Expansion question

[TSteven]

Hope this is the right forum for this.

After reading the threads about expansion, it seems that most new NPC chapters extend bids to all classes to "best match" the other chapters on campus and as such, be competitive as soon as possible.

So how should a new sorority go about recruiting members to be as competitive as possible right away? And are there any NPC guidelines that allow for a fair playing field? Is it the campus PC that makes the "rules"?

For the sake of discussion, lets use the following scenarios. (hope this makes sense)

~new chapter ABC
~5 chapters on campus: 4 current and ABC
~past five years, 120-125 girls attend preference round so quota has been around 30 to 32; predicted future new member classes at around 25 (125 divided by 5)
~chapter total is 100 but all have been over and have membership at least at around 120 (30 members per class)

So if ABC was only able to bid to total, then ABC could only have 100 girls while the other four would all have at least 120 members. Thus, can ABC extend bids to more than total to match in size the other four? Or perhaps this might be a better question. Is there a formula (real or perceived) used that allows ABC to be competitive with the current chapters? And if so, what might that be?

[SoCalGirl]

With your example, they'd probably take all classes but maybe only about 10 seniors. The next year the chapter would go through formal recruitment with 90 members. (100-10) They'd then get a NM class of approximately 30. They'd then be competitive with the other chapters. (90+30 = 120) The other chapters would also be returing to FR with less than 120 and after FR would likely be around 120 again. It all balances out pretty quickly.

[TSteven]

Thanks SoCalGirl. That makes sense.

One follow up. If there was a *big* difference between total and actual numbers - which may be the very reason for expansion - then can ABC bid over total? Or would it be more likely that the total be dropped?

[PenguinTrax]

When colonizing, you cannot extend bids to go over total.

You can always take quota, even if it puts you over total.

You can always COB to quota after formal recruitment, even if you are at total.

[aephi alum]

I vaguely recall some discussion here on GC about a colonization where the incoming sorority was allowed to bid up to average chapter size, which was more than total.

I feel that's the "right" way to handle it. Total is something of an arbitrary number. It fulfills its purpose if it's set properly, but it's ineffectual if set too high or too low. To take an extreme example, say average chapter size is 120 and Panhel says "ok, let's make total 10." If the new colony can't take more than 10 women, it's going to fold pretty quickly.

But unless an exception is made, the rule as described by PenguinTrax is the rule - the new sorority can only bid to total.