cuts

first round and round before pref

Harshest cuts are always made after round 3, right before preference round. The reason for this is because once you go to pref round, a house has to place you somewhere on their bid list. You might not be at the top, but not everyone who prefs a sorority is going to put that sorority as their first choice, so if enough girls from the top/middle of their bid list select other chapters over theirs, you could still possibly get a bid to that sorority even if you're towards the bottom of their bid list. The fact that if you pref somewhere you have a strong chance of getting a bid means that many houses don't want to ask girls to pref if they don't want them in the house at all. It sucks because by round 3 so many girls get invested and feel like they have a strong chance, so it tends to hurt the most, but honestly the best advice I can give is to go into pref round open minded and excited, because if you're asked to pref somewhere, that means the girls in the house really like you and want you to be a possible member. That's a compliment that you should take to heart and not obsess over the fact that one chapter cut you right before. Why would you want to wind up somewhere that doesn't want you to be a member? I'd go into round 3 being yourself and focus on finding chapters that will actually be the best fit for you and your personality and not focus on image/ranks. You might get a top house, but if you don't feel you can be yourself around those girls, does that even matter? You won't feel comfortable being there anyway. I know it's hard to not take it all personally but I have found that more often than not this process works and people wind up happy where the end up, if they give things a fair chance.