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I am sure my answer will need to come from someone close to Bama.. but who is COBing?
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I don't want to name names, but...
Anyone who doesn't make quota can offer snap bids or COB. Several chapters did not *quite* make quota last year (and a couple of them would surprise you!), so they did COB on or right after bid day to bump themselves up to quota.
Sometimes new members drop out during the first semester--they find that sorority or college life is not for them, or the financial commitment is too great, or they get bad grades and their parents make them drop out, or they party waaaay too much and end up getting asked to leave. There are almost always a few of these in any house. Then, there are the older members who become inactive or leave the house or leave school, graduating seniors, etc.
So the houses who are only at total AFTER pledging quota in the fall are under total when people drop out, etc. They can then COB or participate in Spring Rush.
I believe that there were 4 or 5 houses last year that participated in Spring Rush. My old chapter was not one of them, but since I'm an advisor and I live in Tuscaloosa, I hear a lot of what's going on. There may be other chapters that COB during the semester... even when I was a freshman (many years ago...ha ha) there was COB and snap bidding from very strong chapters. It's just done rather quietly.
Things have changed a lot in the past 10 years at 'Bama. I don't think that any of the chapters on campus now are weak or bad chapters. Even the "newest" ones... and our "newest" chapters have been on campus for close to 20 years or so... are doing quite well. But the rush numbers have been declining and quota is usually set before pref/serious night (which is when the most women drop out), so it's often set too high for all the houses to reach. NPC sororitites have also received a lot of bad press courtesy of Melody Twilley, and some girls take that into consideration when signing up for rush. As you can see even by what's written here, UA's rush has a pretty bad rep.
Here are some websites for NPC sororities at Alabama. Bamagirl, please PM me if you have any questions or want advice on rush at 'Bama. I'm sorry that this is happening, but I'm sure that you will be able to go on your trip and will still find a place where you'll be happy!
And you won't have to miss out on all the fun!
(Note: These are the only NPC sites that are listed on the University of Alabama website... there may be others, but I couldn't find them. My own chapter has been lazy and doesn't have their own website up yet!!! But I'm working on them!)
http://www.deltazetabama.org/ (Delta Zeta)
http://www.uagammaphibeta.com/ (Gamma Phi Beta)
http://bama.ua.edu/~piphi/ (Pi Beta Phi)
http://www.cba.ua.edu/~rking1/ (Zeta Tau Alpha)
Here is the panhellenic website:
http://ua1vm.ua.edu/~npc/
I hope this helps!