dropping

if you didn't attend tonight's event, could you still be eligible for "continued bidding"?

Two things
1. Agree with “ not yet”. You still have three chances...continuous open bidding after Fall Formal Recruitment is over if houses need more members to make ceiling. Ceiling, is calculated as the average of the 13 chapters will be calculated after bid day acceptance s are known for each chapter. Houses may bid anyone who is not in a chapter at any time outside of official recruitment until they reach ceiling. Chapters will then know if they have room to take more members. Spring rush is an option and seniors do rush and join so next year fall is really a viable option.
2. You don’t have to have been at Pref... or even to have rushed to be eligible for a chaper to bid you. All you need is to be a full time student at Cal and for the chapter to know you are interested. Then they can reach out to you to see if there is a fit. So do reach out to chapters who to think might have room. They will be the ones that are below average in size.

@ahh - yes, as long as you don’t receive a bid tonight (so if you single intentional preferenced and don’t get a bid or withdrew from recruitment), you’re eligible for continuous open bidding.

I actually agree. I've watched for 3 years and each year there are more people and fewer spots. People drop early because they feel only one house will do for them and then gripe that they don't get a greek experience. Every year the entitlement factor gets worse. Memo to PNMs: You are not entitled to the single house of your dreams. Sorry you are sad and then you drop out. Each year in our house we argue alot because we don't want another big pledge class. Its been the same argument every year and yet we get another big class where we don't know people and it takes forever to integrate. It sucks. Panhel sucks and I am so tired of no leadership for yet another year. We don't want big classes but we have to have them because we are forced to due to the fact that we don't have a strong system. We will probably lose 2 houses over the next couple of years. We have an independent house that adds no value to our system as they aren't national. You can't have 1,000 people only wanted 2-3 houses. That is crazy and that is not what greek life is all about. But the 1,000 people coming through don't really care about greek life, until they realize that by dropping they will never have it. So sick of this crazy cycle with zero changing. Saw so many weepy people today it was crazy. Do the math. There was no way to get the house of your dream. But that didn't mean another house couldn't have worked for you. Entire thing is pathetic. So angry.

@pippa - what would you propose to change about how recruitment is run? The only way pledge classes would get smaller would be to remove guaranteed bids for PNMs who maximize their options, wouldn’t it? I understand that it can be hard to get to know everyone, but the alternative would be shutting more people out of Greek life unless there’s another option I can’t think of right now.

Weepy people? This is Cal. Women are much stronger here than those pnms in your imagination.

You had an option and didn't take it. You didn't want or deserve a greek experience IMO. Cal is unlike other schools where you can go through recruitment again and have an option. But keep in mind that the option you had as a first year probably won't be any different the next time around. So, why not take that option the first time around and enjoy greek life for longer? Not sure what you people are thinking about. Over time everyone mixes with everyone and you have access to parties. Instead by not joining you will be in the dorms bored looking for a party. For someone who is supposed to be smart it seems pretty stupid to me. You thought you were 'above' the house that picked 'you'. What is that saying about 'you'?

@pippa. Forgot to to include that if my house set the quota it preferred the number would be between 35-40 MAX. We actually would prefer fewer than this. We want everyone to be able to live in, we hate the points system and the uncertainty of not being able to live in. Yet, we have accommodated higher numbers due at much higher levels to the detriment of our sisterhood because the system is broken. I was thinking this morning over 3 years in this system what would have happened if all the wonderful people that thought they were 'above' a particular house had in fact joined that house as a 1st year. Can you imagine how fantastic our system would be today, 3 years later? Instead what we have is a system that is in worse shape than 3 years ago and in a few years could be significantly smaller. All this is happening because of PNMs thinking they deserve a particular house and that a wonderful greek experience is not available at all houses. Not sure how to break this cycle but I think the no guarantee bid option should go and houses should be able to set their own quota. Do PNMs realize that with legacy situations that most pledge classes are automatically reduced in size? Can nobody think of the future? I will never forget the sorry situation in the dorm when I was a first year and 1/2 the people in my hall dropped because 'they had a good conversation at a house and were cut blah blah blah' and they won't be treated like they were by anyone. Those people lost out and realized it too late. They scrambled for parties and their social lives were all over the place. Cal is a big place and I don't think most PNMs realize what the greek system does to transform their experience here. So tired of the same old same old happening yet again.

@up What do you mean by "most pledge classes are automatically reduced in size by legacy situations"? I am an Alpha Phi legacy and would have absolutely loved to be an Alpha Phi, but I was dropped from them. Being a legacy doesn't really seem to make a difference.

Former RC here - your house seems to have the reverse problem of several chapters. ZTA and Theta, for a specific example, have massive physical houses that they sometimes have trouble filling due to the number of beds that need to be filled. Theta sleeps something like 75, and Zeta sleeps over 80. Some chapters require living in for one year or sometimes two in order to ensure the house is filled, and some have massive waitlists to live in. If you’re looking at sororities strictly from a housing perspective, then it might make sense for chapter pledge classes to be sized proportionally to the physical house, but I think that ignores the desire for chapters to be even in size so certain organizations aren’t as blatantly more exclusive as others. I don’t think there’s a perfect solution, and just because it’s best for one chapter to reduce pledge class sizes doesn’t mean it would be best for every chapter, and I think it would have a negative impact on the culture of PHC as a whole.

As someone in a house, I understand why seeing someone rush as a senior makes little sense. Houses want someone that will grow in the house and make meaningful contributions over the years through leadership and otherwise. You wouldn’t have time to do much in a house. The first semester you’re a new member and then the next one you’re graduating.
Sororities aren’t campus clubs. Why would you decide this is for you at the twilight of your college career then complain you aren’t in kappa?

PHC should not have said that simply because they as a group have no idea what criteria each individual sorority uses to select its members.

Do you realize that at most other schools you would have NO options as a Junior? You had an option and a good one and you turned it down. Its your loss as houses have no reason to take a senior. I don't understand your decision making process at all. I'm sad also that you won't have a greek experience as it is wonderful on so many levels.

@pie I’m a transfer. My decision-making process was to rush as early as I was able to. I was told that houses did not discriminate against transfer students, but this clearly was not the case, since almost every girl I talked to visibly lost interest in me when I mentioned I was a transfer.