Hi there, I’m helping (using the term loosely) one of my kid’s teammates as she reaches the end of her track recruiting journey. She’s very interested in Bowdoin. She has passed the preread.
My question: I thought I had read here at some point that Bowdoin doesn’t really give coaches the power that other NESCAC coaches have in recruiting. LIke, maybe Bowdoin can at best put in a good word or help nudge a candidate a bit, but that the AO doesn’t give coaches slots/tips/full support type power.
My memory on this is fuzzy, so I’m hoping others can help me clarify. What do you know about whether Bowdoin is like other NESCAC vs like MIT for recruiting purposes?
Not true. Same as other NESCACs with slots/full coach support thru admission process.
Regardless I agree the recruit should be asking the coach these questions if she receives an offer. Ask what full support means, and ask what proportion of the coach’s recruits who passed pre-read and had the same type of support as is being offered have historically been accepted.
Yes, she should ask those questions herself, and I’ve told her as much. She hasn’t quite reached that point yet and wanted to understand what the spectrum of possible help the coach could offer (different from what he chooses to offer). Hence my question. Thanks everyone!
Absolutely agree with @mwfan1921. Bowdoin plays by the same rules as the rest of the NESCAC relative to athletic recruiting. And, agreed that the recruit should have this discussion with the coach. What difference does it make that the collective group here thinks one way or the other? Ask the coach. Only the coach knows how much a given athlete is needed in a given year, and thus the level of support the coach can give.
That said, several years back a poster had a conversation with the Bowdoin Track coach about support. Great Piece out of Bowdoin on NESCAC recruiting. As you can see from the thread, there was one recruit who was told by the track coach that he did not support recruits with admissions. However, many posters disagreed and offered possible explanations. You will also see a reference in the thread to a three part series in the Bowdoin Orient about NESCAC recruiting which include a track reference. The articles are worth a read, although do bear in mind that it was a student piece (getting only the information that the school wanted them to report).