I’m new to the site, and I tried to post this earlier. I don’t think it worked so apologies if this ends up posting twice. My kid is applying to some GLADCHEMMS schools and is a prospective athlete. Recently, he received an email from a coach at one of the above schools asking how things were going and inviting him to watch the team compete. We met the coach last fall during our school visit but have not had any contact since before winter break. I’m wondering does it mean anything that the coach is reaching out at this point in the admissions cycle (after our application is in and the school’s deadline has passed)? If the coach is reaching out before the school has decided anything, then isn’t that a breach of manners and kind of unkind to raise potentially false hopes and speculation? I feel like it must still be too early for them to have made any decisions so I’m surprised by the outreach. Is this the norm, whether or not a school is planning to accept? Thanks in advance for any thoughts on the topic!
It definitely does not mean that the school has already made a decision in regards to your son or that he will be accepted, but knowing that the coach is interested enough in your son’s candidacy to reach out and have him come watch the school team compete is a good sign. I personally don’t see it as a breach of manners, as the coaches aren’t the ones making admissions decisions, but any additional support a coach can give can only help. Coaches usually want to keep their school in a position of favor with every potential recruited athlete because if they are accepted they want the chances that they enroll to be as great as possible. Funny how my DS2 has used this sort of outreach as a major factor in how he views schools as a whole, while for DS1 it was nice, but never played a major role in his decision.
Thanks, BigBlueSwim, good to know for managing expectations. In that vein, since it seems like there’s no cost to the coaches to reach out at this point, does NOT reaching out mean a lack of interest? Or do different schools have different approaches so that no further contact isn’t necessarily a negative?
Different schools definitely have different approaches and some (by agreement) will have no school initiated contact between February 1st and March 10th. I wouldn’t read anything negative into no contact at this time as not only are schools very different but coaches too in their approaches. Best of luck to you and your son.
Thanks, your insight is much appreciated!
@ThreeWV, see this letter to parents from the TSAO: http://www.tenschools.org/page.cfm?p=11
No contact doesn’t mean no interest, and contact doesn’t mean admission.
Check this thread too. It’s longish but has good info and advice: http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1864650-hearing-before-m10-p1.html
Very helpful, thanks!