Okay. Bids can get tricky, so I will try to explain.
I don't know how many days rush is at your school, so I will use mine as an example, and that should be okay.
At U of Houston, there are four days of parties. The first day you go to all six sororities. Neither the rushees nor the sororities cut that day.
Day two: You see all six again. You go home or to your dorm and the sororities cut some people. They send a list or invitation cards to panhellenic with the names of the girls who they invite back for the 3rd day.
Day three: You show up and your rho chi has your invitations. You look and see who invited you back and you can go to a maximum of four sororities this day. That means if all six invited you back, you have to reject two invitations (this is called "cutting a sorority") You go to the parties and have fun! The sororities cut more people this night after you've gone home and send the list of invites to panhellenic again.
Day four: You show up and your rho chi gives you your invites. You can only pref two groups this day, so if you got more than two invites, you must reject some (cutting again). If people have invited you to their pref, they are supposed to put you on their bid list. After you go to these two parties, you go back to your rho chis and they give you a card to fill out. On this card you list the sororities you want in rank of #1 #2 and #3. You put a third down just in case you don't get your first two...it is possible to get your third, so you should never put a sorority on your card that you would not join!!!!!!!
This is where it gets tricky...the sororities make (at least at my school) two bid lists. If a girls first choice is a sorority that put her down on list one, she's a match and gets a bid. Once girls are eliminated from the first list (lets say that a girl was on someone's list but they matched with a different sorority...the other sororities then have to remove the girl from their list) then the next girl on the list moves up a spot and a girl from the second list moves up to the first list. This all sounds really confusing and it is! Some schools (those with large greek systems) have a computer program that processes this info and prints a list. At schools with smaller greek systems, they do it live where rush advisors gather in a room and help the panhellenic advisor with bid matching.
This explanation is general, and if your school has more sororities, more parties, etc. then the number of days, and sororities you have to cut will be different, but you can still tell how it works from my explanation.
If anyone knows anymore stuff that would help the explanation, please post!
As for rushees, do not try to outsmart the system by calculating who you will cut according to where you think you fall on the list, because it can result in you not really getting who you want!! Don't worry about the technical aspect of recruitment. Just be honest to yourself and make your choices according to how you feel in your heart!!!
