It's a Numbers Game

The most desired houses have to release the most people every round. So it is not even math amongst all 12 sororities. The strongest release the most, and that happens every round. All houses have different numbers of girls attending each round. These numbers come from Panhellenic…this is not a house decision.

Generally, quota, which is the number of girls each chapter can take, is taken by the number of girls who get to preference round divided by the 12 houses. This will be different this year as there is a new group on campus. The pledge class numbers will not be the same throughout the 12 sororities. No idea on the range.

The system is designed to be able to place every girl who makes it to pref and maximizes her options (writes both houses down). It may be her first or second choice.

If a PNM only has one party on Pref, and attends that party, she is guaranteed to match there.

What you are trying to understand is RFM, Release Figure Methodology. It is a system designed to place as many pnm's as possible with a bid while maintaining equitable membership numbers among the chapters. More pnm's staying in the process and not dropping out means more invitations back and larger new member classes at the end.

Every chapter has their own recruiting strength history, meaning some chapters are more highly ranked by pnm's every year and so can count on a higher percentage rate of their desired pnm's returning, while other chapters' rates are lower. These numbers are a reflection of the pnm pool, not chapter quality. Each chapter is given their release numbers at every round by panhellenic based on their recent historical return rates and applying them to the number of pnm's participating in the process. It results in some chapters inviting fewer pnm's to each round and others inviting more. In this way all chapters will hit appropriate return numbers. The stronger a chapter's recruiting history, the more pnm's they must release at each round, some are above 75% releases. These numbers are adjusted throughout the week as necessary.

This year the disparities are even more pronounced because panhellenic is using Variable Quota, meaning Quotas will be higher or lower for different chapters based on everything explained above and including their total membership numbers. This is to help the new chapter build their membership. It is temporary and next year or the year after will see a return to Quota being the same for every chapter.

A pnm is guaranteed a bid if she ranks both her pref houses even if it puts a house over quota. This is called Quota Plus and it exists for the benefit of the pnm's to get a bid. So some chapters will take Quota and others will take more than. No one is guaranteed their first choice bid but they are guaranteed a bid. If a pnm has only one pref house and puts it on her card she will get that bid. If a pnm only ranks one out of two pref houses and does not match with that house then she has no other option, Quota Plus does not apply, and will not get a bid.

This is so insightful, thank you for taking the time to explain. My thinking was linear but RFM as you detailed has more variables. It is interesting that the quota is not set until after pref.