How does Informal/COB work @ Your School?

[KSUViolet06]

FYI- I came up with this topic to basically educate PNM's. Just so they know that COB exists, and that there are other options.


I came into my chapter through COB. I've always wondered how COB works @ other schools? Is it common @ your school? How many chapters participate? How is it structured?

Here @ Kent State usually ALL chapters do COB during the beginning of Spring semester.
Usually, all chapters here have some vacancies after Fall semester. They put up flyers and have tables/booths/showcases in the Student center. It actually can get quite competitive with EVERYBODY advertising and chalking at the same time.

Most groups have COB at least twice in the spring. It really depends on who is @ total. For example, ABC is usually @ total and maybe has 10 spring spots, so they'll only have COB once.

Some groups (3 or 4) have COB all spring. My chapter does this. We have COB once a week pretty much all spring. We invite girls to come to our events (board games, spa nights) for a few weeks and then decide whether/not to extend bids. We got 10 girls that way!

Others have mabye one full week of events and extend bids at the end,

How does your chapter do COB?

[texas*princess]

I came in through COR too!

Basically what we do is the same at your school - we put up fliers, set up info tables in the Union, etc.

Depending on how many "vacancies" there are, we do COR 2 or 3 nights in a row, and if there are still vacancies, we invite potential members to our weekly Sisterhood night at the house where we watch movies, play games, eat dinner, or whatever!

This past year I think there were maybe 2 or 3 sororities out of 6 that held COR. I guess it all depends on when seniors graduate!

[kateshort]

Valpo had deferred recruitment, so COB/Recruitment usually looked something like this over the past few years:

mid-September: One full week of COB events by all sororities to recruit members up to Panhellenic total. At the end of the week, bids are offered and the women end up going where they feel most comfortable given which org(s) they receive bids to. Women can only participate if they are sophomores and juniors; occasionally seniors who have changed majors will rush if they have an extra year of classes to take.

late September through early November: Occasional COB events by those sororities who are still a number of members below Panhellenic total. COB for sororities very close to total usually involves networking with friends the week after September COB to fill that last slot.

January: Formal recruitment. Events during the first week after break, running Tuesday through Saturday (pref) with bid day on Sunday. PNMs are usually freshman and sophomores, with the occasional junior rushing as well. COB for sororities very close to total usually involves networking with friends the week after formal recruitment to fill that last slot.

mid-January: One-half to one full week of COB events by a handful of sororities to recruit members up to Panhellenic total. At the end of the week, bids are offered and the women end up going where they feel most comfortable given which org(s) they receive bids to. Freshmen, sophomores and juniors are the primary PNM group.

February through early April: Occasional COB events by those sororities who are still a number of members below Panhellenic total.

Nobody had to register for COB-- you were usually on a list of unaffiliated women that Panhellenic had and were called or invited through a flyer, or you were friends with others in that org, or you saw a flyer and decided to stop by. The patterns of fliers, dorm storming, chalking, phone calls, and the like are probably pretty similar campus to campus.

I don't know how similar things will be this year; since ADPi closed in May, the "COB queens" won't be recruiting all semester ever year. (-sigh- I'm gonna miss helping out with Formal recruitment!!!) I figure the schedule will most likely be the usual week of semi-structured COB for upperclass women in September, followed by a semi-structured week or two of events in January or early February by those organizations that are more than five women below quota/total. I do not know how many members the remaining six orgs lost to graduation... I wish them all the best; it'd suck to lose another sorority when there are eight-to-ten frats but only six sororities left...

[aephi alum]

Back in the day, we had formal recruitment first thing fall semester. As a small chapter, we generally had a COB recruitment week early in the spring, where we had some fun events and usually got a few new members. Also, we always had our eyes open for potential sisters, even if rush wasn't coming up... we've had more than one single-person new member class. Often, one or two other chapters would dip under total with seniors graduating at semester; usually they'd have a COB rush, targeting specific women whom the sisters already knew for their few available spaces.

Now that FR is deferred to spring, every sorority holds COB recruitment in the fall to get back to total after their seniors graduate. This is fairly disorganized - each sorority has a number of events and extends bids over a period of roughly two weeks. Only sophomores and up can rush, of course.