My 2016 S recently narrowed his list of D3 LACs and is very close to “committing” and applying to his current favorite. For purposes of this discussion, let’s call this college - School “A”. Yesterday, however, his former number one and early favorite D3 school suddenly came calling (School “B”). The Head Coach from School “B” apologized and asked my 2016 if he still had interest because the coach is prepared to fully support S with Admissions. Both School “A” and “B” are highly selective, Top 10 ranked academic schools with comparable baseball programs.
S and I fully understand “what” took place and why the “sudden” interest; however, School “B” has certain intangibles (location, social life, etc.) that make it slightly more desirable. The difference is not significant. however. S prefers School “B” over School “A” despite the late interest but he has yet to visit School “B” in person. The lack of communication from the School “B” coaching staff for the past 3 weeks is what led to the school being crossed off the list.
S already visited School “A” (multiple times) and Admissions conducted a pre-read (with a favorable response). School “A” has a ED deadline of November 15 with no ED2. The Head Coach from School “A” believes S is unlikely to gain admission if he goes RD i.e., coach doesn’t have much (if any) pull during RD. Therefore, as with most recruited athletes, the Head Coach is requesting that S apply ED.
School “B” must still conduct the pre-read and S must arrange for an overnight visit to get a better feel for the coaches, players, school environment, etc. I will not let him switch schools without first visiting and spending some quality time on campus. However, School “B” has a ED1 deadline of November 1 (less than week from now). The Head Coach for School “B” said “Don’t worry about the November 1st deadline as your 2016 can apply ED2 in January.”
Here’s the dilemma…
S plans on visiting School “B” during the first week of November. S cannot, however, complete the visit and receive feedback on the pre-read from Admissions before the November 1st ED1 deadline. Assuming S falls in “love” with School “B” - as I anticipate - S is likely to select School “B” and apply in January via that school’s ED2 process. This means S will not apply ED for School “A”. That scares me. It is my understanding coaches have the most influence with Admissions during ED1 and not ED2. S could be throwing away a great opportunity at School “A” (via ED with full support by the Head Coach) for a slightly better opportunity at School “B” which is subject to that school’s ED2 process (acceptance rate is generally lower).
Is this too risky? Does the Head Coach’s ability to influence Admissions during ED2 vary by institution? What if the head coach at School “B” says he will fully support S’s application during ED2? Does that change things?
Any advice this Board can provide is greatly appreciated.
If the coach at B says the ED2 is fine, then it is. The acceptance rate might be lower overall but not for recruited athletes. There is always risk. If your son wants the ‘sure thing’ (or at least as sure as he can get in this situation) he needs to go for A.
If it were my child, I’d have the application all ready to send in for A on Nov 15, go to the visit to B and if that’s what he wants, and the coach says ED2 is good, then don’t send in the app for A.
Hopefully some baseball folks will chime in-- my son is a swimmer. I don’t know how much it varies from school to school but my son looked at one D3 school where the coaches said they had the most pull in ED1, a little pull in ED2 and no pull in RD. At least your son can visit School B before the Nov 15 deadline so if he does not like School B, he could still apply to School A in time. Good luck!
I am with @twoinanddone. At some level, you have to trust the coach. There is no immediately obvious difference from a coach’s perspective between ED 1 and 2. He is still trading support for a “locked in” recruit. The only thing that would give me pause is the pre read. If that comes back at all “iffy” I would want to have a long talk with your son about the risk of passing on a positive read from the other school.
I think academics and the total college environment should be the deciding factor, but I should not project my preferences onto others. How important is baseball to the overall decision?
Reason I ask is that some D3 LACs have a reputation for “over-recruiting” in baseball, and kids who think they were highly sought-after find themselves competing in fall of freshman year against both upperclassmen (which is to be expected) and multiple freshmen at their position. (There are always multiple pitchers per class, so that is an exception). In this case, the recruit appears not to have been near the top of the list at School B.
Maybe this is not relevant to the thought process in the present case. If it is, a quick roster check and a look through the roster archives can give some indication.
@hvbaseballDad you out there? If so, and if we are talking baseball, he can give some input too.
I know JH has a reputation for over-recruiting (JH is not in play) but I know for certain School “A” does not over-recruit. School “B” tends to have more kids on the roster but not by much.
Both schools are very strong academically with School “A” having a slight advantage.
I agree with the comments of the prior posters to defer to the coach about the relative impact of coach support during ED1 and ED2. As noted by two and done – as a general matter – there is a lower admit rate on ED2 than ED1 but I would not attribute that to less coach influence. That could be due to the lesser quality of the non-recruits who were unsuccessful in ED1 at their first choice college.
Still, as you point out, there is definite risk in the new approach advocated by School B. No matter how you slice it, if you wait for ED2 at School B, you are foreclosed from one ED application opportunity. If S went ED1 to School A and something went wrong he would still have ED2 at (possibly) preferred School B.
I think you should push School B a bit more. Coach at School B knows he is late to the party, he even apologized for that. I think you should tell him that you have a pretty good offer of support from a different school, and he should push admissions to get you a pre-read answer to you before November 5. Then, if the School B pre-read is iffy, you can still go ED1 to School A and preserve your ability to go ED2 to School B if that falls through.
All in all, though, it sounds like S has some sweet choices. Be grateful for that!
I am a little puzzled about why a pre-read was not completed by school B earlier. I am also wondering why coach B waited until 5 days before the ED deadline to offer full support and why coach B did not invite your athlete on an unofficial visit earlier. I would discuss this with coach B further before making a final decision.
LeftyRighty think he knows full well (or at least has a theory) why. I wasn’t there and so I wouldn’t know. However, I will say that musical chairs is an apt analogy. If a sought after recruit told coach shortly before the ED deadline that he is applying elsewhere early, a spot may have opened up. Some folks might take this as a dis, others might take it as a huge opportunity. Personally, I fall into the second camp. After all, who is ever going the athlete was not the no. 1 recruit, especially in four years when he is awarded that nifty degree. Grab the best opportunity even if it isn’t presented on the most stylish platter.
And it could be other reasons. My daughter’s coach is 7 months pregnant, signing day is in a few weeks, and if something falls apart now, I doubt she’d have time to fix it. Personal issues come up, assistant coaches leave, kids leave school.
School “B” has been touch and go since the Summer. They have maintained contact but fell short of requesting transcripts. Once they went “radio silent” for a few weeks, we decided to scratch them off the list and focus on others.
Thank you all for the cogent advice so far. Much appreciated.
This evening my S informed School “B” of his status and identified School “A” as his favorite. S did express willingness to considering School “B” but needed clarity on a few issues. S requested an expedited pre-read and asked some pointed questions on the exact level of support he could expect during ED2. He also asked how many other pitchers are being recruited to get sense of where he stands. Waiting on a response.
In my slice of experience, three or four pitchers in a recruiting class is par for the course–five if there are special circumstances such as attrition or injury–six, kinda over the top.
Of course, lefties are coveted. If the kid is the fifth pitching recruit of the year but the only lefty…well then.
Last year my nephew was offered support and was applying ED1 to D3 LAC. In Dec, the week before the admissions results were to come back from ED1 from the LAC, he got a call from an Ivy who had recruited him earlier. They had a kid decommit and asked my nephew if he was still interested. He was. So the Ivy coach told him to call the admissions at the LAC and change his application to RD. The Ivy then sent my nephew LL and since it was past the deadline to apply to the Ivy ED, he applied to the IVY RD, with LL in hand. He got into both RD and went to the Ivy. The key was this happened before he got the ED admit from the LAC.
Football. S’15 was deferred ED1 to his first choice on Dec 15 last year. A top 10 D3 LAC who gave him the “50/50 shot” from a preread in the summertime called again in October to get new ACT scores. He shows up at the HS a week before Xmas break to talk to head coach. Right after break a letter comes offering full support in the ED2 round. We called to confirm what full support was. Coach said he got 6 of 8 of his protected guys in ed1. We liked those numbers, S hopped on a plane to visit, came home and switched app from reg to ED2 and the rest is history. Happy frosh playing defense at a highly ranked D3 school.