My D is also looking into d3 recruiting and it has been rough last two months. She did get positive pre-reads and interest from few coaches but no solid offer so far from her top choices. Since it is about two months to actually applying we were wondering if we should just give up on recruiting and apply without sports. One coach she thought was really interested and almost done deal has stopped responding last two weeks and few other places coaches seem to be waiting, not sure what is holding them back. Is it time to just move on at this point for d3 recruiting?
This year is strange. I’d keep trying to contact coaches and be patient.
D21 spent a lot of time in the same boat. She was contacted by a few schools and initiated contact with a few others, so I think she has talked to a total of 4 (she didn’t respond to a couple of the “transited through coaches” inquiries, and she never heard from one of the others). This is T&F so it’s probably a little different than conventional team sports.
I was not big on the whole “support” thing. I figured if she really liked a school and wanted to ED that was fine, but I didn’t really want it being driven by sports. I was mostly in it for the pre-reads, since these are mostly NESCACish schools and I wanted to get a feel for what her chance of admission was.
I imagine these coaches are juggling a lot with this process, which may explain the seemingly bizarre way it seems to work. It’s kind of the reverse of what the student does, keeping the other party on the hook while you try to get the best deal for yourself.
For my D it seems to have all worked out. She was offered support by one school and told she can probably get in ED without support by another. It was just dumb luck that those were her two top choices anyway. She may have been offered support by a third (we’re not really sure of that but it may not matter at this point) and we have no idea on the fourth, which also doesn’t really matter at this point.
For me it really boils down to a) can she get into college X and b) if she does will she be able to participate in her sport. I would not stress too much about the recruiting part of it. It can be worthwhile to pursue it, but it isn’t a must do as far as I’m concerned.
I posted this on the other thread, but pasting here too:
I would continue to contact the coaches from the pre-read schools, things can go down to the wire, and recruiting is slow now at some schools, and in some sports. She should be asking all coaches where she stands in their list of recruits. She can also be contacting new coaches/schools as well, it is not too late in many cases.
She also should find out if the pre-read coaches would offer soft support with admissions, or if she gets in on her own would there even be a spot on the team for her. Basically, would she like to go to that school even if she couldn’t play her sport? If not, obviously don’t apply.
It is common that athletes have a parallel list of schools where they would like to go, even if they can’t play their sport at the varsity level.
Good luck.
One college which is her top choice she may get in ED without support. But 2021 admissions is going to be so random we won’t know for sure. Definitely support from coach and playing the sport would be something exciting for her.
My son is in the same situation as your daughter. He was shown a decent amount of interest from a couple ivy’s and the one D3 he was interested in. They all asked for pre reads, which went very well since his academics and test scores are very high. However, it’s been very quiet since. He’s not sure if he should contact them or not. Our fear is that since they did away with the requirement of the SAT, there are many more athletes that the schools can now go after, which might have moved him down the list. He really is very confused why the interest fell off.
I’m a strong believer that every recruit should be working in parallel on a backup plan that does not involve athletic recruiting. And I also believe that plan should be kept alive until an admission or likely letter is in hand. In other words, have a realistic list, know the deadlines, allow the time to submit an app should it be needed.
With that in mind, there’s really no reason to stop exploring the athletic recruiting options. A couple weeks of silence isn’t necessarily a bad sign. But it’s probably worth checking in with the coaches, asking where they are in the process.
This is a really crazy year in a lot of ways. With Ivies in particular, the loss of Fall seasons wasn’t a surprise. But just in the last few weeks schools that were planning on bringing some students back, and potentially having some training in the fall, have reversed course. This has probably increased the number of athletes taking gap years or leaves of absence. So how does the track coach respond if most of the distance kids decided to take a year leave? Use more slots on throwers? Save them until winter when things might be more clear? I’m guessing they are still figuring this out. And that’s just one example.
Anyway, I’d keep an open mind and stay in touch with coaches until it’s very clearly a dead end.
So if someone takes a year leave but if still continuing their college year remote it will impact the slots for 2021? I know all players didn’t show up in-person in the colleges we are considering.
@2018graduatemom I’m referring to athletes who actually took leave, not those still enrolled but attending remotely. Some of those decisions have been made just in the last few weeks as schools changed their plans. I believe Harvard says around 20% of all students will be on leave; likely a tad higher among athletes with seasons affected. Probably comparable numbers at most selective schools.
This likely will affect how coaches use slots because they’ll be getting an extra year from each of those athletes. So future positional or event area needs might look different now than just a month ago. Where they can do so, some coaches might look to save slots for later in the recruiting cycle or even for future years.
I‘m not sure about losing 2021 recruiting slots. I know at a few Ivies there was talk of taking away future slots if incoming recruits deferred but I don’t know if that actually happened. My point though is that it scrambles the planning compared to a typical year. I don’t know about D3s but I’m guessing they’re facing some of the same uncertainty.
Not trying to paint a bleak picture, just emphasizing that silence from coaches could just mean they’re figuring things out.
copying and pasting my reply to the other thread:
@2018graduatemom I feel for you and your daughter! The title of this thread says it all, doesn’t it?! My son was kind of in a similar position, fyi (I wonder if it is the same school) – where they had rolled out the red carpet for him, gave him a preread, invited him for an official visit (if that’s even what they are called in D3), he was going to sit in on some classes etc. Once the preread materials were submitted, nothing. No communication. Even when my son sent an email updating the school with his recruiting update (he had other offers by then) and asked them point blank “I would appreciate it if you would let me know where you are in the recruiting process” Even his high school coach, who had played at the same school and knew the coach couldn’t get a reply. I am so unimpressed by this coach. What the heck? They are dealing with 17 year olds – don’t they have the courtesy and professionalism to at least let the kid know where they stand?
Of course other coaches do have that courtesy and professionalism, and those coaches are great, even the one who called my son to let him know that they made an offer to another player.
Rant over, at least for now 
I would expect that most d3 schools in most sports would still have spots open, so if at all possible it would be good to contact other schools. I would not totally give up on recruiting, and I think there’s a decent chance your daughter will get an offer at a school she likes. But, being risk averse, I’d be working on a Plan B, which is schools to which she’d apply w/o coach support. Does she have a first choice school independent of the sport? How much more does she like it than the schools where she has coach support? How hard is it to get into that first choice school – is it a reach? There are a lot of factors to weigh in making the decision. On the other hand, you do not have to decide in August – you can decide in October, when I am sure you will have more facts.
Recruiting is NOT for the faint of heart, best of luck to you and to your daughter!
All the experiences mentioned above are also occurring with my D21.
We are waiting to hear back from the coach from my D21’s first choice of schools. My D21 asked the coach point blank if she can expect the coaches admission support AND athletic commitment. We hope to get both from this coach but could live with just an athletic commitment as my D21 should be able get admitted on her record. While we want to receive good needs, we just want to know the plans of the coach more than anything.
Another hurdle my D21 faced is that the current coach apparently retired at another possible D3 school in the middle my of D21’s pre-read.
Cinnamon summed it up best that recruiting is not for the faint of heart.
@2018graduatemom, keep working and try not to compare your daughter to other recruits. There are any number of reasons that other recruits have gotten offers of support but not your daughter. Different school, different time schedule, personal issues with the coach, and not unimportantly, different team needs. These reasons are not your concern right now, however, because you likely won’t be able to figure the real reason anyway.
At this point, your daughter should be in frequent communication with all the coaches. I would have her call the coach from whom she thought an “offer” would be coming and straight up ask if the coach is going to be able to support her. If any other schools are of interest, similarly she should call. Note, this is the point of the “musical chairs” of recruiting, when there may be a lot of changes in the coach list. No time is more important than now to show desire. Remember, one of the most important qualities to show a coach is that you “want it.” Coaches want recruits that want to be at the school – Ivy recruits that just missed may end up transferring. The recruits that want it will work the hardest for the team.
Back-up plans are always a good idea, but don’t be surprised by anything that happens. There were coaches from whom we heard nothing, literally nothing, that came out of the woodwork to give invites for OVs in October and even December (no pre-read done, obviously), and these were good schools. That’s why it is important to continue to show interest in the program.
Thank you all for your insights. She is planning to send emails again this week and wait for couple of weeks to see who is still interested. There might be fewer spots than previous years, and probably coaches are finding it difficult to make decisions watching videos and playing history of big tournaments that stopped around March. I guess it is time for PLAN B to apply for colleges if recruiting doesn’t work and more importantly to look for some safeties/matches.
Makes sense to continue contacting coaches, even new ones (if there are any).
Definitely continue pursuing the parallel list of schools where she would not be a recruited athlete. That is necessary even in years that aren’t atypical, as we are experiencing now.
Good luck and keep us updated.
Daughter heard back last week from her top choice schools. One coach gave her a roster spot and another was waiting to hear back from someone she offered to get back and may offer her if her initial offers don’t work out. She decided to go with the one she has a spot. What a journey! Definitely we learnt a lesson, cannot count on anything until it happens. All the emails since sophomore year showing interest and then silence from the same coaches did cause lot of anxiety. Just hoping there won’t be more surprises or setbacks.
Hurray!!! Enjoy this moment! And congratulations
with d3 recruiting, is it acceptable to post on tennisrecruiting and social media by the prospect athletes? What do the coaches say in cases where they issued no likely letters but agreed to give academic support?
Most do not post until they have the acceptance to the school.
Agree with the above…wait until the acceptance. Some athletic recruits will post something that says ‘I have committed to the recruiting process at X school’ which is probably ok, but they should clear that with the coach.
Many verbally committed recruits don’t participate in their HS’s fall recruited athlete signing ceremony either (many HS’s allow the D3 recruits to participate in these)…best to wait until the spring one (post-acceptance) to do that as well.
I thought one reason to post commitments now (not specifically tennis) is to create a kind of record so that if a coach backs out for some reason people are more likely to know. Certainly a lot of soccer recruits announce their commitment, some a year or more before signing an NLI. Same with d3, many announce 5 or 6 months before getting the acceptance.