pledge class size

This is incorrect. Quota is the same for every house during formal recruitment and none can offer more than that regardless of size. (Quota Plus does not count.) After formal recruitment is over, Chapter Total is established and then houses that are under this number may offer bids, if they wish, as part of COB.

^yep this. The quota is the same, but houses with fewer members generally end up getting more quota additions so their pledge classes will be larger anyway.

wrong. you don't know what you are talking about and don't go to bama. quota is the same for every house but smaller houses offer bids beyond that number up to last number set for chapter total. it's called quota additions and it's done during recruitment not afterward with cob. that's why houses have different numbers of new members on bid day.

You are confused; I did say that it does not count, and what you described is not at all what Quota Additions are or how they work. EVERY house, small or large, takes Quota Additions. Quota Additions exist to ensure that every pnm who ranks all her pref houses (maximizes her options) gets a bid even if her two pref houses match to quota before they get to her. It all depends on which two houses a pnm prefs and how the two bid lists shake out. The algorithm does not automatically place Quota Additions with the smaller of the two houses; it takes into consideration the pnm's ranks and her place on the two bid lists as well. Quota Additions are for the benefit of the pnm's, not for the sororities to increase their numbers.

@^NO^ is correct. Quota Plus is to make sure that any PNM's left over from the bid matching process still get a bid to one of their two choices as long as they didn't suicide. It's not that houses 'offer' more bids, it's that the system 'places' PNM's with one of their pref houses.

^So ridiculous. The PNM is offered a bid after being placed as a quota addition. So yes offered a bid just like every other PNM.

I think the confusion here is WHY the smaller houses get more quota additions. They do NOT choose QAs voluntarily. Assuming smaller=weaker recruiting house because at UA it’s true.

1. Smaller houses take more PNMs to pref due to lower return rates, therefore they will have a higher # of QAs.
2. Smaller houses are more likely to pref girls who, in turn, are only preffing that one house. AKA the PNM has a guaranteed bid to that house, QA or not.

#2 is the main cause of QAs but #1 also plays a role along with other reasons.

@Yep is exactly correct. Quota Additions are not chosen by the chapters as such, they just happen. This is sooo much better than the days before Quota Plus, when deserving and wanted girls would get cross cut at pref.

^Houses know that anyone they chose to invite for pref can be a QA so those PNMs actually are chosen. If a smaller house didn't have QAs and their numbers went down, they would be in trouble with nationals.

⬆️ Yes! Any house that gets over quota on bid day actually needs more members to keep up. It’s not a good thing to take over quota (unless it’s just a few girls that didn’t suicide and ended up as extras.)

Right and the weaker houses take lots of extras. They get to invite more PNMs to pref than other houses because their return rates are lower. So they have more PNMs to be quota additions.