Does anyone know how long it typically takes for an academic pre-read at NESCAC schools? Coach submitted everything on Monday and just wondering about how long it will take.
Depending on when submitted, I would estimate 2-3 weeks. You can always ask the coach if you want more certainty. Asking the coach wonât harm you at all. It will only convey your level of interest in the program.
Just a couple of days ago son was told 1-2 weeks depending how busy the athletic departmentâs admissions rep was. Good luck.
Summer can be a bit wonky, though, as itâs the best time of year for admissions staff to take vacation, so donât get too worried if it seems to take longer than you expected.
Just heard back and sounds positive. Coach said that they would be able to support the application and invited on a recruiting trip.
Support from a NESCAC coach is a good thing as all those schools are very difficult to get in. If your child is interested in that school at all and likes the vibe, the academics and all that other stuff (not just sports team), Iâd say take advantage of that support. Last year, our child had a positive read at a NESCAC school, but with limited spots they could support (3), the coach decided to not support our application. Now, it could be for a few reasons â my child wasnât in their top 3 and/or since we got a positive early read, they decided to support other players who may have needed the support to get in. We were told that if we applied on our own (without support) we would have a spot on the team, but the coach could not guarantee admittance as admissions has the final say. And guess what? We applied ED and got denied. ED applications were up by a significant percentage last year at that school. It was a huge bummer. But after we shed a few tears, we realized it would all be ok. And frankly there was nothing more we could have done â grades, test scores, visits, interviews and even meeting w/a coach who wanted us â there was nothing more that could have been done. So it was just fate, and then we moved on!
Secondarily, we had support/top recruit at a couple of other schools. One of them was also highly selective (less than 20% accepted). Got a positive early read there, too. But since we applied ED to the NESCAC school, we applied RD to this other school. Based on scattergrams and all that stuff, should have easily been a target school. Guess what? Got waitlisted there! Eventually got off that waitlist, but again, it goes to show you that you never know with college applications these days. It is so competitive and showing no signs of slowing down.
In the end, my child will be attending a school that they are very excited about and probably an even better fit (academically, socially and athletically) than their ED choice or the other schools that were recruiting us.
My bottom line advice is this: Focus on finding the school your child feels is the best fit, academically and socially â not just athletically.
Best of luck.
Thanks for sharing your story @InquiringMom3. I think there are a couple of things your story drives home:
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Just because you âpassâ the academic pre-read, does not mean that you are going to get an offer. Athletic prowess is the other major hurdle. So the pre-reads may be completed in July, but the offers (at least in my sonâs case) do not come until August (might vary by sport).
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If you do not have an explicit offer from the coach with full support, then you are taking a big chance applying there ED. Having gone through this process, our rule was no offer = no application.
As my Dâs story shows, D3 recruitment is a game of musical chairs, both with the coach, who is trying to put together the best team possible and with the applicant who is trying to find the right academic and athletic fit. My D got a positive pre read, then fell off the coaches list in Sept only to get back on in Oct. She had other coaches interested, but this was her #! choice. IMO, it ainât over til the fat lady sings and you get that acceptance.
As @mamom suggests, it is a game of musical chairs. Iâll bet that many coaches have a longer list than needed, just in case their top picks decide to go elsewhere, leaving room for another recruit to move up. Similarly, an Ivy recruit could decide at the last moment to go NESCAC, leaving a D1 player in a NESCAC coachâs lap, pushing the other recruits down the list. That is why positive pre-reads are critical, but not decisive.
It is also why recruits should cast a wide net with colleges. There are some crazy good colleges that might have the need for just the skills that your son or daughter has. Even if you scour the college website rosters for how many seniors are graduating, you will never know about injuries, science majors deciding to focus on academics, and kids just fed up with athletics.
If your kid loves the school, of course do the recruiting trip in the fall. If you go on the trip and are with your kid during the recruiting meeting, ask the coach where your kid is on the list of recruits. That helps to assess the risks of an experience similar to @InquiringMom3. Also stay in touch with the coach at say 2-4 week intervals throughout the fall. You can tell things from the coachâs responses to those emails.
Finally, trust the process. The bumps in the road are largely self-correcting. Usually, no matter where the kids end up, they have a terrific educational experience.
Iâm very interested in this thread because my daughter hopes to play NESCAC lacrosse so thanks everyone for your input. From what Iâm reading, it looks like no NESCAC schools make a commitment until right before ED time in the fall of senior year, is that correct? And even then itâs not always clear? Do they ever tell a student over the summer before senior year that they plan to support an application for admission?
That must be really hard on everyone! My daughter is already emailing regularly with coaches and sheâs a rising sophomore - I can see how it would be really disappointing for kids who have been doing this with positive response for a long time to be suddenly dropped when things shift. Thatâs life I suppose but how many coaches can you realistically do this with? 6, 8, 10? I canât imagine keeping in close contact with more than that. And if that is the case, when did many of you know which ones were better bets than others? Was it by junior year September or was it not really until the fall of senior year?
@LMC9902 I think that the timing of when a coach offers support is going to depend on a number of factors, with the main factor being the athletic level of the recruit. My kiddo had all of the standardized testing completed at beginning of junior year and was offered a spot in winter of junior year. The spot was accepted since it was the top choice, and other coaches were notified then. The official pre-read still took place in July and we had to wait until December for an official result since the league does not issue likely letters. I was nervous since nothing was official until December of senior year and many other doors had been closed months earlier. However, I was the only one in my house who was nervous, and my worrying was for nothing as it worked out great in the end.
@LMC9902, I would say that there is a good degree of variation in when coaches offer admissions support. I would also say that the offer for support usually would occur before the ED deadline, but not right before the deadline. I wouldnât be surprised to see a number in September. If you are sensitive to what coaches are saying, you will get a sense of where you stand in the summer preceding senior year.
By the way, ten emails every 2-4 weeks doesnât seem like an awful lot to me. If you cast a wide net early on â say like 50 schools â you soon get a sense of which coaches are responding and whether they have any interest. The pool becomes smaller rather quickly. The good thing about emailing a large number of schools is that the coach often circles back much later on if they have a need. Each school has its own recruiting schedule.
@shuttlebus, I am not sure it was a bad thing for you to be nervous. It worked out just perfectly for you, but being nervous just reflects the leap of faith required when you apply ED. Also best not to forget the gift of D3 athletic recruiting. Should not take it for granted.
I Second @shuttlebus comment, that was same time table both of my boys went through. My response is always the same with this type of question. You ask as many questions as possible, try to find out coaches past history with acceptances with regards to supported athletes. Then if satisfied, push the ED button, take the leap of faith, cross your fingers and stress until acceptance day
good luck
If you are on the top of the coachâs list, based on D and Sâs (and their friendsâ) experiences, they will tell you in September and press you to commit to applying ED. They are trying to solidify their position in musical chairs. If you are just getting good but vague encouragement even after a pre-read, then you are probably somewhere in the middle or bottom of the list. It is incumbent on you/your kid to politely press the coach at that point to see exactly where you stand. I also believe that coachâs for their part appreciate candor on the recruitâs part and an early heads up. S made his decision by early October and informed all coachâs of his decision immediately. Two of the coachâs followed up with him after SCEA decision day to see if he got into his school (was not a recruit there) because they could still offer support for EDII. I like to think he had this opportunity in part because he did not burn bridges.
This is all great to know, thanks everyone. @gointhruaphase I agree that emailing may not take much time but I was thinking more about going to individual camps - itâs hard to know where to invest your time and money. I guess you just need to do your best and guess where the fit might be good. I have taken a look at rosters and background of players on teams where my daughter hopes to play and feel like she is well positioned at many of her top choices - but who knows? I guess it will be a busy few years either way!
Lacrosse is a little different. The D1 and D2 schools canât recruit until Sept 1 of junior year, so some of those texting with D3 coaches may drop out if they decide to pursue D1/D2. Others may drop out once there is a financial pre-read before senior year. Most of the coaches are pretty experienced in knowing who is in and who wonât make it through admissions. They also know if they need goalies or middies. Things could change because of how the seasons play out too. A national championship or a bad year can change the needs of the team.
It somehow works out, even with all the moving pieces.
That makes a lot of sense. So many factors will come into play in the next few years so she will just keep casting a somewhat wide net for now!
@BKSquared is spot on: âThey are trying to solidify their position in musical chairs. If you are just getting good but vague encouragement even after a pre-read, then you are probably somewhere in the middle or bottom of the list. It is incumbent on you/your kid to politely press the coach at that point to see exactly where you stand.â
Couple of comments to add/reenforce:
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We knew we were taking a chance applying ED to the school where the coaches were âinterestedâ but not supporting the application. We had several other schools that were heavily recruiting/interestedâŠand believe me, you will see and know the difference. When a coach is going to support your application and you are one of their top recruits, they will be calling/texting/emailing your child every week (that was our experience, even up until May 1). It was very clear the difference in behavior from the coaches.
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Ask questions!! Coaches speak in their own coach/recruiting-speak, so donât be afraid to ask any and all questions that help clarify the situation for you and your child. Where am I on the list? Will I still have a spot on the team if I get in on my own? How many students get a positive pre-read but still donât get in? When will you know if you can support my application?
@InquiringMom3 this is on the money. âWhen a coach is going to support your application and you are one of their top recruits, they will be calling/texting/emailing your child every week (that was our experience, even up until May 1). It was very clear the difference in behavior from the coaches.â If you dont know where you stand its probably because you are not on their priority list.
@LMC9902, I totally agree, camps are super tough. Donât make your kid (or you) crazy. Try to figure out the best few camps for your sport and for your individual situation. Make sure your kid has a few 'trial runs" at local camps to get them accustomed to the drills. Then focus on the camps that are the best for your situation. Donât overdo. I believe that camps have diminishing returns. Going to 15 camps is not better than going to 5, IMHO.
Once I started looking at the kids other than mine at camps, I realized that the vast majority of the kids attending the camps were pretty good â pretty much all capable of playing somewhere at the next level. Most of them wonât end up playing in college, not because they donât have the ability, but because they were just pretty good and they expect the colleges to want them. The way to be recruited is pretty much the same as finding a job â there are so many âpretty goodâ applicants out there, that to stand out you have to want it and go after it.
Best of luck.