Guaranteed Placement, any thoughts?
 

This was brought up in the UT-Austin thread. I just wanted to hear some thoughts on this.

What if the PNM isn't on any bid list? Does a group have to take the PNM? Seems strange. I am not against it, just wondering if it actually works.

i think it means
 

that they cut big time before pref and only invite to pref those who they want to bid.

If sororities follow the recruitment rules set forth by NPC, they shouldn't be inviting women who they wouldn't want in their chapters to preference parties, and eliminating women who they are absolutely positive they don't want. THAT is the flaw of guaranteed preference and why it won't work at most places.

At our school, if a woman was invited to preference, she HAD to be on your bid list that you handed in. If you didn't have them all on, your bids were not processed until it was complete. Also, you received a $20 fine per hour that it wasn't complete.

Every school I know of who does this cuts big time so they won't have any surprises on Bid Day. However, I can see where this could go wrong if chapters are under pressure to keep people who are, well, not wanted by any group for moral or other reasons. I've heard that there are actually schools who guarantee a bid to anyone who signs up for rush.

Can you hear the chapters fighting over who has to take Suzy Skank on Bid Matching Night? I think I've discussed this before:"OK, we'll trade you a skank for a ditz."

OK, I know I shouldn't laugh, but... :D

This is why I don't think a guaranteed bid to anyone who goes through rush is a good idea. However, I thought that if a chapter invited a girl to Pref, she had to be on their bid lists somewhere, so what's wrong with guaranteeing placement to everyone who Prefs? (Note: These are words from someone who doesn't know the ins and outs of bid-matching...I just know sort of how it works.)

Achtung-
That is how it's supposed to work.... But, unfortunately sometimes people break the rules and end up inviting back more women than they actually intend on bidding. Some houses will do this even in the days UP TO pref - the effects of which mean other houses miss out on having a girl who might be great for their house at their party while she's over at ABC who has no intention to keep her tomorrow. This is why release figures are necessary.

Does anyone think this is good for the system? I would assume those who did not reach quota would be the ones issueing bids to leftover PNMs.

But what about the girls no chapter wanted to bid? LMAO at carnation, but I think it is true. I flinch at the idea of those conversations going on.

OK, so I'd really love to live in a world where every woman was a wonderful PNM - but unfortunately it's true that there are some people who are just not right for the greek system... By this I'm referencing the Rush thread that mentioned the psycho-killer- roommate, and the kitten-killer! Thankfully, these are few and far between and hopefully each house would have enough time to get to know them and their dangerous behavior and cut them VERY EARLY. This is unfortunately another catch to release figure systems that require chapters to invite a certain number (a quota if you will) each day. BUT, when it comes down to Suzy Skank, Debbie Ditz, or (you KNOW this happens) Uma Ugly...... I just don't believe that anyone's bedroom habits, study habits (or the lack thereof) or looks really has THAT much to do with her ability to become a fantastic sister. HONESTLY, it could just be a matter of giving a woman a chance to be around other women who hold themselves to noble standards, appreciate such actions, and encourage others who've made the same committment. (Postitive) peer pressure can be a positive thing. Ok, we should all go read our Creeds/Symphonies now..............

I don't think that this is a bad thing. It doesn't guarantee every woman who goes through Recruitment a bid. It guarantees that if a woman goes through Recruitment, maximizes her returns, and ranks every house she preffed, then she'll get a bid. And isn't this supposed to be how it works?

Doesn't UTA have a pretty lengthy recruitment week? I think that the kitten-killers would be ousted before Pref. I mean, if a girl is really awful, it's possible that she would be released from all houses by the end of second round. And the sororities won't be "screwed" (e.g. stuck with Suzy Slut, Debbie Ditz, et al.) as long as they adhere to release figures and only invite women to Pref that they'd be willing to call "Sister." It seems to me that this system keeps the sororities in check: it makes sure that they play by the rules.

Okay, help me understadn this. Let's say there are a group of girls who were not placed and need to be snap bid. Do all of the representatives from each sorority sit down that same night in the same place and play shuffle the pnms? Do they re-discuss who they want or don't want? Who make the final call that YES, ABC, you MUST take Suzie Duzie even if you don't want her.

Marie

I think that guaranteed placement will stop sororities from inviting PNM they are uncertain about. These PNM can get bids from sororities that really want and need them. The PNMs won't be strung along by sororities that don't really want them and wind up bidless.

I kind of like the idea that PNMs who are invited to pref and who "follow the rules" will get bids. Every year at my school, about 130 bids would be handed out and there were 2 or 3 no-bids... I'd hate to be one of those 2 or 3 girls, being told at prefs how much I'm wanted as a sister, then the next day sitting alone watching 130 fellow PNMs going off happily to their new homes. (I'm leaving the question of suiciding aside for the moment.)

Plus, as a few people have pointed out, it makes it more difficult for a sorority to string along a PNM they don't actually want - leaving her free to go to sororities that are interested in her.

But it could lead to some weird situations, like sororities ending up way over quota. For example, say there are 4 sororities and 40 PNMs at pref -> quota is 10. Now, A and B have 100% retention rates (I know, I know) so they can each only invite 10 to pref. C and D have poorer retention rates, so they can invite say 30 each.

Suddenly, one year, everyone wants to be a C or a D. Out of the 40 PNMs attending pref, 30 are preffing C and D. This is ok because their release figures say they can invite back that many. So, does this mean C and D get to take 15 new members each even though quota is only 10?

actually they sit down on bid day for hours and just trade them, at least that's how it works at my school. it's like, "ok you can have those two if i can have this one..." and so on. it's usually advisors i think who do all the snap bidding. it's kinda hard to hear that, but that's the case. i wasn't a snap bid but i remember being relaly upset when i heard that.

(hijack)--There are plenty of sleazy women I would not want to wear the letters "Pi Beta Phi". Likewise women who'll destroy the chapter gradepoints because they refuse to study. One thing about being around a few years--you learn that positive peer pressure at college age rarely works but you do see a lot of students being dragged down by negative peer pressure from whatever source. Creeds and symphonies notwithstanding, a woman should be worthy of wearing our letters and we shouldn't feel the need to be social workers and drag someone out of the gutter. Thank you!

(unhijack)

The way that guaranteed placement works at UT - Austin is this:

A PNM that "plays by the rules"... she accepts the maximum number of invitations she receives for each event up to the limit for that round AND puts the maximum number of chapters on her preference card up to the number of preference parties she attended... she will be placed with one of those chapters.

It main goal is to keep "cross cutting" to a minimum.

She will not be placed with a group that she did not put on her pref card. Nor will she be placed with a chapter where she was not invited to their preference.

IF she is not matched through the normal bid matching process, she will be hand matched with the smallest group on her pref card.

PROS:
More women are matched!

CONS:
PNMS have learned to play the game... if you don't want to be placed with a group... make sure they release you before preference. More and more PNMs are rude to chapters hoping to be released from them....

Word of advice - don't do it. I know of at least three situations where women attempted this not knowing that membres of their "favorite" chapter were good friends with women of the chapter where they were rude. Competitive or not, the sorority women at UT all have good friends in other chapters... in the three situations I know of - word traveled quickly to the "favorite" chapter and the women were released from not just the chapter where they were rude, but three or four other chapters that got wind of the behavior.

Another con:
Guaranteed placement helps the middle sized chapters - chapters that are usually already at or above total on this campus... and has no benefit at all to the smaller chapters or chapters that don't make quota. One year, one of the mid sized chapters reached quota (51) + Junior Quota (3) + Guaranteed Placements of (9) = 63, while one chapter only matched 28 women.... the larger chapters only pledged 51 + 3 because, remember, guaranteed placed women go to the smallest of the chapters on their pref card.

My opinion is that GP simply widens the gap between chapter sizes. Whether or not that out weighs the benefit of matching more women - I can see it both ways. Luckily all 14 chapters at UT are strong and a few GPs isn't going to make or break anyone at this time. It's been about 5 years since UT lost a chapter but before that the campus averaged losing one chapter every two years or so.