As if you weren't already sick of the quota questions....
 

And I have one LOL! I have always been confused about the definition of quota. If a chapter has met quota, does that mean that chapter has matched to quota, or does that mean that enough NM's to fill quota have accepted bids? For example, at XYZ University, quota is 40. Chapter ABC matches to 40, but only 38 NM's accept bids. Did they still make quota?

And another question, if quota was 40, 38 NM's accepted, and sorority ABC is at campus total, can they COB or snap bid back up to 40?

I have my Green Book right here with me! (The joys of having a nasty cold on Thirsty Thursday!)

The Green Book states that quota is the number each member fraternity may pledge during formal. Under the Vacancies in Quota section, the Green Book states that if a bid is not accepted, this space in the chapter's quota was not filled, and the chapter may bid and pledge another woman as soon as they can.

What I think confuses a lot of women is actually the definition of "accept," as in to accept a bid. Some PNMs are given the impression (incorrectly) by their recruitment counselors or greek life office that they may choose to accept or decline a bid after it's been given to them on bid day through the traditional formal recruitment process. What they SHOULD have been told is that by filling in your bid card after preference, you are agreeing to automatically accept a bid from any organization you list/bubble/select. The only bid that can be declined on the spot with no consequences to the PNM or chapter is a snap or COR bid. You may decide after you get a formal bid that you don't want to join after all, but you still would be counted in the number pledged to the NPC in recruitment, and you will still be held to the "calendar year" rule. If a chapter gets no-shows on Bid Day from the women who decided to toss out their bid, then the chapter can pursue COR up to quota or total, whichever is greater.

The different terms referring to Quota are time-sensitive:

If a chapter MATCHES Quota, then they matched to Quota during regular formal recruitment bid matching.

If a chapter MAKES Quota, they can do so either by MATCHING to Quota, SNAPPING to Quota, or CORing to Quota.

Let's say Quota is 30. A chapter can match 30, but then 2 decline. They still matched Quota, and they can still COR the 2 missing ones to replace the declines. Thereby making Quota.

Snap Bidding occurs only during the time between formal bid matching and bid day ceremonies. So Snap Bids will attend bid day festivities and no one else in the pledge class will know they are snap bids unless they tell. If a chapter still has fewer pledges than Quota after bid day ceremony, they are able to COR to fill those positions.

Because of this, bids that are declined must be replaced by COR rather than snap bidding. There might be a rare campus out there that informs PNMs of their bids way way in advance of bid day ceremonies. But there are also some interpretations of the term "snap bidding" to mean taking place in the time between matching and the DISTRIBUTION of bids. So once bids go out, no more snapping.

One slight correction as I understand it- this woman would not be counted in the number PLEDGED to the NPC in recruitment. You are only "pledged" if you go through the formal pledging ceremony of the NPC. If you receive a bid in FR and decline it, you will be counted in the number "matched" to the NPC as explained above.

I never realized that before - so that's AWESOME for my chapter, after COR we've made quota!

There is also another definition of "quota" - and that's whatever the National organization determines tobe quota. In the case of Delta Gamma, a chapter is determined to have met quota when they have paid New Member fees to Executive Offices for same number of women that the campus PH set for quota. That is, if quota during formal recruitment is set at 40 and the DG chapter has 40 women match AND show up on Bid Day but they only actually have 39 women go thru the New Member ceremony and pay their New Member fees, then DG says they have not pledged quota.

There is talk about snapping up or COR to quota and/or total, but what about the chapters who are above total? I'm wondering if the "no shows" can cause number problems with chapters who are still over total after the no shows are removed? (I'm pretty sure I know the answer, but please correct me if I'm wrong.)

For example, let's say total is 100, and a chapter has 85 before recruitment. The quota is set at 25. By matching quota w/ 25, the chapter should now at 110. Wh00t, above total, great! However, let's say for whatever reason 10 women decide to not pick up their bids and walk away, dropping the NM class to 15 women. Because the chapter size is actually at the total mark of 100 with the 15 new members, the chapter can't fill the now open 10 spots with women who would want to be a member, right?

If I'm indeed right, I think this really stresses the importance of "don't write down a chapter unless you are willing to take a bid from that chapter and even try it out." After all, how aggravating to a chapter since their quota matched class now only took 3/5 of what they could have! Also, I could see the new members wondering what happened if they look around and see their chapter only has 15 new members, but others have 25.

Yeah from a sorority member perspective, this would be pretty annoying.

I think the "don't write down a chapter unless you're willing to take a bid" also has moreso has to do with the PNM being unable to rush for a year (whether she joins or not). If you're going to be bound to a sorority, you shouldn't list one that you wouldn't want to be in.

Exactly. List only houses you would be willing to become a member of. The fact a PNM is bound for a year is just one of the good reasons to really think about the choice. I wasn't trying to be "waaaaah, it's so hard for sorority members," but more bring up the fact the bid card (in conjunction with quota/total) affects a lot of women in the process: the PNM, the chapter, other women who may REALLY want that chapter... :)

It is my understanding that immediately following Formal Recruitment, every chapter is entitled to Snap or COR to quota, regardless of whether that would put them above total. If their pre-recruitment numbers + quota still doesn't equal total, then they're entitled to COR to total after Formal Recruitment. Where total really comes into play is during non-Formal-Recruitment semesters, when you may only COR to total.

So if total's this huge, pie-in-the-sky number like it is at my alma mater, then nobody ever hits total with Formal Recruitment and everybody's CORing constantly. But if you reliably match quota and Formal Recruitment always puts you above total, like at the chapter I currently advise, then you don't continue to COR after Formal Recruitment is over.

This is my understanding as well.

It seems I thought wrong, but now I know. Thanks! :-)