Were your Pomona comments specific to TF/XC there or more generally. Been in discussions w coaching staff there who appear to be quite candid and forthcoming about interest, overnights, and athlete contact over summer. 3.6/1460, not a runner.
Can I ask about needing merit aid, too? My strong swimmer (as far as D3 goes) who also has a 1520 SAT (770 M, 750E) and all A’s with lots of APs (she’s a junior now) has been in contact with several D3 coaches who have already shown strong interest and have asked her about applying ED. In order to afford these small LACs (she’s on an instate UC budget), we’d need merit aid. One of the coaches alluded to the fact that they could let us know her merit aid before she applied ED, but I find that really hard to believe. We can’t have her apply ED since we do need to see where any merit aid comes through. Do you think these schools can commit the merit aid before SHE commits to ED? Thanks for any insight…
@crknwk2000 you can ask the coach for both an academic pre-read and a financial aid pre read. Just tell the coach what your situation is, that you are highly interested in the program, but need to know if it’s going to work out financially.
Thanks RightCoaster…I did not know they could give us a “financial aid pre read.”
D3 merit awards to athletes have to be the same as they would be to a non-athlete. In fact need based aid has to be in line with non-athlete students too. If the school awards a standard amount to a 4.0/1520, they can tell you that during the pre-read. If there is one superduper scholarship awarded to the top applicant they might not be able to tell you that before ED but your student should still be in the running for that too.
In our D3 merit search for recruited athlete, admissions and coach often provided preliminary estimates about merit award. Before my kid applied ED to his school as a recruit, admissions officer and coach had indicated, in a non-binding way, the lowest tier of merit they predicted my student would receive. It was unsettling waiting for the award, because we were not eligible for financial aid but could not afford the school without merit aid, as a full pay family. Award was 1-2 tiers higher (more merit) than predicted, so I finally exhaled when that letter was opened.
Sometimes, a coach saying, “I have no pull in admissions” is coachspeak for, “I have no pull in admissions…for you”.
Coaches tend not to openly discourage anyone from applying to their school.
What I learned with S1’s journey through the whole Athletic/ED journey was that if they are the slightest bit vague, or don’t respond quickly to texts, emails, etc., then you probably aren’t high on their list. The schools who wanted him were pretty transparent about their interest.
If a team is ranked in the top 25 in their sport, I have a hard time believing that the coach has no pull with admissions.
It’s hard to get to the top 25 if the school hasn’t given the coach recruiting slots in previous years. Chicken and the egg problem.
It depends on the school and the relationship between the coach and admissions. My daughter was recruited by two D3 schools for soccer. Both coaches explained that they give a list of recruits that they are interested in to admissions and support the applications through admissions with the understanding the recruit has to meet the minimum requirements of the school. One school we know for a fact admissions and coach worked closely because her admissions officer told her when the coach had contacted him about her and it was fairly frequently . She was admitted and offered roster spots at both schools and a full ride at one of them.
It depends on the school and the athletic conference, plus admissions. Just look at the roster heights, state of origin, and winning records of the Ivies. Everyone has the same number of “likely letters” by agreement. But some teams get all their “tips” and others don’t.
Same with NESCACs…,