@homerdog I wonder the same about Bowdoin, my D and other students we know had similar experiences with little more than soft support, which is always risky, especially if foregoing an ED app elsewhere. Bowdoin’s overall lesser athletic results as compared to peers like Williams and Amherst also supports this hypothesis.
@Mwfan1921 he won’t go ED. He’s not applying anywhere ED. He’s got other things going for him other than running so we will just see where the chips fall in RD. He’s just not ready to pick a favorite school yet but he did really love Bowdoin. He’s interviewed in admissions and will do everything he can to continue to show interest.
I think Bowdoin does offer some support for athletes. I know a kid playing lax there right now and my son has been contacted by every Nescac school except Williams. The Bowdoin coach sent a note saying they were looking to fill a spot in son’s sport and they would like to bring him to campus. They might not get a bunch of recruit spots, but if they got none they’d literally have no chance of winning ever and that’s not a good place for a coach to be.
I think the coaches get enough kids in to replenish the team as necessary and that’s about it. I live in an area where I have personally seen every single one of the Nescac coaches at the big regional events scouting. They wouldn’t be scouting and wasting time, $$ and effort on this if they didn’t get some pull.
Hearing stories like @OldbatesieDoc makes me a bit nervous about the Nescac process and my son’s chances. I know the coach likes him, needs to fill a spot as their best guy is leaving, got invited for an OV already and has had a pre-read done. I just don’t like not getting a NLI to sign or a likely letter and having to sweat out an ED application. The coach has mentioned supporting son’s app already but I guess we should clarify full support or not. I’m pretty certain he is willing to fully support him, my son and him chat regularly, and he has expresses he really wants on him on the team. My son has told the coach it seems like a good fit for him but has not totally “verbally” committed yet as he has other options he is pursuing too. I know after the OV the coach will be looking for an ED app shortly after.
Bowdoin definitely gives certain athletes real support and pre-reads culminating in an acceptance at ED. But there have been lots of stories on cc about athletes who coaches would like to have on the team, but aren’t quite good enough to be a ‘slotted’ athlete, who don’t get in.
Ok you two. @RightCoaster and @wisteria100 let’s just hope S19 runs super FAST this fall. LOL.
@homerdog I think you’ll find this varies by sport and by school. Football and lacrosse, and to a lesser extent basketball, seem to have more pull with admissions in NESCAC than other sports especially cross country. Most NESCACs have no problem finding academically qualified students that can run competitively. Some set their recruiting standards just south of the Ivies and still fill the roster. Amherst, for example, wants to see a 4:25 1600 or a 9:20 3200. Those marks are awfully close to Dartmouth’s standards. The message your son received from Bowdoin’s coach is consistent with others I know and should be recognized for what it is. Best of luck to him. He sounds like the type of student and person that will make any school proud.
@oldchief78 Aw thanks. His 1600 time is close to that and he’s getting faster. Of course, he won’t have any more track times to send in time for decisions. He’ll have to rely on his XC times (which aren’t a consistent thing across different courses, etc) to show how much he’s improved from last year’s times. I think they will see the upward trend. Fingers crossed. 
One of the reasons coaches love to “talk” with candidates who may not be their top picks is that so many D3 kids end up quitting their sport at some point. Getting a great academic/decent athlete in without using a slot can be helpful to the coach as they can round out their roster a bit. If they add that kid to their team later it can also raise their team’s GPA which can be helpful.
I was told by a coach that he does submit a letter to admissions for candidates he likes but won’t offer support or a slot to. He said he has kept track of his data and around 50% of those kids get in. I don’t know how many letters the coach writes every year, but if he says he will write you a letter a 50/50 isn’t too shabby at some of those sub 10% admission rate schools.
@RightCoaster That is hugely helpful. We will wait a while and see how the relationships between S19 and coaches evolve but maybe, at some point, he can ask if the coach will be submitting anything to admissions on his behalf.
@homerdog at some point during the Fall, if the coach decides not to offer any official slot or help to your son, maybe have your son write a note explaining that he is applying regardless and would love to be part of the team, and ask the coach directly if she can write a LOR for him. What’s the worst that can happen, she says no? She might say yes. If she says no it’s not going to affect his results with admissions in a negative manner.
I’d continue to send athletic and academic updates to the coach through they year, especially if your are applying RD. Who knows, maybe a recruit falls thorough and there is suddenly a spot opens. if she knows your son is determined to get in and run she may end up figuring out some way to lend some support.
@RightCoaster All good advice. Thanks! Things do fall through of course. Non-NASCAC drama going on over here with top girls soccer recruit at our school. She announced to the world in June that she was signing with U Richmond. Then, yesterday, all over social media, she and her mom announce that she’s going to play at Dartmouth. What? Not sure how that happens…assuming Dartmouth lost someone but, geez, I didn’t know you could change your mind and leave the first school once you’ve supposedly committed.
You can change your mind all you want until that NLI is signed (mid November). And guess what? The coaches can change their minds too and pull the ‘offer’ since coaches can’t offer admissions, only support.
There is quite a bit of shifting that goes on.
@twoinanddone wow. ok. Good to know!
Yes, lots of shifting of the dominos, even among those who have ‘committed’. Recruiting will still be playing out past many schools’ ED deadlines, it is like a game of musical chairs. Coaching changes and injuries can lead to breaking of prior commitments from either party, in addition to those athletes who receive a ‘better offer’. Even in June of senior year (post-graduation) there is lots of baseball activity, as schools whose recruits were drafted try to replace those losses with kids who have committed elsewhere…played out with one of our friends thru July!
Yes. As @wisteria100 says, Bowdoin most definitely supports athletes for admissions. It is just trickier at NESCACS because there are fewer hard spots for top athletes with lower academic stats. Most kids will be medium/strong athletes but not stellar but have the grades. Interestingly, NESCACS typically are more concerned with grades than test scores.
No one is truly “committed” on either end until the NLI is signed or the athlete is admitted to an Ivy/D3 school. Most coaches and most athletes honor the verbal commitment, but it non-binding on everyone. Usually if it gets broken it is because circumstances changed somehow, although sometimes it is just because 16 year old kids (or younger) don’t really know what they want yet.
@dadof4kids of course NESCAC recruits do not sign NLIs
The Nescac schools seem actually harder to get into academically than Ivies or other top. schools excluding MIT. MIT is the most demanding.
But after my son’s pre-read came back the coach said explicitly to keep up the " All A’s". part of your application. Yeah, no pressure right!!
@dadof4kids so do you mean that the kids I know who say they are committed (D1 level) aren’t truly 100 percent in since this 2019 group hasn’t even filled out an app yet?
@Center I read somewhere that NASCACs might use their spots for strong athletes with less than awesome stats. Maybe even focusing on first gen or URMs since many NASCAC schools try hard to get those kids. Athletics is one way to offer them a spot if they are a great athlete.