<p>It certainly seems like communicaton could be better in some cases. To gather all material and send it in and never hear back again though.....must have been very disappointing. In this day and age of email etc, truely inexuseable. It is what it is I guess.</p>
<p>You know, my D is at a level in her sport where the NESCAC is perfect for her abilities. She is capable of being a high level competitor on any team in her sport in the NESCAC. Now there is a reason I am saying that. She is not a big time D1 competitor, we know that. The point is that during junior year she submitted recruiting questionaires to most of the NESCAC coaches. You might be surprised to know that probably half of them never even responded. Yet she would be a high level performer for any of them. What we learned is some coaches are good recruiters, and some aren't. As I mentioned, one coach was coming over the table, then never even responded back. Yet a coach for a team where she did not go, answered every email in virtually minutes. And has continued to be as courteous and friendly since. Her team competed against him and he said a great hello to her and saw me and walked over and asked how my D was and was thrilled she was happy.</p>
<p>So, it all has to be put in perspective, these men and women are human, have their good and bad traits, and sometimes we find out the hard way.</p>
<p>I like the response above about better to be relieved for the yes then shocked with a no.</p>
<p>For those not familiar with the New England Small College Athletic Conference or NESCAC;
It is an athletic conference composed of some of the premier LAC's in the country along with a few of their geographically close, but slighly less distinguished siblings.(note: I am a Southerner and not particularly well disposed toward these Yankees. NESCAC schools are objectively pretty great by anyone's standards, both athletic and academic).</p>
<p>The USNWR LAC academic rankings for this conference run from #1 (go Williams and Amherst!) to #42 (Connecticut College is the Cornell of the grouping). Tufts is ranked by USNWR as a national university even though it competes (poorly) with the smaller but athletically more intense members of this conference. Tufts is easily a top 10 LAC in terms of SAT scores, our crude but effective yardstick of last resort for institutional excellence. </p>
<p>There is such a broad range of rankings in this conference that it is inappropriate to make geneal statements about the probability of admission to schools in this conference.
OMG I just did!
A recent rant by a swimming coach indicated that his admitted swimmers averaged within 10 points of the SAT I scores of his institution's admits in general. His point being that he got no preference for admission for his recruited athletes. The conference football coaches have been suspiciously silent on this issue.(note: I was an Ivy interior lineman in the way back times. Do not deluge me with testimonials regarding the academic competitiveness of football. I know the real truth.).</p>
<p>While generally Division III for athletics, there are some Div I sports; Squash at Williams for example.</p>
<p>Check them out at New</a> England Small College Athletic Conference. They are expensive and worth it. Many of them have abundant financial aid for poor kids they think can contribute to their institutions; athletically, artistically, or academically.</p>
<p>mwdgc:
Thanks for the insight. It's good to know the various levels of communication is normal. I also would prefer the quick no... then both parties can move on. Most importantly, it would help the student athlete ascertain truely where he is relative to ability and academic fit.</p>
<p>Just so you all know where we are at: D continues to get e-mails from this coach encouraging her etc. They talked about a D1 school she had contacted where the coach did not follow up with her and he told her he didn't care what other schools felt she was an athlete he really wants. So at least the contact continues. I just worry about her getting her hopes up too high.......she really likes this school. I think she's a good fit for DIII but not good enough for DI.</p>
<p>Continued contact from the coach has to be a good sign. I know the coach will know definitively before official results are released. I do know that you must the one to keep it in perspective just in case. But as long as communication continues, it continues to be a good sign. I wish her the best. You'll have to let the group know when the decisions arrive!</p>
<p>I'm encouraged to hear your D is getting this good feedback after applying RD. My D is a junior and is interested in DIII soccer at several of the NESCAC academic powerhouses. I want to encourage this, because I think even being on the coach's list (not a tip, but whatever the other thing is called) could get her in to some great schools. But I'm nervous about the pressure to apply ED. I think ED is really attractive to the student, but I think things can change an awful lot by April of senior year, and a different choice might be made. Also, my D will be applying for merit aid at some 2nd tier LACs, and I'd hate to foreclose those opportunities by applying ED. </p>
<p>So.... that's a long preface to a question I have, which I think is sufficiently related to this thread: can anyone name some NESCAC or other top LAC's where there's less emphasis on securing a slot (women's soccer) by applying ED or EDII?</p>
<p>I think from poking around on some of these boards that Amherst and Williams are two NESCAC schools that are not as big as ED as some of the others. They still have it but just don't view it as much of a priority as some of the other schools. (perhaps they have higher yields than some other schools ?) From the coach's point of view I guess it is easier to get your students earlier. My D also applied to some 2nd tier LACs and even one polytechnic institute and, who knows, she may get some great merit $$$ from one of them. Our EFC is kind of high and will be higher when S graduates after next year. I guess in early April we will figure it all out!!<br>
I think having a coach push a student to do ED is ridiculous because fin aid packages can vary so much and unless you are really loaded 50K per year for college is a LOT of money so fin aid should be considered.</p>
<p>Well this has been an interesting thread with having gone through this last year with my D. From the coaches perspective, the quicker they get their recruits "locked up", the better for them. They get to concentrate on coaching. I think that past years, fin aid packages have not had the same level of importance as now. And I mean that at all levels, from the most needy to the least. We have a friend who put a lot of money in a 529 only to see "half" of it disappear. They told us had their D been just entering college it would have dramatically change their situation. </p>
<p>Frankly, I think most coaches are good honest people but they have their focus and that is to coach and attract the best possible athletes they can. The philosophies of schools are different and again different from coach to coach. I think that is why we hear some of the dramatically different experiences kids have. </p>
<p>Then there is the quality/level of the teams. For example, Williams and Amherst have extremely strong swim teams. Therefore they have a much broader "pool" of talent to choose from. Allowing them to concentrate on getting kids ED because there are so many kids who would be willing to ge ED with the coaches blessing. Whereas, less strong swim teams such as Conn Col, Wesleyan, Bates, etc. are a little more happy with what they can get and may not push ED too hard so as not to lose a kid. </p>
<p>Just some random thoughts. I realize as I read through, we can spin this stuff in any direction. I do believe though that parents should be involved to help "steer" the students. A lot to ask of a 17 year old to make such big decisions!!</p>
<p>I agree about the parents being in on it and even shouldering the "blame". When my D was pushed to do ED by coaches we had already told her she could not. It was easier to tell the coach "my parents won't let me apply ED anywhere because of their financial situation" than it might have been to come up with another reason (maybe this is not the school I am really in love with).<br>
When I said Amherst and Williams were not as big on ED I meant from the admissions department point of view - the coaches' points of view may be totally different.</p>
<p>Update (I am the OP, and by the way all this was supposed to be titled D3 recruiting not D#):
Contact with coach still continues about 2X per week and now another student on the team has contacted her which is what the coach said he would do. I guess we'll really know in about 30 days.</p>
<p>Sounds very encouraging to me. I would think the coach is highly confident about acceptance. Otherwise, he/she wouldn't be making such continued contact, nevermind having a player also contact.
Good luck.</p>
<p>OK now I am getting nervous. D has not heard from said coach in 3 weeks! She has not tried to contact him either but until March 3 he had been contacting her about once a week or every two weeks. Does he know she did not get accepted and has just let her drop or is it just that he has been busy and then had spring break! UGH! I hate being so worried! She had really gotten to the point where this school would be her top choice if she got in provided the financial package was OK.</p>
<p>This is where a parent can feel free to step in and call the coach. It is not rude or intrusive for a parent to be guiding their child's college admissions process. Ask the coach directly what is going on and if he still has a spot on his roster for her if she gets accepted. He may have gotten a firm commitment from another athlete and moved on so he could lock up his recruiting class. Kids have a hard time being so direct with a potential future coach. I always told my son I would be happy to ask the hard questions for him anytime he wanted me to.</p>
<p>Don't know what sport, but check team and college website. Is it the college's spring break? Has the team been traveling anywhere for training, tournaments etc. and coach may not have been on campus recently?</p>
<p>Good thinking minivan - she heard from coach today and that is exactly what was going on. Spring break and coach decided to take break from paperwork and recruiting. E-mail today was very positive!</p>
<p>Is it a "Dead Period" for your daughter's sport or do they not have that in Division 3? In Division 1, the NCAA mandates dead periods where coaches are not allowed to contact athletes. There is a calendar for each sport on the NCAA.org site.</p>
<p>OK, so what is considered a competitive SAT score for a student who'd like to play D-III football but is not a star athlete? He is more concerned with excellent academics than winning records.</p>
<p>S has a 29 ACT and was actively recruited and "tipped" by Washington U, Carnegie-Mellon, Lehigh, and a few others.</p>
<p>This is the OP. D got big envelope today in the mail from Amherst the school she was in contact with the coach from!!! Guess all his positive contact meant a lot!</p>