How does your school handle bidless PNMs on bid day?

[KSUViolet06]

The bid day thread got me to thinking about this. How does your school let girls know that they haven't been matched? Is there any sort of counseling or support available for them? I'm not talking about girls who are released along the way, but those girls who go all the way through, and don't receive bids (although feedback from those released before that is welcome).

The way my school handled it was somewhat good, but I think it could be better.

After preference parties, PNMs are brought back to the Student Center by bus. Each Rho Chi group is assigned a different room in the Student Center to sit in. They wait for something like 6 hours (they bring LOTS of homework and the Rho Chi's have movies and food) until bids have been matched. Once the bid cards are ready, the Rho Chi's take their groups down to the Greek Life office to get their bid envelopes.

So somewhere in all that sitting and waiting, the Panhellenic VP of Recruitment asks all of the Rho Chi's to go and get the girls in their groups that didn't match (if there are any). One by one, the girls go into a room in the office with their 2 PX's and they tell her that she didn't get a bid.

She gets a few minutes to cry/call mom/whatever. The grad assistant is in there to answer any questions. The PX's go back into the room and get the girl's stuff so she doesn't have to see her groupmates still sitting in there. She goes back to her dorm.

I think they try to make it private and that's nice. But I'm sure it still hurts, especially if they are in a freshman dorm where sometimes half of your floor is rushing. They have to go back and be alone because all the girls on your wing are at Bid Night. Then there's Monday morning where you get to see all the Bid Night shirts around campus and in your classes.

[SigKapCoug]

Pref day and Bid day are different days here, so I believe what happens is after bid matching, anyone not receiving a bid is told by their Rho Gamma in the evening after prefs.

[jwright25]

At the University that has been my primary experience, Bid Day is actually the day after Preference, and the PNMs are instructed to come to the Student Center at varying times from 10 - 12 on Sunday morning. They go into a room one at a time to pick up bids. Those who didn't recieve a bid are called by their Rho Chis or personally visited by the Rho Chi to explain - PRIOR to 9:00 so she doesn't get dressed and head over. (Early in the week the PNMs tell their Rho Chis if they would rather have a phone call or a personal visit.) There are always Panhellenic officers and Counseling Center staff on hand should someone need it. Even some who aren't happy with their bids get very upset and need to talk.

KSUViolet - how many PNMs go bidless? Does your University utilize Quota Additions?

[aephi alum]

At each round of recruitment, the PNMs met privately with their rho chis to get their invitations. However, PNMs who didn't get bids or who were dropped by all sororities were not warned ahead of time. They'd go in all excited to get their bid/invites, and come out crying, and they'd have to walk past all the PNMs who were still waiting. It was pretty tactless.

They might do something different now. I hope they do something different now.

[KSUViolet06]

Originally Posted by jwright25

KSUViolet - how many PNMs go bidless? Does your University utilize Quota Additions?

Yes they do. Most girls who go all the way through recruitment do receive bids, but there is usually a handful (like 3 or 4 out of like 120) who for whatever reason, just don't match with any of the groups that they preffed (usually girls who only got invited back to one place).

[jwright25]

Originally Posted by KSUViolet06

Yes they do. Most girls who go all the way through recruitment do receive bids, but there is usually a handful (like 3 or 4 out of like 120) who for whatever reason, just don't match with any of the groups that they preffed (usually girls who only got invited back to one place).

That's been my experience as well.... Last year though they placed every single person who attended Preference. We wound up with 5 QAs on a Quota of 22! One other group had 2 QAs, and the other two didn't have any. It was an interesting year though - the RFM Specialist didn't have sufficient historical data to calculate everything as succinctly as she would have liked.

[PeppyGPhiB]

At my school we hardly ever had to deal with this. Almost all of the women who did not match were "suicide" bidders. They knew that not getting a bid was a possible consequence of suiciding, so I think some of them were not surprised when they did not receive a bid. I think the process is a lot harder for the women who get heavily cut throughout recruitment, then don't receive a bid to the one sorority where they attended preference.

In any case, we called or visited in person any woman who did not receive a bid, or who was released from recruitment altogether. We did not want her to have to go through the pain while surrounded by hundreds of giddy, laughing women.

[AOII Angel]

My school had rush a week before school started. All rushees lived for the week in one of the girl's dorms. We had the "Knock." The day after prefs (aka Bid day) all rushees had to sit quietly in their rooms waiting for a knock to tell them they didn't get a bid. It was very nerve racking as a rushee. As a rho chi, though, it was nice to allow time to talk to a girl in private. I had a rush group of only non-freshmen women with an average GPA under 2.5. It was a rough week with three women turned away before prefs. I had to knock on two girls' doors. I cried more than they did. Both were wonderful people...one of which my sorority invited to a COR to get up to house total. She accepted and became my third little sis. I actually agreed to get a third so I could get her. It's definitely not a good situation to be in for the rushee or the rho chi.

[ForeverRoses]

We had bid day the day after prefs- so we were told to stay in or near our dorm rooms for a couple of hours (like 9am-11am) on bid day and if you didn't recieve a bid, the Rho Chi's came to your room personally. I remember looking out the window of my dorm sophmore year and seeing my Rho Chis walking toward my building- I about had a heart attack. Luckily they were walking to the building next to mine. But it was nerve racking. I think they also did personal visits if you were cut at any time during rush.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by jwright25

At the University that has been my primary experience, Bid Day is actually the day after Preference, and the PNMs are instructed to come to the Student Center at varying times from 10 - 12 on Sunday morning. They go into a room one at a time to pick up bids. Those who didn't recieve a bid are called by their Rho Chis or personally visited by the Rho Chi to explain - PRIOR to 9:00 so she doesn't get dressed and head over. (Early in the week the PNMs tell their Rho Chis if they would rather have a phone call or a personal visit.) There are always Panhellenic officers and Counseling Center staff on hand should someone need it. Even some who aren't happy with their bids get very upset and need to talk.

This has been my experience, too - only the bidless PNM gets a call between 6pm-7pm (bids are picked up at 8pm). Forget call waiting or anything else - NO ONE going through Recruitment allows anyone on their phone during "the hour"! I think your campus asking if they'd like a visit or a call is much kinder. I know I would prefer a call, but there are always those who'd rather have a shoulder to cry on.

[adpiucf]

Bidless PNMs are called prior to the start of Bid Day by their recruitment counselors so they don't come to the Bid Day events. Often there are snap bid offers from other chapters to these women, so if they accept, they then come to Bid Day. PNMs are told to be near a phone at a certain time in the morning on, just in case they get the "call" or a schedule change.

[1908Revelations]

Originally Posted by jwright25

There are always Panhellenic officers and Counseling Center staff on hand should someone need it. Even some who aren't happy with their bids get very upset and need to talk.

Sorry for the crash....but is it really that serious that counseling could be needed?

[ErinIsBadNews]

Originally Posted by 1908Revelations

Sorry for the crash....but is it really that serious that counseling could be needed?

Some girls are completely devastated by not getting a bid. I don't think most girls need long term therapy, after not getting a bid, but just having someone to talk to who isn’t in a sorority could be very beneficial.

[Cutie_Hootie]

At my campus (I'm a recruitment advisor for my chapter), all PNMs are visited by their Gamma Chis, where the vast majority receive their bids. The Gamma Chis are then asked to take the women who did not receive bids off campus for dinner or something so that they are not subjected to an evening alone while others (possibly even roommates) are happy, celebrating, and getting gifts and door decorations. We are a small, liberal-arts college with only four chapters, and the number of women who do not match is very small (last year I believe there were only two). Sometimes I think it is even more difficult for them because they are such a small number.

[fantASTic]

We had an issue last fall with a girl who did not place with ANY of the sororities, even for Preference. She wasn't invited to one. We were her first pick, so they asked us to invite her to preference so that she could go. Of course, she didn't recieve a bid, but other girls didn't get bids either so she wasn't the only one.

That must be horrible; I went through winter recruitment, and therefore didn't have that whole process to go though. It would be so nervewracking.