@Tribegiant , it will depend on your situation. But usually, you will need to apply ED1. That is when the coach completes the team. You don’t get the coach telling admissions “admit this one” unless they are sure you will say yes and fill that spot on the team. Why should a coach hold a spot on the team -letting other recruis ED elsewhere- for someone who is still shopping for a school?
If, though, for some reason, the coach has room after ED1, your strategy could work.
Yes, ED2 is usually for athletes who were not admitted to their ED1 choice and now have to scramble for a roster spot at a school where there are still openings. For the school, it can be a lucky windfall to fill a need. Generally, it is not a first choice for admissions strategy.
Thanks everyone for the input. I think by fall my D21 may actually prefer the LAC anyway! The school and coach have made a strong impression on her. It may be a moot point when admission season finally rolls around!
OP: It is hard to comment on a matter of personal preference.
Either your daughter wants to continue to play collegiate tennis or she doesn’t.
It is also difficult to offer meaningful comments when your expectations are somewhat unrealistic.
If I understand correctly, you are assuming that your daughter will be accepted into at least one of Northwestern, Harvard, or Yale. Even as a class valedictorian, with a 36 ACT score, an SAT score of 1600, and a perfect GPA, admission is far from assured at any of these three schools. Even if your daughter is an URM with outstanding accomplishments in addition to perfect grades & perfect standardized test scores, admission to Northwestern, Harvard, or Yale is far from a certainty.
My impression is that this is not really an issue about college athletics, but concern that the DIII school is not the family’s first, second, or third choice school.
Maybe a “chance me” thread would yield helpful advice.
It would be helpful to know more about your daughter’s interests and qualifications.
P.S. As a partial answer / response: Yes, playing collegiate tennis at a DIII school will benefit your daughter both in the short-term & in the long-term.
P.P.S. In my analysis of the issue presented in this thread, I assumed that the DIII tennis school is Emory University.
Thanks for everyone’s input.
Tribe, best of luck and o agree that things are fluid.
Publisher, appreciate the comments. We agree that admission into NU, Harvard and Yale is extremely extremely difficult. We understand that admission into these schools are very slim even with the strongest of applicants. We appreciate all of the feedback. After all of the input, Tribe summed up the similar situation we are facing with regard to applying to HYP type school or EDing into a D3 school to play collegiate tennis.
If your daughter can get into a top academic D3 like UChicago, Williams, Amherst, JHU and a few others, those are academically and outcome equivalent if not superior to a t5 and northwestern.
The question is whether your daughter wants to play tennis for at least a year.
Don’t believe that HYPSM are better schools than those mentioned earlier. They are different flavors. Many would argue the education is better from the top D3’s.
Thanks arbitrary. My daughter has a strong interest in playing tennis at UChicago, WashU, JHU, and NYU.
Those are all great choices. NYU is perhaps the outlier as it doesn’t really have a campus being so integrated into NYC. Some love that and it’s a compelling reason to go there and others hate it as they want the classical campus feel.
Thanks again arbitrary. My D likes NYU and NYC and believes the non-traditional campus and all of the pros and cons that go with it may be appealing.
All of the feedback has been very helpful
@jwchoutx - Just one random thought - my daughter is a recruited D1 athlete (and will see if it works out!) and one question she has been asking coaches/team members (and/or researching) is where are the practice facilities? Several of her schools have easy onsite access (she is a rower) and others are a 30+ minute bus ride each way - and when they have 2 a day practices - that means a minimum of 2 hours a day “commuting” not counting time getting to and from the bus from her housing. For weight days - that is all on campus for all her schools - so that helps with her time. I am guessing for tennis it is all onsite - but may be worth adding to your daughter’s info for pros and cons for each school.
coffee, thank for the feedback. Yes, my daughter has visited the practice facilities of some of the schools where there has been mutual interest. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 situation has greatly impacted the ability to travel to schools and meet with coaches in person.
Good luck to you daughter on her rowing endeavors and congrats on being a D1 recruit.
@jwchoutx I didn’t respond to your question about my son’s feelings about representing his school etc. For context, he is one of the most competitive people I’ve known, and I come from a family of college athletes (not me, I wasn’t that driven or talented). For him, playing his sport is essential to him, he truly could not imagine giving at up at age 18.
As a D3 athlete, he relished the instant family and mentoring his team provided, the incredibly close friendships he formed with his “recruit” class, the near daily opportunity to throw himself physically into what he loves, and the competition with himself, his teammates, and other schools. In terms of his job search, I think that, through his experience dealing with adversity plus a range of adults, he had more maturity, poise, and flexibility than some peers. When it came time to network and interview with business professionals in business, he was already comfortable with handling those situations.
Good luck to your daughter, it is an exciting, yet nerve-wracking time. My kid wouldn’t have traded those 4 years of competition for anything.
The D3 schools you mentioned are top schools. To me this is a no brainer. Play the sport and go to the D3 of your choice. Worst case scenario- you decide to drop the sport and you are stuck at U Chicago or Wash U or Hopkins or whatever…that is not a sacrifice IMO.
Joecollege, thanks for the input. Very helpful
Momma, your detailed account of your son was very insightful and I appreciate your candor and sharing. My D has very similar feelings as your son in terms of being able to play sports at the college level.
Momma, would it be possible For you to share which sport and schools your sons played their D3 sport?
I am late to this thread, but these are issues we thought about a lot in deciding on a school for our S19. He runs track and it is an important part of his life, so we ended up focusing on D3 schools with both strong academics and a strong varsity track program. Track is like tennis in one sense, as both running and tennis can be lifelong pursuits, but as far as running track competitively, college seemed like the last real opportunity to test how far he could go and he wanted to do that. A year later, I feel very comfortable with the choice he made, as the track team has been a key aspect of his college experience. The team provided him with a college “home” right from the start, and having the routine of practice and meets was helpful to him in keeping organized and on top of things. Even now, when everyone is at home, the team members are close in touch. If your daughter decides to go this route, it is important to look at the school’s, and the team’s, athletic culture to make sure it is a good fit with her personality and priorities. We spent a lot of time talking with the coaches, and my son would always ask them what a typical day would be like, what would happen if he had an academic conflict, etc. He actually made his decision on a day when he just watched the team practice at the school that is now his home. He liked the way the coach interacted with the team and the team members interacted with each other.
One consideration may be the recent announcements by some schools of no longer supporting athletic teams.
Understanding the financial standing of a college or university may be more important in this environment as some varsity sports are discontinued.
This is most likely the case for many of us so rehashing old input, I would put the school that is the best fit, best academics, cost to the family/student, etc. above playing a sport. The sport is certainly a big factor but I would not put it above the other items, IMHO.
I had kids that were college recruits including fairly high. Our family may be unique in that our kids also wanted to pick the school based on the best fit and academic school that they could get into as well as cost, with playing their sport and being a recruit on the list but not above the other items. Many kids/students start out playing a sport but end up injured, colleges have frequent coaching changes, student athletes lose interest for a variety of reasons, etc.
If they are not playing the sport you have to make sure that the school was still the right choice, and most kids (And Parents) will survive if they do not continue on with a varsity sport in college; so a D1 with no varsity sports may be the best option for some HS student athletes.
We went through this very thing with our oldest some years ago. In his case, he was a D1 caliber athlete but not at the very top levels. He applied to 3 Ivy League schools, Georgetown, and went through the process as well as to a number of top (Williams, JHU, Emory, CMU) as a recruit. The process is not an easy one when you are not at the top of the top. Though he was eventually special accepted at some schools , he was also unceremoniously dumped , and also coaches dragged their feet in a number of his scenarios.
He was the caliber that he could get full athletic scholarships at less selective schools , or hsve the sport be a hook at some schools that would ordinarily be out of reach for him academically. Both Ivies that spent a lot of time recruiting him, dumped him. Williams just lost interest and GTown and Cornell were always luke warm. But all of this was not clear while going through the process.
Whatever is your child’s first choice school is what Id actively pursue. Go ED with a fin aid app in there so you have an out if there is a definite first choice. If it’s a D1 school
Like Duke it the Ivies, there are excellent club teams. I know many club tennis players that are right up there with D1 college players. It’s not like your DD isn’t going to lose the opportunity to play competitive tennis at such schools.
In many ways, it’s preferable to be on. a club team. A cousin’s DD lost out on tennis recruiting due to an injury and surgery. She ended up at d1 school without athletic recruiting and joined the club team. Upon recovery and because of her power house status, she was approached by the coaches and athletic directors about joining the school NCAA team, and decided against it due to constraints it would put her her schedule and opportunities.
Good luck. I found that going that athletic route was stomach wrenching. Son ended up at a T20 D3 school, that was tops in that division for his sport. In fact, it was more competitive than many if not most D1 programs. We paid full cost, when he could have gotten a full ride scholarship.
Many have said something similar, so I’m just joining the chorus. The advice my student got was – assume you have a career-ending injury the first day of pre-season, are you still happy to be at that school, despite the fact that your sport is now out of the picture?