Applying ED as an athletic recruit

<p>A coach is submitting my name to the Admissions Committee as a recruit for the team. I have been instructed to apply ED if I am to do my part to make this happen. No problem on my end! </p>

<p>My SAT scores are in William and Mary's mid-range (1330/2060) and I have two very impressive SAT II scores (not essential, but still nice to have). </p>

<p>I will have taken 4 APs (including one online--very hard, I think) and my grades are all A's and B's on a 7-point scale. Other students in my high school rank higher than I do and have taken more AP's so I doubt that I would get in alone without being a coach's pick. </p>

<p>I plan to throw my heart and soul into my application and write great essays. </p>

<p>What are my chances? How important is being listed as an athletic recruit to a school like William and Mary?</p>

<p>I'm in-state, BTW. Anything else that a recruit has to do, please let me know. Don't want to pester the coach too much during the season. </p>

<p>Thank you so much.</p>

<p>Short Answer: you are in (IMO)</p>

<p>Long Answer:</p>

<p>Definitely work to write good essays. That is your chance to show the committee who you are. You are instate, 4 AP classes (which is definitely fewer than some W&M students, but also definitely not fewer than all), and you have an SAT score that puts you in the middle 50%. And your coach wants you.</p>

<p>The way I understand recruiting (just to clarify incase my username gives off false impressions, I did not play a sport at W&M), is that each of the coaches have some spots for their athletes. You have to remember that coaches know what the W&M academics are like. They do not waste their time recruiting and then recommending people to the admissions committee that won’t be able to handle the academic load at W&M. It’s not good for the coach or the student.</p>

<p>There was a report done (published in Feb, 2006) on athletics at W&M. It says there are 111 “slots” for “academically qualified athletes”… 60 for men and 51 for women. It says that usually 90-95 were used, and 55-60 were awarded scholarships. It also says that the average SAT score for athletes remains “high, above 1150” and notes that the gap is -199 for Men and -137 for Women. You should note that your score is significantly higher than this. [the average SAT overall at W&M has increased in this time as well, probably also for athletics]</p>

<p>There is [at the time of this report] a Faculty Athletic Review Committee which looks at special cases were a student’s “background, personal circumstances, or exceptional athletic promise warranted closer examination.” IMO you don’t fall into these cases. Not to say you don’t have athletic promise, lol, but I think the report means “exceptional athletic promise [but questionable academics]”</p>

<p>You can google: ‘william and mary athletic task force’ if you want to read the whole thing. It’s like 25 pages.</p>

<p>So, if you meet the academic requirements and your coach wants to use one of his/her spaces on you (whatever their portion of the 111 is)… you should be good to go.</p>

<p>The coach who you are communicating with will tell the athletic liaison in our office that you are a recruited athlete and that you are in the ED pool. We will note that in your application so we can consider that while conducting our review. Once the Admission Committee has made its decision it’s relayed to the coach and further discussions can occcur depending on how the coach feels about the decision made and how much he/she is recruiting the particular athlete.</p>

<p>Applying ED certainly can be beneficial to any student as you’re competing in a far smaller pool (~1100 as compared to 12,500+ in regular decision) so it’s easier for any student to stand out in the smaller pool.</p>