snaps and quota additions

Definifely DO NOT do this. While chapters are supposed to put 100% of PNM's at pref parties on their bid lists, if you go in and act like the biggest raging betch ever, they may ask nationals/Panhellenic for an exception. Then you just lowered your chance of getting bid at all. Or, say they go ahead and put you towards the bottom of their bid list but you match anyway because your top choice is full- that would be pretty embarrassing to go to bid day after being so rude.

So, you have decided by pref your order of A, B, and C houses. Okay, well the houses have decided by pref their orders of pnm's too. You could be low at A already and nothing's going to change that at this point. Same goes for B and C. If you tank a house on purpose, it doesn't mean you're going to be any higher on the other's bid list by default. You'll get a bid by quota addition, but your ranking of the three houses doesn't determine that. It's out of your hands by then.

Have a mature, honest conversation with the actives rushing you on pref. I prefed a girl who I really liked during rush (and we are actually still friends), but she told me that because her sister was in another house at Alabama she was putting them #1 even though she really liked my house. If you are rude to try and get lower on their bid list it will a) be a really long and uncomfortable round for you and whoever rushes you b) be really awkward if you end up on their lawn the next day

Pretty sure the bid matching is just done by computers (please correct me if I'm wrong though). Only a tiny fraction of the sorority sees the order of the bid list (in my house I believe its 6 girls plus our advisors).

snaps are reserved for:

1. houses who may not be at total (read NOT didn't make quota but not at house total)- so lets say chapter total is put at 100 and rush quota is 25. House XYZ actually had 3 girls graduate early last year so after taking a full pledge class of 25 their house is still only at 97 girls- so they can extend 3 more bids to get the house to total.

2. PNMs who either fell through the cracks or otherwise couldn't complete the rush process. So for example a girl on my hall freshman year got strep throat the second day of rush and had to withdraw- a house gave her a snap bid on bid day.

Snap bids are NOT "just for lower tier houses"- despite what people think and they are NOT a way for a PNM to get into a house that dropped you- so you can't say oh XYZ really wanted me but the computer messed up my schedule and I don't like any of my other houses so I am going to drop out because XYZ has promised to snap bid me. Nope aint gonna happen. you can not drop out with parties left on your schedule and get a snap bid. You must have already been released by every house OR withdrawn for a legit reason- not liking your invites is not a legit reason.

There will always be rumors on what houses gave snap bids but kind of like QAs no one ever really knows. Snap bids are given out before bids are so the snap bids go to the house at the same time as everyone else.

From the Alabama Panhellenic website:

f. Snap Bidding Snap bidding will begin as soon as bids are matched. Chapters may snap bid to fill unmatched quota spaces. Snap bidding is not intended to fill spaces in chapter total. Snap bidding is limited to any woman who registered and participated in at least one round in Primary Recruitment.

So it's not for total, just quota. COB is for total. And you can drop out of rush for any reason and receive a snap bid. Some girls will drop because they don't like the houses they have left and get picked up by sororities like KD and phi mu who have a tendency to over cut-- it's a gamble but it works for some

No. I've heard so many stories of girls saying that this happened to them or someone they knew, when in reality their first choice chapter just didn't have them high enough before they made quota. No one's second choice chapter stole them from their first choice by putting them as their number one PNM, and anyone who says otherwise was either lied to or is lying to you.

If you don't get your first choice it is because you weren't high enough on their list before they reached quota. Same for not getting your second choice either. Don't take it personally and fixate on what you didn't get; focus on the house who welcomes you.

ok, so the computer starts by matching 1st list to 1st (pnm) rank. If a pnm has a house first, it is possible they will not match. This is because the house may fill up with other pnms that also had the house first -- but the house just had those pnms higher on their list than you.

Then the computer will try to match you to your second choice and then third. It is an iterative, mutual match process.

Snaps go to a select few girls who were previously released from all houses before pref and would otherwise go without a bid at all. After bid matching, any chapters who didn't make quota will reach out to certain girls in person or by phone and offer them a bid. Girls who accept will run to their new houses along with all the other new members and only the girls who got them and the very very few people on the chapter's recruitment committee who made the snap decision know who they are.

Unless you know people in the house I doubt very many people would realize you weren't at pref. What you have to understand is that we talk to SO many girls, so its not like actives know exactly which girls did and didn't pref their house off the top of their head

You could also consider it a badge of honor. I mean, it was mentioned above that a girl got a Snap bid after having to drop out due to Strep after IWTs. You could look at it as the girls remembering her and liking her enough after one meeting to want her in the house.

1) There is not just one pref party at any house so no one is connecting any dots about who was at one of them or not. Girls are far too worried about themselves to care.
2) At bid day, everyone is so ready to put rush behind them and never look back. It is, blessedly, time to move on and no one talks about recruitment anymore. There will be no rehashing of rush, no perceived pecking order of new members, just relief and joy and looking ahead. There will be a lot happening on bid day and the next few days so attention is focused on that and nothing else.
3) If you go around blabbing that you were a snap then that's on you and you alone. It's best to not share too much during recruitment. Even when you get cut you don't have to tell the world. Learn some word tracks to deflect the situation and the attention off yourself.