A few weeks after applying to my schools, I received a call from the PEA coach. I was not able to answer it because I was in school, but I was just wondering (as the title states) if nationally ranked athletics greatly helps your application.
If you are nationally ranked it helps a lot
Are you a recruited athlete? I would think that you are if you are nationally ranked
I am not too sure if I am a recruited athlete or not. How would you know?
Well if you don’t know if you are or not then you’re not. A recruited athlete is contacted by a coach from a school beforehand and already knows what school they will attend before. That’s basically the gist of it, idk if it’s completely correct
It depends on what the school needs. A star quarterback may get no advantage at a school that is 3-deep in top quarterbacks, but get substantial advantage at a school that is graduating its only decent quarterback.
If a coach contacted you or your family before you even applied, you are being recruited. If you submitted a form indicating interest in that sport and have substantial ongoing conversations with the coach, AND he/she indicates that they will speak to admissions on your behalf, you will likely have some advantage, but it will depend on how much pull the coach has, the overall strength of your application and the overall needs of the school.
Yeah, @Altras said it way better than I did.
Did the coach not leave contact info to call back? If he/she left a name at least I’d probably follow up with an email!
@ilovechoateeeee As my DS is a recruited Athlete I can tell you that this isn’t a 100% accurate. We’ve had many coaches reaching out to us asking us to apply but in many of the top schools mentioned here your DS or DD still needs to pass through admission and in our case, there is the whole FA aspect to resolve. At one particular school, the coach told us he really wanted us to apply but he isn’t sure if he wants a Freshman and a PG or he will go with a So or Jr for that position, that said they still want the flexibility to choose depending on what gets through admission.
I think athletic skill matters a lot based on students my kid has come across as already accepted at BS. Many athletes are struggling in the classroom. In many cases, friends of our have children who attend boarding school. We were very surprised at kids with pretty low grades and limited ECs being accepted to very prestigious schools if they are excellent athletes. The other kids ( at the same school and with better grades) were not accepted. This is in a very small town where people know the kids and their grades. ( I mention this as, many schools are large and you don’t really know much about the other students). Most of the kids shared SSAT scores so we knew that too.
The athletes seem to have more of an advantage than kids who do other things very well ( like theater, music, art, etc).
This was surprising to me. But I think it’s fine. They are trying to balance classes out. Not every kid is going to be super academic/a super athlete.
I’m more or less agreeing with @Altras and @ReluctantDad . Athletics may help in the admissions process if there is a need for your particular sport/position in the current admissions cycle and if the balance of your application is in the academic ballpark. A nationally ranked athlete without the academic chops, particularly as a freshman, will not get past the first round of admissions review at a school like PEA, but may at a less selective school. And as mentioned, what a school wants will not impact the FA situation, if applicable.
But I would read absolutely nothing into a missed call from a coach. When you have a conversation with the coach, and he gushes over your athletic stats, and says that you are perfect for the school, then you can wonder. But even then, it is far from a sure thing.
@skieurope I completely agree with you, also don’t think that your DC is the only one athlete they are trying to recruit. We had 1 school explain to us that for 2 spots at our DS’s position they needed at least 15 kids to apply in the hopes that about 2-4 would get through admission.
I would agree with the “who really knows, but maybe” answer. Some coaches definitely have more pull than others, I was told this point blank by a coach.
If a kid has low scores/grades and is an athlete I imagine that is a different story compared to a high scores/grades kid who is an athlete. My guess is that the kids with high scores/grades who are recruited athletes (and I am defining recruited as the coach says that the kid is “on their list” or says that they want the kid) have a very very good shot at getting in. (just my guess though and since this is my first time through the process I can only guess)
The coach and I have been emailing since around November now. I feel that my grades and scores are fairly acceptable for a school as prestigious as PEA, having gotten 1300 on the SAT in 7th and the 97th percentile on the SSAT. In the end, the overall applications process still is more important by far, right?
Not sure what you meant by your last question, but many people who are applying to PEA have around the same statistics as you, or even better
@ilovechoateeeee I meant that the normal app process is still more important than any athletic achievement… rights?
Yeah definitely @ImWaisian
That’s what I’ve been told by coaches at 4 schools!
We were contacted by a coach from a day school sometimes mentioned here after the application was submitted. The objective of the call was unclear. The general message was SwamiJr was a strong candidate and he, the coach, was specifically asked to reach out to us to discuss the sport and SwamiJr’s experience and expectations. We had not reached out to any coaches during the application process. Yes…not good.
There was a small amount of sales pitch but the coach asked a number of questions to assess the kid’s experience.
I’m not burning calories thinking about it but if I had to guess a couple of things are at play; 1) the kid will be admitted and they wanted to show the love especially since they know he is applying to school that is stronger at said sport or 2) they wanted to assess his skill because it could be a tiebreaker.
The school is strong, I think, but I expect that they lose great candidates because they do not have the name recognition of peer schools and it is in a tough market.
Based on reading here, it seems you need to be an “impact athlete” for it to matter to your application.
I suspect that in many cases, even if the coach doesn’t have real pull, admissions has confidence that a very good athlete will be able to use that athletic accomplishment to maintain self-esteem if/when they are suddenly a middling student.
I honestly think that they worry about the kid whose self worth is invested in being a superior student when they know that half the amazing kids admitted will be in the bottom half of the class.
Not saying this is a driver, but it is a bit of insulation against a potential undoing.