athletic recruitment

<p>Great Info here. Let me give you my expereinces from this year. My son is currently a senior, who is being recruited for football. He has very compettitive scores (2090 SAT and well over a 4.0 GPA). Middlebury has shown interest in him for some time. He eventually went up for an overnight visit late november -- clearly past the ED1 deadline. He loved it there and a week later- around Dec 10 or so, decided that Middlebury was the place he wanted to go. He called the coach, telling him he wanted to go ED2. the coach was extatic and told him that he needed to get the bulk of his application (ie trasncript, letters, scores and essays etc) to addmissions before a solid answer could be given to him on whther they would "support" him. Now middlebury, as stated before, is very ahead on the recruiting process for football and thus they could be more selective and most likely needed higher academics as there "tips" had essentially been used up. So my son submitted everything as quickly as possibly, and was told on Dec 24 that he should switch his application to ED2 (He was told to apply RD by the coach before). From our meetings with the coach on his overnight visit, Middlbury does not tell people to go ED if they cannot get them in by either a tip or protect. Thus, if the coach tells your son or daughter, at least this is how it runs with football, to go Ed1 or ED2, essentially he will be admitted. The coach told my son that though nothing is gareunteed (as in all schools) everything looks good. I gather that from this, he will be admitted come Feb. Whether he was a tip or a protect is not known-- i will assume he was a protect because we had to wait for feedback from admissions. Either way, if the coach tells you to go ED, he is saying that "Hey all signs look good that your applicatio is strong enough, and our pull is strong enough to get your in here." So I would just like to get your feedback on this -- as it is happening now and get your reactions. thanks and good luck.</p>

<p>Congrats to your son!</p>

<p>Our conversations with the Middlebury football coaches regarding ED1 sounded much the same. They absolutely cannot -- and very carefully did not -- step over the line that's agreed in the NESCAC that only Admissions can make acceptance decisions and extend offers, and they were clear in talking to us that that was the rule. Period. But when the ED1 acceptences went out, as we expected based on the same understanding of the system that you got, our son received his. So I'm guessing they'll be teammates next year.</p>

<p>Despite all the warnings we got, the coaches we met in the NESCAC, the Ivies, the Patriot League, and around the D-III football world (Wash U, Chicago, Pomona, Claremont McKenna, etc.) were all very above board, decent and not out to screw the recruits. In the NESCAC, they knew our son had a bunch of offers (from some of each of the above), but that Middlebury was his first choice. They would never have led him to check the binding ED1 box, potentially watching the recruiting class of his second choice fill up (which was also pressing an ED1 application), if they weren't confident that he was going to be accepted. I'm sure the same is true of ED2.</p>

<p>And it also looks like Middlebury will be close to full after ED. I heard they took 17 football players ED1, which probably only leaves another 6-7 and they're done. That promises a really good recruiting class. We were at a couple of NESCACs last spring when the RD football offers went out in April. Those schools still had 6-8 slots left and were on pins and needles waiting to hear. Williams filled their final Class of 2008 slots just before Christmas, which sounds like it's now more the norm than the exception.</p>

<p>Again, it sounds like your son is in great shape.</p>

<p>If you don't mind me asking, what positions do your sons play?</p>

<p>Midd is one of my son's top schools but didn't get film in until just before Christmas. Didn't follow up over the holiday and was going to tomorrow. Now I am wondering if the coach would have contacted him in that time. All applications are in, so it's not as if he wasn't applying, but... </p>

<p>I guess it's kind of silly to over think. It is what it is.</p>

<p>My son is an inside linebacker</p>

<p>Mine is a wide receiver.</p>

<p>Since you never really know exactly what's going on, and every school is different, all the recruits and parents are ultimately just winging it through the process. (Now, to the extent that I've "mastered" athletic recruiting, comes my next child, who isn't an athlete.)</p>

<p>I would think calling is your best bet. If I had to guess, I would wonder whether all the right coaches, some of whom have moved on to other sports, happened to be around to look at film that was just sent in over the holidays. So it could be, for instance, that a recruiting coach is still waiting to talk to a head coach or position coach, etc., before they know what to say. And all the while recruits either are committing or falling through.</p>

<p>I hope to see your son there. Good luck!</p>

<p>Son -- Full Back/Tight End (depending on scheme) and D/LSM lax -- followed up but I think there is still some phone tag going on. However, I was wondering what role the parents end up taking in this process with the coaches, if any at all. If one or two schools are very interested in one kid, how does that typically go? As it is, it isn't really economical for us to make these visits the coaches have asked of our son with him (short notice airfare is really ridiculous by the way) and so, his going alone rightfully gives a lot of onus on his gut feelings, impressions, etc. about the school and the coaches. And since he has to play and study there, that makes sense. Still... as the adult with the kid's best interests at heart, what's the normal protocol?</p>

<p>My son went on several recruiting weekends. I went with him on three that we could drive to and he visited two schools by himself to keep airfare down. On the three weekends that I attended I did not even see the coach other than for a brief handshake at one school and only a brief conversation with the coach at another. He made the choice where to apply ED based on his experiences. As I would have been happy for him to attend any of the schools, it worked out very well from my perspective.</p>

<p>Thanks Midwestern. I will fully agree that I would be perfectly happy for my son to attend any school to which he has applied. And so I will leave him to it and my role can be completely transportation related. Other than trying to coordinate flights and make sure he is getting to and from campus I will not expect to hear much. But the whole travel thing is a little unnerving only because, let's face it, they can't rent a car and there's still a learning curve when it comes to going to an unfamiliar place. Although last year he missed a bus from Boston and managed to take a cab to the main station to catch the next bus from there. So.. he's capable, but I prefer he not be stranded anywhere in winter.</p>

<p>Is there any recruiting at Middlebury for XC-Skiing?</p>

<p>Replying to Modadunn (because I know nothing about XC skiing except that it's hard), we too sent our son on a mix of trips with and without us. Usually, because of the car rental limitation, we went every time he couldn't take a taxi across town (like to Middlebury). We mainly just served as chauffeurs, but met the coaches whenever the visit was more individual (i.e., wasn't a big group prospect day). It was never required or necessarily expected that a parent accompany the prospect.</p>

<p>But as the schools got more interested, we the parents definitely met the coaches. By the time it got to the offer stage, there was always a fairly formal meeting in which the head coach made it clear (save the limitations about not being able to make admissions decisions) that they really wanted your son and that his qualifications looked great, etc. And I think it's very useful for a parent to be there because the parent might pick up on a nuance -- a contingency, or some risk -- that the child might not hear or remember to pass on.</p>

<p>As for competence at travel, my son went from losing his wallet in the Hartford airport sophomore year -- I got a call from the Marriott, which he just happened to be passing when walking through the terminal (and the Marriott drove it all the way down to New Haven out of pure courtesy) -- to cris-crossing the country junior year and dealing with canceled flights, etc., all by himself.</p>

<p>The only travel issue we could never solve was renting cars. We hired a car for him from Carey on a couple of tricky cross-town/catch-a-flight itineraries, but a private car is about as expensive as a coach ticket for a parent/chauffeur. The car services typically have 2-3 hour minimums (garage-to-garage) at $75-100/hr., but three hours should get the car from the Burlington airport to Middlebury and back to Burlington. And Carey is a very reliable service if you're in a pinch.</p>

<p>Thanks Rick10. He has traveled quite a bit by himself but nothing like the length of time you describe. I cannot imagine his handling losing his wallet with any aplomb whatsoever. So maybe either his father or I will make the trip as well. As the days go by it seems the one-on-one days are surely going to be gone soon enough</p>

<p>ok.. I am thinking the coach has his class filled as son talked to him today only to hear the coach hadn't gotten his film -- which I overnighted right before Christmas. Based on the post here that says the coach sealed up a kid on CHristmas Eve, I am thinking the window might have closed. While disappointed, I am now wondering if my kid will be in the mix for RD even though his grades and scores are very much on par with the upper tier of kids accepted. However, the only other example we have at our school have been, again, legacies. Which is just one more reason why it makes a difference where a person goes to school - it helps their future kids as well. OR it just keeps the super elite, super elite. Or both.</p>

<p>In thinking about that, should I be ticked my father in law was such an individual that he
passed on the Yale legacy to attend Duke and my husband was encouraged to do the same and attended Tulane? :) My Dad went to cornell, but graduated from Allegheny because umm.. Allegheny had married student housing and well.. my sister was very much unexpected. It's amazing where life can sometimes take you not to mention the ripple affect that follows.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, NESCAC coaches tend to nail down their classes through the EDa process. A few spots are filled through the ED2 process but most are doled out during the ED1 process and only a small number kept open through the RD process. Sports is often cited as an advantage in the admissions process but it can cut the other way if the applicant doesn't get himself (or herself) slotted into the proper slot at the proper time. . . .</p>

<p>It does sound like Middlebury may have filled (or almost fully filled) its recruiting class before year end 2008. (As I posted earlier, I know that, a year ago in recruiting the high school class of 2008, Williams only had two spots left in its recruiting class by Christmas, but Colby extended 6-8 -- I can't remember which -- RD offers). If Middlebury has fully filled their recruiting class, the coaches may have zero input on acceptance of an RD applicant no matter how much they like him.</p>

<p>As for legacies, they've been of no use to my family either. For the top schools these days, though, I think you have to perfect that "legacy" status by giving a LOT of money. I have a friend who tried to get his child into his alma mater, Princeton. He had given Princeton something like $10K per year for about 20 years. When they rejected his kid, he called them. They took the time to calculate how much he had already given and told him they'd change their mind if he gave them $250K more (plus, of course, full tuition, room and board). So it would take about $500K plus $50K per year -- $700,000 -- for an alum to buy their kid's way into Princeton (which I'm sure lots of Princeton alums are in position to pay), and that was several years ago. My friend, however, told them where to shove their legacy policy, and his kid is happily enrolled at Vanderbilt.</p>