Bids distribution

ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl · #1 02-20-2008, 09:57 PM

We have everyone gather at the steps on Bid Day, which is a Monday afternoon. If a girl has been dropped from recruitment or offered a snap bid she has been called the night before or early in the morning. Snap bids can show up, but they don't run.

They all sit on the steps and are handed closed envelopes containing their bids. The recruitment team has a reveal, in threes. Then the Greek advisor will usually stall one or two more minutes to build anticipation and also to let the gamma rho's get their hugs in and get ready with the chapters for their new girls. Then at her signal they open their envelopes and run to their new chapter.

Most of the time even if a girl doesn't get her first choice she isn't devastated by her second. Sometimes she is, though...every year there's always that girl that doesn't run.

Most girls do get bids, especially with snap bidding. The chapters take their girls to their halls and then to their bid day parties. It's fun, but I can't imagine not knowing...because I had "suicided" I wasn't nervous. I think I really would have been if I didn't know what was in that envelope.

Benzgirl · #2 02-20-2008, 10:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl

We have everyone gather at the steps on Bid Day, which is a Monday afternoon. If a girl has been dropped from recruitment or offered a snap bid she has been called the night before or early in the morning. Snap bids can show up, but they don't run.

.

Can you explain?

UGAalum94 · #3 02-20-2008, 10:38 PM

Yeah, it seems a little heartless not to try to treat them as much like the others as you can. If they've accepted the bids before the ceremony, why not pretend they were matched the regular way?

ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl · #4 02-21-2008, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benzgirl

Can you explain?

They just join the group instead of sitting on the steps. They don't have envelopes to open, obviously, since they already know where they're going.

nittanyalum · #5 02-21-2008, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl

They just join the group instead of sitting on the steps. They don't have envelopes to open, obviously, since they already know where they're going.

Wow, that sucks for them.

UGAalum94 · #6 02-21-2008, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl

They just join the group instead of sitting on the steps. They don't have envelopes to open, obviously, since they already know where they're going.

Maybe it would be misspent energy, but it would still seem like it be nice to fake the envelope part even it there's no suspense on their part. I say this only so that they get as close to the same experience and enthusiasm as the other girls matched in bid matching.

I think snap bid girls may feel a little second class already, so it might be worth it to be able to let them have their moment.

The way your campus does bid day sounds pretty fun generally though!

fantASTic · #7 02-21-2008, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl

They just join the group instead of sitting on the steps. They don't have envelopes to open, obviously, since they already know where they're going.

Yeah...you'd think that a girl who was already upset about her bid [since she obviously didn't pick that sorority] would maybe have more of an open mind if she was treated just as lovingly as the rest. I think she'd be less likely to drop, too; I'm not sure I'd want to accept a snap bid if I knew that everyone would know I was dropped from everyone else.

33girl · #8 02-21-2008, 04:55 PM

IMO, anything where the rushees open their bids in public (public being more than 2-3 sisters or Rho Chis) is barbaric. Besides the girls who don't get their first choice - what about the girls who DO, who are standing next to their best friend who didn't? You have to bottle up your emotions so your friend isn't even more devastated. Or if you see that a girl you can't stand is going to be in your pledge class and you just want a private moment to say "oh, CRAP."

No, it's not fun to open your dorm door and see XYZ standing there when you thought you were getting ABC, but at least you aren't in front of the entire sorority population and if you want to decline gracefully or cry you can...plus when we did this, the women picking you up were usually girls you'd bonded with in rush and that you could be honest with.

UGAalum94 · #9 02-21-2008, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 33girl

IMO, anything where the rushees open their bids in public (public being more than 2-3 sisters or Rho Chis) is barbaric. Besides the girls who don't get their first choice - what about the girls who DO, who are standing next to their best friend who didn't? You have to bottle up your emotions so your friend isn't even more devastated. Or if you see that a girl you can't stand is going to be in your pledge class and you just want a private moment to say "oh, CRAP."

No, it's not fun to open your dorm door and see XYZ standing there when you thought you were getting ABC, but at least you aren't in front of the entire sorority population and if you want to decline gracefully or cry you can...plus when we did this, the women picking you up were usually girls you'd bonded with in rush and that you could be honest with.

I can kind of see what you are saying, but they did list all the groups on the bid card. So, to me, it seems like they ought to be pretty excited about what they got.

As long as the girls who didn't match know in advance, I think public events may lead to a more panhellenic enthusiasm about joining in general.

33girl · #10 02-21-2008, 05:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

I can kind of see what you are saying, but they did list all the groups on the bid card. So, to me, it seems like they ought to be pretty excited about what they got.

That's easy to say when you got your first choice, or when you've had years to look back on it and are happy things turned out the way they did.

But when you are at a school where freshmen rushees are heavily favored and upperclassmen don't have a very good chance at bids, and your choice is kind of you pledge a sorority you're not crazy about or don't pledge one at all - it's a little hard to get jazzed, especially when there's a bunch of people around you. I mean, some girls are in the happy situation of having 2-3 groups they love on their pref cards, but some definitely are not.

KSUViolet06 · #11 02-22-2008, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl

They just join the group instead of sitting on the steps. They don't have envelopes to open, obviously, since they already know where they're going.

Wow. Where I go to school, all snap bidding occurs aound the same time as bid matching. So the Rho Chi's still have tiem to get in touch with them and offer them the bid. If they accept, they still get to come to the student center, get a bid card, and participate in Bid Day festivities like every other girl.

ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl · #12 02-22-2008, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Wow. Where I go to school, all snap bidding occurs aound the same time as bid matching. So the Rho Chi's still have tiem to get in touch with them and offer them the bid. If they accept, they still get to come to the student center, get a bid card, and participate in Bid Day festivities like every other girl.

That's exactly what we do...except that they don't run. Here's the thing...there is no one on those steps that is going to know one of their pledge sisters is a snap bid. They won't be looking for her. I had two in my pledge class and didn't know it until the end of my sophomore year. They were just already there by the time we ran. We never noticed. It would be nice for everyone to get a trophy, but the thing about Recruitment is that it's not always fair. They know they got dropped from recruitment and were on the snap bid lists. Most of the time they're so happy someone picked them up anyway it's fine. That's what both of my pledge sisters told me about their experience.

I guess I don't really see the horror in the way we do it. It's fun. And yes, sometimes girls are devastated by their choices. I don't always understand this, because it does seem that if they couldn't possibly handle being in XYZ they wouldn't list them. But when it happens, they don't have to run. They just hang back. The greek advisor will go swoop down, move them to the side, and talk to them to explain that they are bound to that sorority for a year anyway and try to convince them to join the group. If they still refuse they simply slip away and no one will notice. We're all preoccupied.

Lots of girls who got their second choices have said that they might have felt their faces fall for two seconds when they saw the card, but they ran anyway...and after spending ten minutes in that atmosphere and seeing how badly all of the actives wanted them to be there, they felt about a million times better than they would have if they'd just walked away from it all.

The only way we ever know who is devastated is if they tell us later...or if anyone happened to capture it on film.

UGAalum94 · #13 02-22-2008, 08:08 PM

I don't think there's any horror in the way you all do it, and it's not exactly a travesty that the snap bids don't get to run. It would just be cool if they could. It sounds like fun the way you all do it.

ΑΓΔSquirrelGirl · #14 02-22-2008, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UGAalum94

I don't think there's any horror in the way you all do it, and it's not exactly a travesty that the snap bids don't get to run. It would just be cool if they could. It sounds like fun the way you all do it.

I loathe mushy things, but it's one of the most fun things we do with the sorority every year. And I loved mine.