Cross cutting?
 

OK. I'm not sure if this topic has been addressed in the general forums or not, but I didn't want to look stupid in front of all those people so I thought I would post my question here: Just what, exactly, is cross-cutting? I see that term being used everywhere on these boards and I'm sort of foggy as to what it means. (I know pretty much how the bid-matching system works, so that's a start.)

In my experience, it's when a rushee prefs ABC first and XYZ second and she's on ABC's second bid list and XYZ's first...and if both fill up rapidly with rushees from their first list, that girl is "cross cut"--gets a bid from neither.

"cross cut" can happen when the PNM preferences her max allowed preferences (usually 2 or 3 depending on the campus) and ends up close to the bottom of each chapter's second bid list. Thus, if each chapter makes quota before they get to her place on their second list she doesn't get a bid from any chapter.

This is where quota addition comes into play, if it is used on the campus. If the PNM has maxed her chances by attending the max number of allowed events and then gets cross cut, she is eligible for quota addition. Quota addition means she'll get a bid from the smallest of the chapters she preferenced even though this will put them over quota. Quota addition usually has other conditions such as quota addition can only be some small % of quota.