[BigRedBeta]

Okay, so this has been exactly the type of discussion I was hoping for. I'm seeing it a little better from other sides and what the concerns are:

First, I'm not sure when total is set, but I do believe that it happens at approximately the same time as when quota would be set in one of the standard NPC models.

Second, as NUBlue&Blue (some of my best friends are members of your house!) mentioned Nebraska is an extremely old system (AXO is Xi, GPhiB is Pi, AOTT is Zeta, APhi is Nu, AZD is Rho, XO is Kappa, KD is Pi...you get the picture). And as she alluded to, this form has been in place for a long time. ALL the chapters are very close to total if not there. All the chapters are relatively the same in the number of girls they are going to take simply b/c eventually all the chapters are at or near total during the year. And really what's 10-15 people in a room of 75? I doubt that the "smaller" houses appear that way to an outsider. Also it's not like a chapter is going to go from 40 members during recruitment to 120 or whatever. The largest pledge class size I've ever heard of was 52 girls during a year when total went up by 8.

The other thing is that Nebraska has a guaranteed bid system in place. If girls "play fair" then they will end up someplace. Granted that doesn't mean they are necessarily going to end up in their first or second choice, but if they play by the rules then they will end up somewhere.

I also think that b/c the chapter houses have little idea of where total may fall by the end of the week, that they don't go around saying "we only have X many spots". People know that chapter XYZ and ABC historically have filled up first, but no one knows just exactly how many bids will be offered. It also helps in a system as old as Nebraska's, that chapters don't automatically have to bid legacies because there are so many. Granted girls with older sisters in the chapter have a distinct advantage, but that happens everywhere. But I do see the concern about making the best chapters even more elite. However, I don't necessarily see that in how the chapters actually operate.

As for dakareng's comments. You're right that sisterhood is not a function of chapter size, but this model removes chapter size as a variable. Everyone ends up damn close to total so for the most part they're equal. I personally believe that good retention rates are a symptom of great sisterhood. If your sisterhood is great, then why would girls drop out? You end up getting girls to stay for four years (which is definitely less common among sorority women vs. fraternity men at least at Nebraska). In the end, the chapter which gets a smaller class size is at an advantage in setting up those girls to have great sisterhood - as it's assuredly easier to set up programming for 28 vs 40, and it's easier to be close with 27 others compared to 39.
Further it also helps out the chapters with poor retention rates b/c they don't keep falling further and further behind. They will, at least at some point early on the year be on the exact same numbers position as every other chapter.
Again, the point here is that total chapter size is no longer a variable. At most other places, bigger chapters are better and that's for the most part true with the fraternities at Nebraska at least when looking at the general trends...but in case of the sororities everyone is the same size so there has to be other ways of looking at who is the "best".

Finally, I didn't mention the most surprising part of Nebraska's recruitment. This I don't particularly like, and I have no idea how or why it's set up this way, but it is. There are 13 chapters that go through formal recruitment. Monday is an info session and meet the Recruitment guides day. The first day of parties is only 8! Girls find out their invites on Monday night and if they have more than 8 they have to reject invitations based on what they've seen in the introductory presentations. Chapters are only allowed a certain number of invitations, with (at least I've been told) most cuts coming solely due to GPA requirements. But if that can't achieve the number of cuts needed, then other criteria are used. Girls are required to submit applications 2 weeks before recruitment starts (but no pictures). This bothers me, b/c it means that in some cases the best matches aren't found b/c the girl never even sees that chapter through the week.