[aephi alum]

When I pledged my local, on bid day we were asked to rank the top 3 sisters whom we wanted as our big. (There were only 7 sisters, so everyone knew everyone by the time rush was over.) Then the sisters argued over who got whom.

After we went AEPhi, we started the following tradition:

- As soon as we got the list of people we were extending bids to (for formal rush) or as soon as a woman accepted a bid (for informal), each NM was paired with an Alpha sister, often the woman who'd preffed her or gotten her to come to rush. Usually the rush chair and new member educator collaborated in doing the matching. The Alpha sister would take the NM out for coffee or dinner, and give her a little welcome gift or decorate her dorm-room door.

- One week later, each new member was paired with an Epsilon sister. This was someone the new member didn't know as well, to mix things up and ensure the NM met more sisters. The new member educator did the matching. The Epsilon sister would also take the NM to coffee or dinner and give her a gift.

- One week after that, each new member was matched with a Phi sister, or pearl sister, or big sister. The new member educator did the matching, giving the most importance to the NM's preferences, some importance to the sisters' preferences, and some importance to whether a particular sister had ever had a little (we tried to give all interested sisters the chance to have a little at least once).