Hi! Responded to PMs.
By the time I got home from CoMo and from picking my son up from my parents' house last night, I crashed. I think I fell asleep last night earlier than my 3 year old did!!
Some houses will probably do some informal COB this semester. It's nice to be able to pick up a few extra women right away so they can be integrated with the fall new member class! But some houses will also do a slightly more structured COB in the spring. It really varies from one house to another, as some will have advertised events that any interested PNM can attend, and some will only have private events or issue bids to friends of friends without opening up to the campus at large. Some of that depends on how many open spots they have!
Definitely the best advice for anyone interested in COB is to just be friendly and natural with any sorority women. Being friends with women in a chapter that can COB is the easiest way to get a bid. Second, be careful about any craziness. Mizzou's syllabus week is notorious, and women will find it much harder (or impossible) to COB if they become known for something inappropriate. Same goes for interactions with guys. Hooking up with a sister's ex (whether you know about the relationship or not) is a very quick way to make COB difficult. Finally, keep an open mind. Every house at Mizzou is amazing. If the woman wanting to COB had options and dropped out of recruitment because she didn't like those options, she really needs to take some time to evaluate what really happened. I know not everyone will get along with everyone. But generally the houses that can COB are the houses that those PNMs had invitations from in formal recruitment when they dropped.
Formal recruitment is crazy, fast, and it can be hard to make a decision when emotions are involved. Just because you thought that a house wasn't right for you during formal recruitment doesn't mean you should automatically discount them for COB. Quite the opposite, really!
Hybrid Mode
