So here’s a question for you experienced parents.
Daughter had an original/exploratory zoom conversation with a coach back in Sept to introduce herself as an applicant. A top ranked school. We have no legacy or links there.
Early Dec, coach requested a zoom. Calendars were busy so she didn’t actually connect until Dec 21st.
On this zoom, Coach said to daughter “we would like to let you know that we fully support your application and will be working with you during this process”.
So how much should I be reading into that?
Coach is also part of the admissions team. Daughter hasn’t interviewed officially yet, nor submitted any info beyond the Gateway stage 1 profile.
Any insights please?
Well that, unlike the cards, does seem substantive. If this were college, it means an admissions advantage. I would guess it means an admissions advantage at the prep school. College advice would be to ask the coach what s/he meant.
I am not familiar with prep school athletic recruiting. At the schools I’m familiar with they are not this organized/formal, though they welcome talented athletes for sure.
Coach did say “this is not a Letter of Intent, because we don’t work like that” so I’m assuming that they can decide that she’s not the right fit, or that she can’t keep up with the academics after seeing her scores/transcript, or a school academic recommendation says she’s not a great student.
I wasn’t sure how substantive the coaches comment is, or how often it is made for athletes. I’m also not sure how often coaches want students but admission teams decide that they have more qualified students that they would prefer to admit.
A different school did say “you are what we consider a recruit” which apparently means that she can access specific athletic resources not usually allowed for freshmen.
I’d love to get insight into the athletic recruiting process for Prep School. Does it differ by
sport - does a coach of a high profile sport have bigger sway than one of less prestigious sports?
This doesn’t really affect me, but I’m following because I’m really curious. I’m down to one kid left, and she isn’t at that level.
The only thing I can speak to on this is wrestling at Wyoming Seminary and Blair Academy. Given that they are probably the best 2 HS teams in the country (not just among prep schools, among ALL high schools), I can’t imagine that those coaches aren’t given great leeway in who they recruit. I would assume as long as certain academic/behavior thresholds are met they get anyone they want.
That is almost certainly not exactly what you are asking, but I think it does illustrate that at least in some scenarios the coaches do have considerable pull. For colleges it is pretty well known what support means at different schools, and it is not considered in poor taste to ask a coach to clarify, i.e. what % of recruits at this level that you support do you get in (frequently the answer is 100%, but if it isn’t you need to know that).
Good luck.
Many schools will do this for a couple of their sports. Boys basketball has gotten a fair amount of press for this over the years, but as noted above, it could be wrestling, soccer, or anything else.
It’s also worth remembering that even the biggest BS are not huge, so maintaining competitive programs can’t be left to serendipity – if they aren’t deliberate about bringing in talent, they’ll have a tough time developing it over 4 years.
But it does vary by school and sport.
Valid question. But one that deserves its own thread instead of hijacking one
I’m sorry. Apologies. I didn’t mean to hijack the thread. I knew that the question about the coach support thread wasn’t relevant to the Holiday Cards comments but I saw that this post was “split” so I thought that a new thread had been created and that was what I was posting in.