My daughter has just started speaking with coaches at various schools and we wanted to know if recruits are held to the same admissions standards or if there is some room for coaches to help with admissions if her scores fall a bit short of the published ones. She is currently a sophomore and hasnt tested yet.
Generally, your daughter should fit the admissions profile. The way one Director of Admissions (at one of these extremely selective schools put it), having the GPA and test scores is basically the screen for having your application seriously considered. Then, having a “hook” is what kicks in. The “hook” would be the coach saying that he/she wanted this student. In the end, that’s how the adcom creates a class that meets “institutional needs”. There are numerous threads on this site relating to situations in which the assumption was that the coach could “trump” the adcom and did not, leaving a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. I suspect that this varies greatly from school to school, but I’d ask the question of the coach directly and also the rep who handles your region.
With all of that said, someone is in the bottom 25% of the class in terms of stats, so they’re bringing something to the table that the school needs. The question then becomes whether they’ll be successful at the school. You don’t want to set your daughter up to fail.
In terms of a documented example, a year ago USNWR profiled a football recruit accepted at Bowdoin with a 3.3 GPA and a 1650 SAT. (The SAT was unlikely to have been submitted in this case. However, it correlates roughly with the GPA and could therefore have been inferred.) Whether cases like this apply to other schools, or even more than rarely at Bowdoin, cannot be determined from one example. Nonetheless, admission committees, at least at certain colleges, may allow more latitude for athletes than some believe.
The football recruit was also an URM so probably his stats are not relevant in this case . .
What is URM?
Under Represented Minority
However, if URM status was a primary factor in the cited example, then Bowdoin’s actual practices would not appear to comport with their Common Data Set, which indicates “racial/ethnic status” is of tertiary importance.
@merc81 re #2, for recruited athletes at NESCACs and Ivies a distinction is generally drawn between helmet sport athletes and other athletes. Football, hockey and to a lesser extent lacrosse receive admissions preferences that may not be available to other athletes.
very interesting reply. thank you! I wonder why that is ?
Again, the kid profiled by USNWR is likely more an URM than a football recruit as he has been at Bowdoin for 2 years and has yet to enter a game . .
Ok thank you. We have heard such good things about the school. Looking forward to visiting.
What sport does she play?
Each coach has a different policy.
she plays both soccer and tennis but interested in college tennis.
ask the coach(es), he/she/they will be able to relate the specifics of how the “bands” work. But long story should, if she is an outstanding athlete with a GPA and scores that wouldn’t likely give her any shot, the coach could get her in (though it depends on sport and ability).