does that mean, based on what others said, the coach <em>already</em> told admissions that she should have a spot?</p>
<p>If that is true, is it not too late for him to use the spot for someone else?</p>
<p>And also, it would be odd to me that if the coach thought she was a shoo-in, he would bother to “code” her.</p>
<p>Hope all works out for the best. I still stand by that there are athletes, maybe admitted otherwise and therefore walk-ons, or who apply RD and decide to go there, who would end up taking a spot one way or another. I understand that there is a trope that all athletes need “codes” or “tips” or “support” to get in, but I don’t think that is always the case.</p>
<p>I might be mistaken, but I don’t believe the comments I have read suggest that athletes need support to get in. It’s just that without a hook, an athlete is evaluated the same way as the general applicant pool. At less competitive schools, someone with very strong academic credentials probably doesn’t need to worry. As the competition gets stronger, the probability of a bad outcome goes up. When an athlete, who may have limited other ECs, is applying to a school that rejects over 90% of applicants, the risks of rejection are high even for a valedictorian with near perfect test scores and great recommendations. If a hook that you earned by being a successful athlete is available, it makes sense to use it even if you believe you could get in on your own.</p>
<p>I called Admissions today. I. first, talked to one an admissions counselor who gave me the spiel about my daughter being a recruited athlete and that her application would need to go to the Athletic Committee and couldn’t tell me when or anymore about the process. All she said was that we could keep calling back to check on the status.</p>
<p>Not happy with that response, I called back and got the Athletic Liaison in Admissions. He looked at her application, grades and test scores and said she was a strong candidate in her own right, and he would put it through today. And, she should have her acceptance by early next week.</p>
<p>Good for you adkdad. Many on this board advise that parents should take a back seat and let the kids handle this stuff. I often disagree. If this had happened in our family, I would have done what you did.</p>
<p>Hopefully your daughter gets into her first choice school. If not, I hope the coach’s behavior here wasn’t an indication of a fundamental lack of character. At least your daughter will go in with her eyes wide open.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your daughter, and a high five to you, too, for stepping in and taking care of the problem.</p>
<p>Yeah, I really don’t understand the thought process of parents the take a far back seat in the college application process. The way I look at it, at the highest level, the total cost could realistically range anywhere from $80 - 250k over four years. Why would you leave a 17-18 years on there own to navigate that entire experience?</p>
<p>The same parents would get more involved to help purchase a car for less than $10k!</p>
<p>There are differing levels of parental involvement. During the early stages of recruitment, I believe parents should stay in the background and offer suggestions to their children but except for pleasantries not speak with coaches. Since my children were offered likely letters and we weren’t applying for financial aid, my wife and I were almost completely in the background. On the other hand, if there had been any doubt about the level of financial or admissions support we would have been part of the discussion.</p>
<p>Even though you will be paying the bills, I was surprised to hear that a college would discuss admissions decisions with a parent. Nice job. Glad it worked out. </p>
<p>As I just said in another thread, one school we looked at didn’t want the parents involved at all. Admissions interview, tour, athletic team, nothing. When we were comparing schools, I couldn’t add anything for this school, pro or con. My daughter didn’t even apply. No one had talked to me about finances, just said to use the NPC.</p>
<p>My daughter was 16 when she was making the decision. She needed help. The finances alone were overwhelming to her ($60k is a number she couldn’t understand), and she was also looking at the academic programs, the team, travel, family nearby. It’s a lot of information for a 16 year old.</p>
<p>Most of the other schools we looked at included the family. Several even asked if my other daughter, along for the trip, was interested. I don’t really understand the schools or teams not wanting the family involved. Do they only want self motivated, independent, mature, confident athletes? How many of those are there in the 16-17 year old pool? You’d think they’d want kids who have family support, who look to adults for guidance with these big life decisions. Not saying there aren’t kids who can manage all the decisions without family input (I was one of those but my parents weren’t paying), but just that it is not strange or unheard of for some kids to still want their parents to help. A 17 year old wouldn’t decide to have surgery or travel to Europe without parental input, so why is it unheard of for parents to want a say in where their $60k per year is going?</p>
<p>I’m still straightening out things that either my daughter ‘handled’ or that the school just plain screwed up. My daughter didn’t handle the NCAA stuff, and I had to scramble to get all her transcripts the first week of the year. Could she have done it? Sure, and maybe she should have, but I had to make calls to schools from California to Florida, and twice to the NCAA, and it took several hours. She was in her third week of school and panicking a little. Her school seems to have an issue with her file, and last week was still asking for her high school transcripts. My daughter ran around to her adviser, her coach, the registrar and made no progress on getting the hold removed from her account. I made one call to financial aid and it was fixed (they had the transcripts all along, just hadn’t updated her file). Sometimes being the mean mother still works.</p>