<p>Does having a coach interested in you help you get admitted where otherwise you might not get in, not because your grades and test scores, etc. are not good enough, but because only a small number of applicants gets in? Taking Ivies off the table because they have a whole different way of accepting athletes, what about a school like UVA (IS for us, but less than a third of applicants are accepted overall) or UNC CH (something like 10% OOS accepted because of NC requirements to mostly fill public schools with IS applicants). If you were recruited by their softball coach and you had the grades, test scores, extracurriculars to get in but because of the numbers, might not be one of the lucky ones, could having the coach wanting you make a real difference?</p>
<p>The potential student athlete needs to organize her paperwork: official high school transcript, SAT/ACT scores, and players resume (with photo) and provide it to the coach. The coach can take these documents to the admissions department to get a “pre-read.” This usually takes about one week. Then the coach can get back to the potential recruit about the results of the pre-read. We found coaches to be honest about the likelihood (or not) of admission after the pre-read. We were also able to request admission to a specific school or department at that time. About this same time, we worked out the scholarship offer for the 4 year period, even though the letter of intent is only for one year. Some coaches have more pull with admissions than others. During these negotiations, we stepped in as parent advocates to support our daughter. You hear stories about empty promises from coaches but everything came through as planned for our daughter’s college recruitment.</p>
<p>Absolutely. It’s no secret that coaches at selective schools like UVA can support academically qualified recruits through the admissions process. When I spoke with the UVA rowing coach on that topic this was his response:</p>
<p>You mentioned being able to help an athlete get into school. Obviously UVA is a very academically competitive school. If you have an athlete that you want, but they may be on the border, how much support can you give with admissions?
Yes, absolutely. We have a few slots each year where admissions will allow us to identify those kids that we can support. It’s no different than at any other school. As for the academics they’ll need, it’s really a case by case basis.</p>
<p>I live in Virginia. I know many former, current and future UVA athletes. For the sports, and students that I’m familiar with, it is more about athletic talent than academic. Do they have some of both, sure. But an overwhelming number of those athletes would not be enrolled at UVA if it wasn’t for their athletic abilities. I trust varska’s quote is accurate, but that is only one sport…rowing. Based upon what is being stated here, I think their policies may be very sport dependent. So, I think it isn’t so much the coach as the sport at least at UVA.</p>
<p>For non-athletes, it is a very competitive school for both in-state and out of state students.</p>
<p>I have heard that the most commonly followed guideline for schools that give deference to athletics that they will have one baseline cutoff of test scores for the general admissions pool, and another, slightly lower (NOT by much) baseline requirement of test scores for a recruit a coach is very interested in, but that athlete must at least make that score. </p>
<p>Is this “rumor” true?</p>
<p>^ It’s not really that cut and dried. The Ivy model does require the overall group of athletes have an Academic index (standardized tests and GPA) within 1 statistical standard deviation of the general student body.
At a scholarship school there is no such requirement. As long as a recruit meets NCAA standards, which are really low, it’s between the coach and admissions as to who is admissible. With some exceptions, the top athletes at the sports powerhouse schools tend to bear little resemblance to rest of the student body as far as academics.</p>
<p>Interesting. Thank you.</p>
<p>What I’m wondering is can we leverage her softball ability to make her a more attractive candidate than someone else of equal academic standing? Her GPA is 3.9 unweighted, good test scores, a lot of extracurriculars, plus some AP classes. So that is all good. She is also a DI level athlete with coach interest, so there is a realistic chance these coaches might like her too. Because of the acceptance rate at UVA and UNC for OOS, I know her chances without softball would be low - everyone’s are. UVA accepts less than 1/3 and UNC less that 10% OOS, and most kids who apply know the standards, so they are good candidates for the most part. She is not a marginally qualified student, they just don’t have that many slots compared to the number of applicants. So what I’m wondering is, if a coach wanted her, could that make the difference in admissions? For example,might these coaches have a few slots they could use to gain acceptance for an athlete they want, so long as the athlete meets the standards for acceptance? If so, it would be worth catering interest from those coaches. I know coaches have pull at a lot of schools, esp. DII and DIII. Just wondering how much they have at schools with highly competitive admissions. There is time and cost involved in attracting coaches’ serious interest, so we have to be selective, but I’m thinking it might make those schools a much better possibility if the coach wanted her. Thanks for the UVA response. Anyone have any knowledge of UNC CH or other non-Ivy top schools? Thanks for the replies!</p>
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<p>VASBMom - First, the athlete must meet the coaches athletic standard for extremely competitive athletic conferences like the ACC. If the athlete meets that athletic standard anything above that (academic) may be a bonus but not necessarily. It will be relative to the other recruits. If all things are equal, I think the coach will take the kid who is the better student.</p>
<p>I know baseball recruiting very well, and I can’t believe that softball is much different. My son was recently recruited by an ACC school, and other D1 mid-major schools. it didn’t really matter that he had extremely strong grades and SATs because he wasn’t competing against those kids for roster spots. He was competing against kids that throw 90mph at the ACC school. For example, if my kid threw 88mph and scored a perfect SAT, he would still lose out to the kid who throws 90mph with 1400. That is just how these ACC coaches think, and how these extremely competitive conferences work. We realized this fairly early on, and changed our way of thinking. I hope this helps.</p>
<p>Thanks, agreed. The coach would have to want her.</p>
<p>Based on what I have seen for swimming recruitment I believe a similar situation exist for UNC CH as for UVA, that is if the coach wants you he can get you through admissions. However since these things can be sport specific I would contact both coaches and ask what grades and test scores are needed. In addition I would be very cautious about signing a NLI until admission was confirmed for either of these schools.</p>
<p>VASBMom, Absolutely, Absolutely and Absolutely.</p>
<p>But Fenway is 100% correct. She’s gotta be very VERY good. My DD wld love to hear from UVA for Bball. She has shown interest to those coaches on 3 occasions. Never heard from 'em once. She’s heard from some other great DI schools, but not UVA. She’s not in the legitimate contact period yet so this may change, but I’m not banking on it. </p>
<p>I agree so completely with Fenway about UVA and the ACC. Unless my DD somehow becomes the next Britney Griner in the next two years, I am not thinkin she will ever hear from those coaches and because of that, her last contact to them was her last. Movin’ on :)</p>
<p>She has some SEC interest, which is as good as it gets in softball, so I would think she may get some interest from ACC coaches if we get her in front of them. Thanks for all the good info! Navigating the college admissions process is difficult without hearing about others’ experience!</p>