I would be amazed and impressed if in a recruitment field of 1200 pnms, for instance, a sorority that had to release 50% at first cut, could remember why it cut all 600 girls. Not having to deal with release figures, I would expect the only manageable way would include some superficial criteria, which would not prevent a second look in COB. Different story of course, the further in to recruitment you get.

We have well over 1200 PNMs who participate in formal recruitment each year. You would be surprised at how many members remember taking Susie Sophomore through last year. They remember exactly why Susie was released the first time around.

To the OP, please keep in mind that only those chapters not at Chapter Total are allowed to particpate in COR. Depending on the campus, that often means only a few chapters will be COR'ing.

Exactly, and that's at a huge recruitment like Bama. In any smaller recruitment, you're almost guaranteed to be remembered from formal.

I'd imagine with chapters in that situation (very large PNM pool, have to make steep cuts the first round), there isn't always a "reason" a PNM gets cut, but rather that they know who they want to keep through their social networks, legacies, women with whom they went to high school, etc. I'd doubt there was an actual damning "reason" for every PNM released from a competitve chapter in a large recruitment, just a lack of reason to keep her.

BINGO! The chapters that have to make huge PNM cuts due to RFM will "keep who they want" instead of "cutting who they didn't like". I would even go a step further and guess that those chapters that have to make huge RFM cuts the first day or two probabally reach quota (or snap bid to quota) and don't have COB spots available to fill. Therefore (to the OP) you may not be able to get a COB from the chapter that you ideally want.

I would imagine remembering why a PNM was cut would come more into play with lilpadfoot (3 chapters, 50 member total).

With the OP, we don't know how large formal recruitment was or how big the chapters are there.

On my campus where greek life was relatively small I would say that I remembered the girls who went through formal. However, I was a rho gamma during formal recruitment so I did not vote on any of them nor did I know why they were cut. My sisters did, though!

Don't contact the chapters. Give your name to the Greek Life/Greek Affairs/Panhel office and they will let the chapters that are participating in COB know you are interested. Honestly, the chapters you're "interested in" are probably not having COB events.

Occasionally, a PNM who is released during Formal Recruitment can later get a bid to that chapter through COB, but it is not the norm and highly campus-specific.

But even if a group does have to COB at some point after FR, the things that cut the PNM during formal, whether damning or not, are unlikely to change. things like GPA, legacy status, recs etc. will remain the same and in my experience, those are just the types of things that large chapters are forced to use during early rounds due to RFM.

Can anyone explain why the OP is asking people on GC about COB on HER campus and not going directly to Greek Life?

I think that letting the OP know that a chapter may be unwilling to give a bid to a woman who previously was cut is a reasonable thing. My chapter, despite what may be AOII policy, was unwilling to give bids to women through COB that they had cut through formal recruitment (no matter what the reason.) Hopefully, chapters will take into account why they made a decision to release a PNM, but don't be surprised if the decision remains the same. I think that getting a bid as a senior is very improbable. The people that get a bid are few and far between since the payout is low for a lot of effort on the part of the chapter.