<p>Thank you Shelf-life (mine has expired). That is reassuring.</p>
<p>Please help! This is overwhelming.</p>
<p>How should an academically high-achieving student athlete (a smart though perhaps not truly brilliant kid) handle this whole process with regard to an Ivy or top LAC if s/he will need decent financial aid? Couldn't applying ED potentially jeopardize the amount of aid offered? Or may one safely asssume that the school will come through with enough aid if they're that interested in the athlete?</p>
<p>Many of the Ivies will also do an early read for financial aid in addition to an academic read. Ask the coach if it can be done. Also, Princeton has an early estimator which will give you an idea if you qualify for financial aid and how much. </p>
<p>Here is the link:
<a href="http://www.princeton.edu/main/admission-aid/aid/prospective/estimator/%5B/url%5D">http://www.princeton.edu/main/admission-aid/aid/prospective/estimator/</a></p>
<p>The early read was based on a transcript (sent directly from the high school to the coach) and a SAT score report (sent from the kid to the coach). I actually was talking to the coach myself a little bit during the late summer/early fall. It's a fine line- the coach is the adult with whom your kid will have the most contact at college, so you want to know what kind of person he is. On the other hand, the kid is the recruit, not you. I had a couple of concerns about my son's application (suspension/expulsion from a school) that needed to be discussed. I had this particular conversation with several coaches from academically selective schools. I got a lot of information about admissions (not just pertaining to athletes) and what factors in a kid's background matter and what don't.<br>
As your son starts to hear from more coaches and makes a few visits, he will get a better idea how serious the schools are about him. It will fall into place. Fee free to PM me with any questions. I am a little slow in responding right now because we aren't up on internet at our new house yet, so I steal some time at work.</p>
<p>Child one was a high achieving (NMSF) athlete, 34 ACT and was recruited by all the Ivies plus Williams, Middlebury etc. </p>
<p>He decided to apply to one Ivy ED. We sent the application in early enough before the deadline so we could pull it if we did not get the "likely letter" we requested. Three other applications were ready to go although my son complained A LOT about all the supplemental stuff. </p>
<p>First choice Ivy Admissions had his complete application (recommendations, grades, transcript, test scores) on a Tuesday and the coach called us Wednesday to say the "likely letter" was on its way (it was). If there had been any hesitation, we would have withdrawn that application and moved on to the second choice.</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>One2Go: Many thanks. Each kid's story is an anecdote, but there is a pattern emerging from the aggregate data.</p>
<p>MoWC: Thanks again. I will follow up with a PM after getting a clearer understanding of S's status.</p>
<p>Sincerely, I</p>
<p>StateYourName</p>
<p>I have a question. My s is starting to get offers from schools for official visits. Before we set up official visits i want to make sure i have the rules straight. A recruit can go on only 5 official visits to Division I and II schools, right? Division III schools don't count in the 5 visits? Any help would be appreciated.</p>
<p>hswrestling07,</p>
<p>Talk to your hs coach and/or athletic director. They always have the latest rules.</p>
<p>momof2sons</p>
<pre><code> You mentioned that the coach is encouraging your child to apply ED2. Why not ED I?? Is there any chance the coach is trying to fill the roster with EDI candidates and leaving other recruits waiting in the wings - just incase the slots are not filled by ED I recruits?
</code></pre>
<p>My S was recruited by a number of schools including Ivy's and the coach's uniformally wanted him to apply ED I. For NESCAC he received a positive early read from admissions (based on transcript, class rank and SATs) and NESCAC coach, at his top choice, offered him an athletic slot as long as he applied ED I. He was admitted and just joined the class of 2010. </p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>daffy mom--sent you a private message--thanks</p>
<p>Our experience was that S was recruited by an Ivy. The coach asked for a verbal committment, son gave verbal committment and then the procedure was to do a quick application with unofficial transcripts, scores, and an essay. Also an interview, required for the specific program son was applying to. Admissions then did an early read, and verbal acceptance. Coach said that once he got a verbal acceptance, he'd never had one not go through. That was August. The real application and all the official scores went in ED in mid-October.We got real live likely letter just before Thanksgiving, followed by the official acceptance on the official ED notification date.</p>
<p>(There's one Ivy with a bad rep in the athletic admissions game. They tried to recruit my son before his PG year -- but he was having nothing to do with them -- one of his teammates had been badly burned the year before.)</p>
<p>I don't know if you feel like naming the name. I imagine I know which one it is, based upon my S's experience with it and what I've heard around....although who knows, maybe it varies by sport....</p>
<p>hswrestling07-</p>
<p>For the recruiting rules visit the NCAA at <a href="http://www.ncaa.org%5B/url%5D">www.ncaa.org</a></p>
<p>Be sure to download the Guide for the College Bound Student-Athlete. It can also be obtained free by calling the NCAA at 1-800-638-3731. I would recommend this publication to any student who wants to go through the recruiting process.</p>
<p>The athletes I know who have been burned by an Ivy have all been burned by Princeton. That is not to say that many fine athletes don't get in there, but I don't think some of the coaches have quite the pull with admissions that they might think they do.</p>
<p>cnp55: would that Ivy with the bad rep be the same one MomofWildChild mentions? Because I had heard the same, but didn't know how much credence to give that info.</p>
<p>Oh, funny! I was thinking of another one ;). But I have no first-hand knowledge so I don't want to name names.....maybe I shouldn't be asking anyone else to, either.....</p>
<p>different one ... LOL</p>
<p>Best bet is to ask the coach what his record is on getting kids in through admissions ... most of them are honest!</p>
<p>I heard about an IVY whose coach promised admission to kids who were athletically talented and had the academic credentials in a particular sport.</p>
<p>The coach's routine had been to promise early admission to everyone on the "list" knowing that some kids would move on to other schools. One year in particular, everyone decided they wanted to go to rhymes with snail, and several kids and families had to move quickly to get apps in for regular admission at other schools because they were rejected ED.</p>
<p>
[quote]
The coach's routine had been to promise early admission to everyone on the "list" knowing that some kids would move on to other schools.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>What families need to remember that coaches do not make the ultimate decisions on who gets admitted. Unless a student has a signed likley
letter from admissions, their likelihood of being admitted is up for grabs.</p>
<p>Dartmouth ran an a series of articles titled In admissions, many get 'special' attention </p>
<p>
[quote]
Athletes and students with 800 SAT scores also gain admission at a disproportionately high rate, Dean of Admissions Karl Furstenberg said. Rates are also higher for students with exceptional essays and above-4.0 GPAs. With so many people applying for admission at one of the top 10 schools in the country, it takes a combination of many factors to get that thick envelope come April.</p>
<p>On the other hand, roughly 40 percent of applicants are given some sort of extra attention -- minorities, legacies or athletes. This year, 24 percent of applicants were students of color, 3 percent legacies, and roughly 13 to 17 percent were athletes, based on estimates. This 40 percent of the applicants has a combined admit rate nearly double the overall level.</p>
<p>Athletic admissions statistics are not released by the admissions office. Some speculate that athletes -- ** particularly those for big sports -- are given the highest preference of all. This does not appear to be the case at Dartmouth, although athletes do benefit from having a lobbyist in their coach. Coaches submit ranked lists of their recruited athletes to the admissions office. The admissions office then reviews the applications, taking into account the applicant's athletic talent and coach's recommendation.</p>
<p>"Athletic talent works in the same way other kinds of talent do. The only difference is it's a much more organized and structured recruiting process and that's a function of the NCAA and the Ivy League rules," Furstenberg said. "They tell us who they want, but there are no guaranteed number of slots."</p>
<p>But even with the ability to submit a list, some coaches expressed frustration with how little say they really have.</p>
<p>"How much clout do I have? Minimal," men's swimming coach Jim Wilson said. "If you look at my SAT scores and compare to the average SAT scores, my kids may be getting in with a 1450 instead of a 1460."</p>
<p>Wilson did, however, speculate that some of the "higher-profile sports like football may be getting a little more help."</p>
<p>Coaches are given little feedback from the admissions office before submitting their lists, according to Wilson. "I'm shooting blind," he said, adding that other schools, even in the Ivy League, are actually more lenient with athletic admissions.</p>
<p>"Some schools will say 'if he has this GPA and this SAT score were going to let him in.' Our admissions doesn't do that," Wilson said. **</p>
<p>Michele Hernandez '89, who worked in the Dartmouth admissions office in the mid-1990s and is currently a private college counselor, concurred.</p>
<p>"Dartmouth actually has higher standards for athletes than most schools," she said. "Many athletes that are walking straight into Harvard couldn't get into Dartmouth."</p>
<p>**
While athletic talent can bolster an application, it does not replace other criteria for admission, according to Furstenberg. If coaches do not find well qualified applicants to put on their list, they risk not getting enough players that year.</p>
<p>"If the coaches say we need nine soccer players this year, but we only think six of them are qualified, that's what they get," he said. "All of the decisions are made here; the only person at the institution who can admit someone is me."
**</p>
<p>Funny, that one (rhymes with "snail") wasn't the one I am thinking of either. :D</p>