If you get to Pref Night, does this guarantee a bid?

[loveinxi]

From what we've heard they are letting the PNMs drop one sorority before the sororities drop PNMs. Which means if the PNM drops AAA and then BBB, CCC, FFF all drop the PNM but AAA did not, the PNM is just out of luck...it sounds like there is something wrong there

[TxGirl]

Where are you talking about that they are doing this and is it all in the same round. It may be a misunderstanding of the way the process works. In priority they women cluster and rank and it may seem to them that they are releasing someone, but they aren't.

[RedRover]

The niece of a good friend of mine had the misfortune to get the dreaded "call" the morning of bid day, even though three houses invited her to three preference night events.

In retrospect, the young woman realizes that she was seeking membership into three of the top tier sororities (hold your horses, GCers; every campus has a ranking as to who the top fraterities and sororities are) on campus. She also realizes she was pretty lucky to get as far as the preference round at a highly competitive Greek campus, considering that she wasn't a legacy nor part of the old-girl network.

When she got the call, she said her Rho Chi tried to be consoling as did some of the women in her group. She put on a brave front as she watched her friends go off to their sorority houses, even though she admitted that she was envious of those girls.

She said that most of the sororities that she had been interested in the early rounds made quota and those that didn't she didn't have any interest in. She said it would be pretty difficult for a second year student to go through rush again if she hadn't received a bid as a freshman.

The young woman said she thought about transferring, but she didn't want to give up her place in a competitive academic program.

My friend said that her niece enjoyed her college years for the most part. However, my friend said that her niece almost never discusses her experiences during sorority rush and tries to change the subject whenever someone talks about Greeks or Greek life in college.

I hope and pray that other young women don't have the misfortune that my friend's niece had during her Greek recruitment period.

[violetpretty]

^^This is why I really think that guaranteed matching is a good idea. If a PNM plays by the rules, maximizes her options, ranks all her preference chapters, she completely deserves to be placed in one of those chapters. In the above situation, I'd venture to say that the PNM in question did fit into top tier chapters, because not one, not two, but 3 of them invited her to pref! Top tier chapters do not have long bid lists per the RFM (probably 1.5x quota), so they definitely want every single PNM on their lists. The above situation is an example of a PNM getting screwed for no reason.

ETA: I understand quota is a method to keep sororities on equal footing. As long as a campus is using the RFM, chapters will make the necessary cuts, and if a chapter happens to do a little better one year and match a few more women via quota additions, let them. Having each chapter make EXACTLY quota (and no more) should not be important. Much better than having broken hearts for no reason.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by RedRover

The niece of a good friend of mine had the misfortune to get the dreaded "call" the morning of bid day, even though three houses invited her to three preference night events.

Wow. I'm sorry this happened to her. Generally (at a school which guarantees placement to those who maximize options), if you get a full schedule, there is a pretty good chance that you'll get a bid from on of them. It may not be your top choice, but you're guaranteed to get a bid somewhere.

Situations like this one are not the norm, but they do happen. Unfortunately, as we weren't there, we'll never really know why she didn't receive a bid to one of those chapters. I hope she enjoys the rest of college thoough.

[Zillini]

Originally Posted by violetpretty

^^This is why I really think that guaranteed matching is a good idea. If a PNM plays by the rules, maximizes her options, ranks all her preference chapters, she completely deserves to be placed in one of those chapters. In the above situation, I'd venture to say that the PNM in question did fit into top tier chapters, because not one, not two, but 3 of them invited her to pref! Top tier chapters do not have long bid lists per the RFM (probably 1.5x quota), so they definitely want every single PNM on their lists. The above situation is an example of a PNM getting screwed for no reason.

ETA: I understand quota is a method to keep sororities on equal footing. As long as a campus is using the RFM, chapters will make the necessary cuts, and if a chapter happens to do a little better one year and match a few more women via quota additions, let them. Having each chapter make EXACTLY quota (and no more) should not be important. Much better than having broken hearts for no reason.

I agree. If a PNM was liked well enough to be invited to Pref by the max number of houses, ranked them all (no suiciding), followed all the Recruitment rules, then she should be given a Bid from one of those chapters. This is a real life example of when Quota Additions should be used and why they are beneficial to the whole system.

[Entchen]

My school doesn't have guaranteed matching or anything, but we spend a LONG time doing delibs for pref night. While every girl we ask back to pref night might not be at the very very top of our list, we would not invite a girl back to pref night unless we felt comfortable also offering her a bid.

Only is really unusual circumstances would we drop a girl we'd invited to pref night.


ETA: I am in a local house, so we can offer bids to as many girls as we'd like, though we usually end up with around the same number as all of the other local & national houses.