Ranking Set 3 Sororities for Preference Night
 

My friend has another question. The school goes from 6 parties tonight to 3 tomorrow night. When the girls rank the sororities tonight after the parties will they rank 3 choices or 6 choices. Call them sororities A,B,C,D,E,F

She loves Sorority A
She likes Sorority B
She kinda likes Sorority C
She might consider Sorority D
She doesn't fit into Sororities E and F.

She has rated Sororities E and F low previously and did not understand why she was asked back.

So if she needs to rank 3 but she is unsure about Sorority C should she put it on the list.

If she needs to rank 6, how does she eliminate sororities E and F.

Thanks

She doesn't. If she gets back E and F on her three party list, it's because two of the top 4 didn't invite her back. At that point, she decides if she wants to attend E and F, not now.

She should put C on the list. She should put ALL of them on the list.

Ranking after Preference Night
 

After preference night, if you went to 3 parties. If you rank the sororities a,b,c . in that order. Say you are medium on A's list but high on C's list which one will you get into?

Where you are on your third choice's list won't matter if you are within quota at your first or second choice.

You don't have to worry that because the third group wants you more than they'll match you there rather than with a group you want more, unless the pledge classes have filled at your higher ranked choices before they get to you name.

Ranking after Preference Night
 

What determines the order in which they get to your name?

Well, the sororities have bid lists that reflect the process. They know that the top girl on the list is the PNM who will be placed in their chapter first if she lists it first, and going down the list are girls who, while they'd still be happy to have as members, they understand are a little less likely to match to the group.

It really doesn't matter how they do PNMs, since they will try to match every PNM to their first place group before they look at matching anyone to her second place choice.

There's already a great thread that explains bid matching somewhere.

Basically, all you really need to do is list your choices in the order you want them. You don't have to worry about mind reading which group wants you the most. If you have a slot at your number 2 or 3, it will still be their waiting for you if you don't match to your number one.

I highlighted the area that causes the most misunderstandings with this method of matching. As a PNM, you are NOT cutting groups when you rank them. You are ONLY rating them in order of preference. All this does is give Panhellenic a way to determine your invitations if you have MORE invitations that you are allowed for the day. If you are invited to 5 groups when you are allowed 6 invitations, then you will go back to all of them no matter whether or not you like them. If you are invited back to 7 chapters and you are only allowed 6, then PHC will automatically get rid of the chapter lowest on your list. Therefore, if you are going back to groups that you had ranked fairly low, then the chapters you liked better did not invite you back.

I tried to edit to reflect the first part of what you said along with the reality of how matching works. Even without knowing anyone else's membership selection standards, I'm pretty confident that no one puts the PNM they want the most last on their list.

And I agree with your second part although I was equally as curious back when I went through. It was even more perplexing then because people would talk about "mismatching" and kind of suggest that had you listed in a different order, you might have had a different outcome. The only reason that you really "mismatched" was not being high enough on the bid lists of ANY group you listed.

In the olden days the PNMs preference cards were put in alphabetical order. A reader would read the name Anna Adams and then the sorority Anna had ranked as Number 1. If that sorority had Anna on their first bid list (made up of the number of women equalling quota), Anna was a match and was placed in Sorority ABC's bid file. The reader would then read Barbie Babcock's name and the sorority she listed. If that sorority did not have Barbie on their first bid list, she was placed on "hold". Thus all the way down the list of PNMs to Zoe Zappo. The process would begin again working through all the women who were placed on hold, since some chapters might not take a full group from the first pass.

PNMs don't realize that every attempt is made to match them with their first choice from their preference card. If you are on a sorority's first bid list and they are your number one, there will be a match.

Now with fancy computer software, this can be done almost instantaneously! The PNM's choice trumps the chapters' choices. If the PNM wants chapter A and she makes it in under their quota, it doesn't matter if chapter B wanted her more than any other PNM. She will get Chapter A.

:confused::confused::confused:Why would you rank 4 as #1 if you can only return to 3? How would Panhellenic know where to schedule a PNM that was invited to all of her top 4?