I’m thinking of play D3 football next year at Wesleyan or one of the NESCAC conference schools. My high school coach has pretty much agreed to write me a recommendation to some college coaches. I’ve already contacted and e-mailed several coaches. Do you think it helps your chances if colleges know that you’re going to play football in college?
BTW I’m not stupid enough to think that sports are going to glide me into college especially at the DIII level! I also have decent grades and test scores.
(~1500 SATs) -practice tests
(~700 Writing) -practice tests
(790 World History)
Hovering near the top decile(top 10%). I wouldn’t be surprised if I was exactly 10%. I also take all APs/ honors at one of the most prestigious schools in Massachusetts.
How much will this football “hook” affect my chances?
<p>Use words like "decile" in your interview and you will be golden. LOL After I heard my stats professor say that word and said that I would probably never hear it again.</p>
<p>The football thing might give you a slight bump, but at the D-III level it really doesn't matter that much. Your stats should carry you in fine enough.</p>
<p>LOL. I didn't even know what decile meant until I asked my guidance counselor. Turns out I'm also in the top quintile! Whatever the hell that means:)</p>
<p>Speaking of which, how important are the interviews at liberal arts schools like Wesleyan? Their website says an interview is "strongly recommended" but in the Princeton Review it says that the interview is only considered a minor factor.</p>
<p>football can count a lot of the coach wants you, bad, but you have good stats regardless. PR data can be out of date, sometimes. IMO, anytime the college says strongly recommended, it ain't optional. Good luck.</p>
<p>If you really want to play, you need to contact the coaches and make sure you would be able to get on the team. Not sure how football works at all schools, but I know a lot of schools don't take walk-ons for the major sports.</p>
<p>Don't let them kid you. A recommendation from a college coach in a high maintenance sport like football (also called, a "tip" in adcom parlance) plus high board scores go a very long way in NESCAC where not only are the academics fierce but, where the self-imposed guidelines on how many tips are allowed per sport get more stringent every year. When a potential football player, wrestler, or hockey player (the main "helmet sports" in New England) with a 1500 SAT is admitted to Wesleyan or Williams, it means the coach doesn't have to pull any extra strings and can still use that tip in order to get someone else with a score of , say, 1200, admitted instead. It's a bit of a game; but, it pays to know how its played.</p>
<p>So right now I should be concentrating on getting as high a score on the SATs as possible, right?</p>
<p>I not sure I would be able to get a "tip" from the football coaches. From people I've talked to they look at size as an important factor and unfortunately I'm undersized for my position. When you apply would you normally submit a game tape or something for the coaches to look at?</p>
<p>Wraider, you have the stats to get into the schools without the football, so it will make for a very nice tip. Coaches will love that because they won't have to "use up" their low number picks for you. Though each school does things slightly differently, competitive D-3 schools do rank the athletes academically as well, and it really helps to up there like you are. Only very top picks, ie excellent players, needed players will get spots where the academics are given a quicky lookover. Since you are undersized, it is essential that you have those grades, unless you are a phenomonal player. You should submit a complete game tape of the best game junior year, and put together a highlights tape of you. You also need a sports resume. I would go and buy a "how to do" book for athletic recruits. They will tell you what to do and how to best go about it. </p>
<p>It is no shoo in. My S's close friend was just denied ED2 at a top LAC after the coach all but told him he was in. He had stats near the midrange of the accepted kids, but was undersized and his highschool coach had said some things that did not come out too well when asked by college coaches. Also there was another player, same position on the horizon. All of these things, he did not know, as I saw his mother the week before the decision and the family was already pumped to send him to this school. It was a pretty bitter disappointment.</p>
<p>As someone said, it depends. If you're a stud, you get that extra boost. From my experience with d3 schools, the amount of tip is related to the coaches standing with the admissions office (one's who have been there a long time tend to have more highly regarded opinions).</p>
<p>Where in Massachusetts are you at? That way I can assess how good your football team is :p</p>
<p>I have some friends thinking about playing at NESCAC schools, but none of them have grades anywhere near yours. On the other hand, we've won the Super Bowl the past two years and have had a bunch of Boston Herald and Boston Globe All-Scholastics, including the Globe Player of the Year and other accolades. Williams and Bowdoin coaches have told us that they will "help get us in" even though our test scores are not as high.</p>
<p>Wellesley, we finished 6-5 this year, ending our season with a four game losing streak. At one point we were 6-1 and ranked top 15 on Boston.com but everything sort of fell apart at the end. I'm wondering if you can submit some tapes of your early senior games, since I suffered numerous back/ neck injuries and pinched nerves during the middle of the season, and obviously the games after that weren't exactly my best? </p>
<p>And I'm guessing you're from Everett, and the Globe Player of the Year is Frank Nuzzo. Everett is pretty much the beast of Massachusetts high school football around here, although they did lose in the Super Bowl to Brockton.</p>
<p>If you are willing and show a love for the sport and wilingness to play, with your high stats, you may generate interest anyways for another reason. The sports teams generally like to keep a high average SAT/gpa, and there are kids accepted for that purpose.</p>
<p>If the coach puts you on his recruiting list...football will definitely help you get into schools....YES, even with DIII....Send the coaches game-tape along with your recs, and interview with the coaches if at all possible...Do EVERYTHING you can to get the coach to know and like you...</p>
<p>
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I'm wondering if you can submit some tapes of your early senior games
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sure ... and some advice I read that made a lot of sense was to send a tape of continuous portion of a game(s) and not a highlight reel ... the coaches will want to see how you play play after play and when you are not a central player in the play.</p>
<p>Another suggestion is to check out <a href="http://www.johntreed.com/%5B/url%5D">http://www.johntreed.com/</a> ... his son played at Columbia and he has a lot of opinions and stories on college football and recruiting ... there is a lot of stuff on this site so you need to hunt a bit (I haven't been on the site for a year or so so I'd think the content has changed a bunch)</p>