Despite the added uncertainty, an unprecedented number of women rushing this fall elected to indicate a final preference for only one house instead of the traditional two, according to those involved in sorority rush.
On "Preference Night," women attend up to two parties at houses from which they have received invitations. At the end of the night, each woman signs a preference card, on which she indicates which house she would prefer to join in the event that she receives a bid from both houses. A woman agrees to accept a bid from any house she indicates on this card or she cannot rush again for one year. If a student does not receive a bid, she is eligible to rush again during the next rush period.
While the Panhellenic Council strongly encourages all women to attend the maximum number of parties to which they have received invitations and to include all available options on their preference cards, some women who have received invitations to two houses for Preference Night choose either only to attend one party or to include only their top choice on their preference card. This practice is colloquially known as "suiciding" and increases the chances that a student will not receive any bid.
The Panhellenic Council does not endorse the process, according to the council's president, Kate Robb '08. Robb said that, contrary to a pervasive campus myth that a woman who indicates a preference for only one house has a better chance of getting into that house, the computer system that the council uses to match women with houses does not take that into account.
"So effectively it decreases your chances," Robb said. "You then only have a chance to get into one house."
Despite receiving this advice from many Panhellenic Council representatives and rush counselors, many women still elected to take their chances.
"I'm not the kind of person that would join a sorority just for the sake of being in a sorority," Abbe Sokol '10 said, explaining why she chose to indicate a preference for only one house. "I would much rather have been an independent than a member of a house I wasn't totally excited about."
Robb said she was unable to comment on the number of girls who chose to suicide because the rush software hides details about each woman's decisions, even from administrators, but stated that there was a general feeling that the number was greater than usual this year.
"It was a concern of ours, as we had heard a lot of chatter," Robb said.
A small percentage of women who chose to suicide did not receive a bid from their preferred house. Ultimately, however, every woman who attended Preference Night received a bid in some form, as these unmatched women were offered "quota addition bids" or "snap bids."
A quota addition may be offered to a woman who chose to attend all rush events to which she was invited, did not choose to suicide, and yet did not receive a bid. Houses that did not meet their quota for new members are given the opportunity to extend an offer of membership to these women. If those houses decline to give them a bid, the women may receive a bid from a house that met its quota.
A snap bid is a similar offer but is extended to women who chose to list only one house on their preference card. Women eligible for quota additions have priority over those eligible for snap bids.
Snap bids and quota additions are distinct from open bids. An open bid may be extended by a house at any time during the rush process, even to a woman not formally involved in rush.
Epsilon Kappa Theta and Alpha Phi did not meet their quotas for new membership and were given the opportunity to offer bids to any unmatched women. All of these women were offered a bid from at least one of the two houses. Representatives of Alpha Phi declined to comment on the snap bid process, citing a national restriction on discussing rush proceedings with the media. Representatives of Theta were unavailable at press time.
