<p>I know that Harvard doesn't give out athletic scholarships nor do they have an early admission program anymore, but do they recruit athletes in such a way that they would know before official admissions offers go out that they will be accepted? Can high school football players "commit" to Harvard like they would a BCS school?</p>
<p>Because Harvard (and the other Ivy League colleges) have to recruit athletes in competition with other Division I schools that can make commitments to admission and scholarship well in advance of December 15 or April 1, they have developed something called a “likely letter” for top athletic recruits. (They use them for some non-athletes as well, but generally later in the process.) Basically, at the request of the coach, the admissions department will review a candidate’s application (or key application material, like transcript and test scores), and write a letter basically saying if nothing important changes you will be admitted. This, along with the predictability of Harvard need-based aid, allows a candidate to feel confident in turning down other schools’ requests for early commitments to wait for Harvard. </p>
<p>That’s important, because other schools’ scholarships tend to get allocated long before April 1, and they want a commitment to attend before making the athletic scholarship available. And most Ivy competitors have ED, which the coaches use as an athletic recruitment tool. So a Harvard likely letter may keep a candidate from feeling he has to apply to Dartmouth or Brown ED to get the benefit of “recruit” status (and then attend there if he is accepted).</p>
<p>But high school athletes cannot / don’t have to “commit” to Harvard before May 1. A coach may ask for an informal commitment before using one of his chits to get a likely letter out of Admissions, but unlike with other Div I colleges there are no consequences to the student if he decides not to go to Harvard after being admitted. And some highly desirable athletes are able to coax likely letters out of more than one Ivy at a time, presumably without lying to the coaches there.</p>
<p>Likely letters.</p>
<p>L i k e l y letter. Puts the athlete in the driver’s seat.</p>
<p>You must complete the application in full…and submit it… tell the coach when you have done so…then, if all goes well and as intended, you can conceivably receive a likely letter in mid-to-late October…and then you will receive an official acceptance in mid-December (for Ivy schools with an early cycle) and in April for Harvard who no longer does early. </p>
<p>Our child’s experience with Harvard included an offer for a likely letter in mid-December if the application was received by mid-October…our child chose to go early cycle at another Ivy and received a likely about 2 weeks after pressing the submit button. </p>
<p>A third Ivy told all recruits to submit full fledged apps… write the essays about things in addition to “sports” and make your case as to why you should be chosen for admission. We did hear after the fact that some of the recruits we had met at this third Ivy were rejected early so clearly they either submitted weak packages or had lukewarm references… or something… </p>
<p>a fourth Ivy coach was very clear about what could be done… and how they had never put a kid in a position to fail (admissions had provided an early review/decision to the coach) so that if admissions said thumbs down, the coach would encourage the kid to consider other options instead of continuing the courting!! </p>
<p>You have to have something special that they need to make the grade for likely letters and at the same time, you have nothing to lose by raising your hand and asking a coach for a meet and greet. They will ask for preliminary grades/transcript and scores… and then they will respond with interest or not… </p>
<p>Every coach we met was honest and clear in their communications. </p>
<p>Spread your net far and wide…good luck…</p>
<p>I’ll try to remember what I heard happened at out school last year. We had a runner who got notified in some way by Dartmouth that she either was accepted or was to be accepted somewhere around the mid-year. I recall hearing that Harvard then scrambled to get her her acceptance before she committed to Dartmouth. That all came about around January. She has just finished her freshman year at Harvard. </p>
<p>My risk on this story is that I have the two schools reversed and she heard from Harvard first and then Dartmouth scrambled. But the main point is that she knew of her acceptance to Harvard early. Obviously this must have been one of those likely letters, but that was not part of the public story.</p>
<p>My public HS which typically has a bunch of academic admits to Harvard
has more recently been having athletic admits as well.</p>
<p>All the athletes were notifed much earlier than March (though they got their actual
admission letter same as the others). In one case the athlete knew much
before December apparently.</p>
<p>Do they recruit for ‘minor’ sports also? Specifically, I’m wondering about fencing?</p>
<p>^Yes, but think about it: a minor sport coach is gonna only campaign people who are really committed to coming to his school. So you really have to be at the top of your sport in addition to wanting to go to the school, whereas for something like football you don’t have to as much since significantly greater proportion of those athletes are recruited every year.</p>
<p>Yes, absolute numbers ‘recruited’ may be quite small, but the denominator composed of academically qualified excellent minor sport athletes are also likely quite small. I was mostly wondering whether the coaches in these relatively peripheral sports, that don’t bring in any money to the University, have any influence in the admission process.</p>
<p>ihs76, i do not knwo if this is true but have heard from some that Yale does aggressive
recruiting for fencing.</p>
<p>Thanks Synth. I think we’ll contact a few coaches and see what kind of responses we get.</p>
<p>friend of mine received one of those letters for basketball</p>
<p>“Do they recruit for ‘minor’ sports also? Specifically, I’m wondering about fencing?”</p>
<p>harvard has a few olympic fencers. hope you’re at that level</p>
<p>Yes, in the fall and before other schools notify EA/ED admittees.</p>
<p>Maineparent: "a fourth Ivy coach was very clear about what could be done… and how they had never put a kid in a position to fail (admissions had provided an early review/decision to the coach) so that if admissions said thumbs down, the coach would encourage the kid to consider other options instead of continuing the courting!! "</p>
<p>Sounds like Dartmouth to me. A breath of fresh air.</p>
<p>I’ll never tell… seriously, they were all candid and honest with us… we got smarter and crisper in communicating ourselves…with our child…with coaches, both HS and college level… and the single thing I took away was “if you do not raise your hand, then you will never know if you had a chance” … every coach will respond to an initial “hey, look at me” request with an instruction to send grades, scores and records/awards … from the reply they receive from the athlete… they will then continue the dialog in earnest or back off of continued conversation… I will say that there were a couple of kids from our geographic area at several of the Ivy schools on official visits at the same time … what that says to me is that the coaches view of “talent” was consistent… I have to believe that their view of “academic excellence” was also consistent… </p>
<p>I firmly believe one should cast one’s net far and wide…reaches, matches and safety wise, I mean… one should never commit because of a coach, nor eliminate a school because of a coach either… things change… </p>
<p>one of the links that RiverRunner posted for runners, has a list of what it takes to be recruited… and it specifically talks about regional recognition… team leadership and MVP awards… with hindsight, those things make it easier for a coach to submit their requests to admissions… so, evaluate your (your child’s) resume with objectivity… and then blaze forward and say “look at me!!”</p>