Digital Guide
The COB Playbook
14 pages on continuous open bidding, the recruitment path almost nobody talks about.
Continuous open bidding is the less obvious way into a sorority. There’s no rounds, no cuts, no running across a lawn to a hundred screaming girls. There’s coffee, there’s ice cream, there’s a chapter deciding they like you and you deciding you like them back. Most girls who’d be perfect for COB never even find out it exists, or they find out too late.
I know, because COB is how I got in. Then I spent the next decade on the other side of it, 40+ recruitments as an advisor, watching this process from behind the curtain. This guide covers how COB actually works, start to finish. When it opens, how to get started, the exact messages to send, what to expect at every step, and the one document you need to understand before you sign anything.
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The Rush Guide Co. is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NPC or any member organization. Recruitment is a mutual selection process, and no guide can guarantee a bid. This is educational guidance based on the author’s experience. Always follow your campus Panhellenic Council’s official rules.
What’s Inside
How continuous open bidding actually works, from the other side.
- When COB actually starts and how long your window really stays open, chapter by chapter
- The three ways into the COB process, including the move that makes you a shoo-in months before spots even open
- The exact first message to send a chapter, plus how to drop hints to your friend who is already in a sorority without it being awkward
- What getting a bid through COB actually looks like
Who This Is For
If you skipped formal, or you’re not sure sorority life is even for you, this is for you.
Most people have no idea COB exists, let alone how to navigate it. Maybe you decided formal recruitment wasn’t for you and thought that closed the door. Maybe there’s really only one chapter on campus you’d want, and meeting all of them sounds exhausting. Maybe you single-preferenced on pref night, didn’t bid match, and now you’re deciding what’s next.
This guide is for the girl who wants a real plan for continuous open bidding instead of guessing. It’s especially built for anyone who connects better one-on-one than in a room full of people, and for the PNM who found out about COB late and needs to move fast. If you want to know exactly how this quieter path into a sorority works, this is the guide.
What Makes This Different
There is almost no good information out there about COB. This is the whole map.
Search continuous open bidding and you’ll find a couple of vague paragraphs and a lot of nothing. No one explains when it starts, what to say, or how the chapter is deciding on you the whole time. And a lot of girls just don’t even know this process exists.
This guide is from the other side of the process, and it’s personal. I joined my chapter through COB myself. Then I spent 40+ recruitments in the basement watching how chapters actually run all aspects of recruitment, who they invite, and how the timing really works. I’m not handing you vague encouragement. I’m handing you the timeline, the scripts, the strategy, and the one document that can quietly lock you into a decision you didn’t fully understand.
COB is the way into a sorority that almost no one talks about. This guide is me talking about it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What you’re probably wondering before you buy.
What is continuous open bidding (COB)?
COB is how sororities fill their open spots after formal recruitment ends. Chapters that come out of formal below total have room, and COB is the lower-key process of filling it. Unlike formal, you don’t meet every chapter. You might meet just one or two. This guide covers the whole process from the inside.
When does COB start?
For you as a PNM, COB starts on Bid Day or the first day of classes. How long it lasts depends on the chapter, anywhere from a single day to close to half the semester. The guide breaks down the real timeline, including a move that gets you on a chapter’s radar months before spots even open.
Do I have to go through formal recruitment to COB?
No. You never have to go through formal to get a COB bid. That’s the key difference between COB and snap bidding, and the guide explains both so you know exactly which path applies to you.
Is COB a backup plan or a downgrade?
No. COB is a front door, just a quieter one. Plenty of women join through COB not because formal went wrong, but because they never wanted to do formal in the first place. You come in a full member.
Is this a physical guide or digital?
Digital. You’ll get an instant download after purchase that you can read on your phone, tablet, or computer.
You’ve read this far. You already know.
Instant digital download for The COB Playbook. Read it on any device.
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