I was making this up. Probably the most ridiculous thing I've done.

I believe that process has since been remedied.

I have never attended a bid matching that involved collegians.

This conjures up such a vivid mental image of the scene: a set of alumnae with their fingers poised to snap, each looking anxiously at the collegiate members who were pouring over their written notes from recruitment, waiting for each name to be called. The tension is so thick you can cut it with a knife, as each designated alumna "snapper" tries to be the first to snap after the desirable names are called but still get the go-ahead signal from her collegiate sisters.

Been there, done that, same campus. And it was just like you described!

It helps when it's done early before the bids are issued as in written out.

We were using ICS at the time as well. There had been "glitches" (human error), so the ICS bid lists were also compared to matching done by hand to "ensure the system behaved correctly."

Meanwhile, I stretched and exercise my hand for the loudest and quickest snap among us. :p

Well, women receiving snap bids often were NOT at pref for that chapter.

In larger recruitments it will known or noticed by very few people.

Yes, in very competitive recruitments some very strong recruiting chapters fail to match quota and snap bid due to tight RFM figures. Rarely do chapter members know anything.

When a weak recruiting chapter does not match quota, it is usually by just a few. If it is by a large number, they just swing into COB mode after bid day.

RFM has really leveled the playing field on many campuses. It has helped me know how to assist my chapters target PNMs during and after formal recruitment. Many thanks to the women who helped implement this system!

I am completely :eek: at actually "snapping" for snap bidding. If I didn't recognize user names I would think y'all are making it up.

And I also have never been in a bid matching meeting where collegians were allowed - either when hand bid matching was going on or when things went electronic and it's just filling out bid cards and reviewing things.

I totally agree with this. RFM has been really great for the campus I assist with. "Snaps" :D to those women who helped create it

At my school, there is a specific chapter that purposely takes in a very small number of girls but snap bid 75% till they reach minimum quota. Why do they not initially give out "normal" bids in the first place?

that is really none of our business, nor yours. Membership selection is very private.