Athletic recruits at Haverford-beware

Colleges and Universities A-Z Haverford College
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<p>D "rejected" today by Haverford, after she was recruited for a sport, told her academics were fine, and pressured to apply early decision, which she did. After she was deferred, she sent in more letters, and indicated her strong interest. She passed on some other early app opportunities at other schools in which she had a legacy advantage.</p>

<p>She did have a "78" in advanced calculus on her mid terms---she has consistently taken advanced classes, and has one of the most booked schedules in her school. Otherwise, her recs, scores and academics were great. Guess perfection trumps honesty at Ford.</p>

<p>She was admitted early write to Swarthmore---.</p>

<p>So Haverford---how do you account for misleading a 17 year old?</p>

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<p>Loki5,</p>

<p>I’ve browsed this site for many years and have just re-activated a long-dormant account. I have two sons that were recruited by Ivy League, NESCAC and other schools.</p>

<p>My oldest is a freshman in college and had a very similar experience at MIT.</p>

<p>My younger one was accepted to Haverford, though not as a recruit.</p>

<p>The “misleading” you speak of, unfortunately is fairly common. My experience tells me that the coaches are more to blame than the institution. Some coaches are newer and simply do not have a handle on how much weight their “tag” or endorsement will be given by admissions.</p>

<p>Some coaches may be dishonest, but I find that more of them are just ignorant, and wishful thinkers.</p>

<p>I’m sorry your daughter went through this unpleasant experience. I too felt that my son wasted an EA opportunity on MIT when other options could have panned out better.</p>

<p>For the benefit of other readers… this cautionary tale applies to all schools and all coaches. Until you get a likely letter, paid visit or something concrete… coaches might be juggling a basket with many applicants and are simply hedging their bets.</p>

<p>And, Loki5, after my son was deferred EA at MIT the coaches called and urged him to send in supplemental stuff, just as you described.</p>

<p>MIT was actively urging all recruits to apply early… all the way back in August, I believe. In retrospect, I now see that they just weren’t sure.</p>

<p>I’m glad you raised this issue, but I’m certain it is not one peculiar to Haverford.</p>

<p>Coaches use the ED system to test whether prospects are all in or not. If you don’t apply ED, they ask “Why not?”. Once you do, they play the odds.</p>

<p>I’ve been through this rodeo twice now. It’s no fun being used, but if your kid gets into multiple schools, you’ll find that the tables have been reversed, albeit with some unpleasant feelings along the way.</p>

<p>If you feel the coach really misled your child, I would contact the Athletic Director and state your grievance.</p>

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<p>My son’s experience was completely different with Haverford. He was recruited by one of their coaches who was completely honest and forthright with all of the prospective players. He advised them that their best chance of getting in, and his best chance with “supporting” their application was through ED, but he has had players supported through RD as well, with success. He also advised them that his support only goes so far. He told a story of a recruit who took it for granted he was in and wrote an awful essay. Needless to say he didn’t get accepted even with support.</p>

<p>Similar experience at MIT for my son. Was recruited, but the coach told him honestly (and the same to friends he was recruiting so we know it wasn’t BS) that at MIT the coaches have zero admission influence. Which amazes me even more since they field competitive teams.</p>

<p>Obviously each student will have a different experience depending on the coach they are dealing with, but I wanted to express our experience as being a positive one. The caveat is that my son received his Haverford acceptance letter yesterday, and is now weighing the decision of where to attend.</p>

<p>Good luck to all students (and their parents)!</p>

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<p>Loki5,</p>

<p>If this is how they run things at Haverford then maybe your daughter’s turn-down is a blessing.</p>

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<p>I have found the admissions office/committee to be extremely helpful and honest. At an institution such as Haverford nobody is guaranteed a spot and a lot more than gpa and expressed interest goes into an application. Furthermore, who said that her academics were good, the coach? If so, then you should be aware that coaches are not the admissions staff and do not have as much sway with them as at other schools. Although if you feel that you were mislead in anyway, then you should certainly contact somebody and issue a complaint. Best of luck to you and your daughter.</p>

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<p>Her academics were allegedly vetted by the admissions office this past summer, and she was told they were fine. She is a good student, great recs, good scores, and had a music supplement. She communicated with the coach after ED decisions came out, and there was no discussion of any change in her status. </p>

<p>We are not sure what happened. The good news is that she has other good options, and we visited Swat over the weekend, and we all felt that it was a better place for her—so we believe it is for the best.</p>

<p>Caveat Emptor however, to those students relying on these representations by coaches! I maintain that it is an ironic outcome for a school that claims to put honor first…</p>

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<p>Loki,</p>

<p>I am sorry to hear your daughter had that experience. Ironically, my daughter had the exact same experience with a coach at Swarthmore in 2011 who pressured her to apply ED. We thought, given the coach’s assurances and the fact that she told us she had completed a positive pre-read with admissions, that she was a strong candidates for ED admission (wrong) . She is now completing her sophomore year as a quite happy student athlete at Haverford (accepted RD). </p>

<p>As much as it pained her at the time, my daughter will tell you now that she couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. I’m confident yours will as well if she ends up at Swarthmore.</p>

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<p>Our student-athlete had (and is having) a fine experience with a Haverford coach and team.</p>

<p>We, too, did not have a fine (or even acceptable) experience with every single college coach.</p>

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<p>From reading the athletic recruits forum on CC, I have seen that this happens everywhere. The Haverford coach my D met said admissions looked over her info and that she was competitive for admission, but that was all they could say. And though it would be easier to get in ED, she would still support her application in the RD round. My D had not been considering Haverford until she was recruited. She was admitted RD, but will probably be going elsewhere.</p>

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<p>If the coach “pressured” your daughter, that is a serious problem and shouldn’t happen. I think the athletic director should be notified if that occurred. “Being pressured” (external) and “feeling pressure” (internal) though aren’t the same thing and I think it’s important to distinguish the 2. </p>

<p>Also, what does “fine” mean to you? </p>

<p>Looking at the acceptance stats of any of the top 10 LACs, there is a wide range in terms of SAT, ACTs, ect… My understanding of what “fine” means is that the person is competitive within that range. I think that’s all any coach can say as they are not a part of the admissions committee. The admissions committees at these types of LACs look first for academic ability which many students meet. They then look for what each admitted student can bring to the campus community in terms of talents and passions and perhaps one school (in context of other admitted students) may view one talent more sought after than another. As an example, in the NYT article from a few years ago, one ED student (lacrosse goalie) was rejected from HC and wound up going to Swat. The factor I saw in this case was that HC already had a lacrosse goalie and Swat had none.</p>

<p><a href=“Results Can Be Jarring as Recruiting Carousel Stops - The New York Times”>Results Can Be Jarring as Recruiting Carousel Stops - The New York Times;
<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/25/sports/ncaafootball/25haverford.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/25/sports/ncaafootball/25haverford.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I’m very sorry if you felt that the coach misled you and your daughter in any way, but just because a coach says, after looking at her academics and other activities, that she has a very competitive chance means that she actually would get in. </p>

<p>From my experience at Haverford and talking with people who work in the admissions office, the Haverford admission committee admits students who will fit into the community at Haverford based on the essays and interview. Of course, academics and extracurricular activities are important, but stellar academic scores and activities are not the only factors that influence acceptance to a college. I congratulate your daughter for getting into Swarthmore and I hope that she has a wonderful experience wherever she decides to attend.</p>

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<p>My D was recruited by a coach at Haverford. She was told she was one of the top recruits. I did not believe my D had the scores/grades to gain admission (and I told the coach this and sent her academic info all along). After 2 years of recruiting, the pre-read came back with a no-go. Not a big surprise to us because she was not in the common data set range. This was my experience with Haverford.</p>

<p>I think the pre-read at these top colleges need to be more like the ivy likely letters. What is the point of the pre-read if it is still a crapshoot?</p>

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<p>Loki,</p>

<p>I am very sorry for your experience. However, I may need your assistance. My 2014 son is an athletic recruit (guess which sport) and really loved the school when he visited. I can understand if you don’t want to in this forum, but can I get an idea of what your daughter’s standardized test scores were. It would be helpful to me to get a feeling for where my son might be for next year.</p>

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<p>So sorry your daughter was “rejected” by Haverford. My D is currently being recruited and is being told that she should submit for a pre-read by admissions as well. Would love to know the sport your daughter plays…can you indicate?</p>

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<p>I think you can change Haverford to ANY top D3 school. Coaches simply don’t have the pull that parents/recruits think they have. It may just be that some of these coaches have less pull than they even realize.</p>

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<p>I am dying to know what sport.</p>

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Men’s lacrosse at Haverford has developed a reputation for leading kids on only for them to be rejected by Admissions. I have heard of five separate cases, from parents and coaches, over the last three years of this happening to men’s lacrosse players at Haverford-long after the 2005 NYT article and under a new lacrosse head coach. This is particularly troubling insomuch as athletes are typically required to apply ED to receive the coach’s support. Applying ED means all the other college coaches know a kid has committed to Haverford and will remove that kid from their recruiting lists. By the time rejections come out in December, most rosters at similar schools are filled. Furthermore, the coach took these kids’ transcripts and test scores to Admissions over the rising senior summer for an early read. They were all told that Admissions had given positive feedback. My son’s club coach warned me in emphatic terms about this. That coach has assisted dozens of lacrosse players get recruited to other D III schools and considers Haverford in a league of their own in this type of behavior. His advice was that my son consider Haverford lacrosse a “last resort” because of this long running pattern. The club coach suggested the problem was more with Haverford Admissions than with the Haverford coaches. My son took his coach’s advice and committed elsewhere.

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I registered just to reply to your post and I see this was your first post as well. I infer that you may have a closer connection to the Haverford application process than simply speaking with 5 former recruits. If so, I feel sorry for your disappointment.

Like you, I’ve spoken with Haverford recruits. However, I don’t know anyone who was misled. The people I know were all cautioned by the coach that Haverford’s recruiting process is different than most, that Admissions considers a coach’s recommendation but will truly have the final say, that until Admissions decides no promises of admission are made and that pre-reads aren’t the same as likely letters at Ivies. This uncertainty hampers the recruiting process and probably impacts the team that takes the field, but that’s Haverford. Good for your son that he had other great opportunities, although I don’t know anyone who considers Haverford a “last resort”. Good luck to your son for a happy college lacrosse experience.

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Laxpower has a thread on this subject, and Laxpower shows that 9 recruits got through this year, which is pretty good! Maybe the misunderstanding is resolved?

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As someone without any connection to Haverford or Lacrosse, I would suggest that there is a VERY fine balance at play. It is impossible for a coach at such a competitive school to override the academic qualifications necessary for admission. They can influence; but they have very little say in the final decision.

Meanwhile, they have to recruit as best they can. It really isn’t in their best interest (or responsibility) to balance every aspect of a potential applications and provide guidance on when to apply…that’s for high school counselors and parents.

I think a lot of parents get caught up in hearing what they want to hear from such a prestigious and competitive school, and believe the coach can do more than they’ve actually committed to. I don’t blame the coaches for wanting to gather as many applications as they can in an attempt to field the best team possible.