how common is it to get dropped from rush?

It's very possible to get a bid, but it may not be from one of the houses you initially wanted. What will happen is girls will be dropped from the houses they wanted and will be left with houses they believe are "not the right fit for them" (usually bc they aren't top or middle tier houses) and will then will drop the recruitment process all together. If you keep an open mind and are kind to everyone you meet the odds are in your favor of receiving a bid by the end of the week. Good luck and try to trust the system!

Pretty much everyone that wants a bid at the absolute end winds up getting one.

What winds up happening is about halfway through the process, between philanthropy and sisterhood, a lot of girls will drop because they won't be asked back to the houses they wanted. That's when the biggest cuts from the most competitive sororities happen. There will be another wave of girls that will drop between sisterhood and pref because they might've had their eye on a specific house at that point, get cut, and not like the alternative(s). That brings the number down from 700 to closer to 600-650 (I'm estimating).

The only circumstances I've ever heard of girls going through the process and not getting bids that really, really wanted them, are girls that did something really against the rules or awful (like make racial slurs at a house or bring a cell phone inside), and then there's the very rare horror story of a girl that just completely slips through the cracks and gets dropped from every house. 99% of the time though, if you go through the entire process and don't drop at all, you will wind up with a bid somewhere - it just might not be at the house you were hoping for.

only 7 girls got cut completely this year? that seems ridiculous. If the numbers are that little Tulane should do a better job of making sure those 7 girls end up anywhere. Everybody should get a bid.