Why do pnms rank chapters if chapters don't see them

Hey! Good question. Your ranks are used in the event that you would receive more invitations back for a round than the schedule allows. In that case your lower ranked chapters drop off. Otherwise, chapters you rank low will stay on your schedule in order to give you as many choices as possible each round, and allow you to give the chapters that want you another look so you have your best chance for a bid. This is how and why pnm's don't drop chapters, they rank them.

However, after pref this changes, and your ranks will have equal consideration to the sororities' ranks as you list them 1 and 2 on your MRABA card. Every pnm invited to a chapter's pref is on their bid list somewhere. The process of bid matching starts at the top of a sorority's ranked bid list and tries to match with all the pnm's who rank that chapter as their number 1. If you are ranked high enough to match with them before they reach quota then you will get a bid to your number 1. If you don't match with your number 1, the process will then try to match you with your number 2. If you are not high enough on their bid list to match with them either, you will be placed at either chapter for a bid based on your choices, your place on the bid lists, and the relative sizes of the memberships. This is how every pnm is guaranteed a bid when she ranks both her pref houses, even if it puts a chapter over quota. If you only rank one out of two pref houses and you are not high enough to match with that house then you are out of the process. If you only have one pref house and put them on your card then you are getting that bid.

THANK YOU SO MUCH! A thorough explanation--I appreciate this!