One of my kids was a Williams recruited athlete and his app process went longer than usual. It can vary greatly even within a school by the sport. And the needs that crop up. Until the dust settle, the schools too often do not know who is showing up on the sports teams. Last minute changes are not unusual.
The issue appears to be with the common May 1st date for committing to a college, while letting other offers go at this time. In the case of OP’s daughter, a lot seems to have happened after May 16th.
@cptofthehouse Thank you, I didn’t know that. However, can a student be a recruited athlete at multiple LACs so late in the game? Not just a potential walk-on, but a recruited athlete filling in a slot or something. I’m genuinely curious, as I don’t know much about how this side of admissions works.
Long story but there were extenuating circumstances- would not provide any value to this site to elaborate and is not the purpose of these posts - thank you -
@jimmybobsutton I was asking only out of genuine curiosity. I wasn’t trying to be prying or nosy at all, and I hope it didn’t come across that way. If the OP doesn’t want to elaborate then it’s totally fine! However, it’s super presumptuous of you to speak on their behalf (unless you know OP somehow?? lol).
Yes @writingpumpkin03 slots in LACs and scholarship spots in DI/II can still be filled into RD, things don’t always go according to plan for coaches or players. This summer after the baseball draft, some baseball programs that lose recruits will start trying to poach frosh committed to other schools.
Think about the OPs situation for an example of this - the OPs daughter is going to reneg on her Williams commitment, so that will open up a slot. It’s like a domino effect.
@Mwfan1921 @suzyQ7 Thank you! That makes sense.
@writingpumpkin03, athletic recruiting is crazy. Not something I signed up to do with my kids, but I went through that gauntlet. The rules are all over the map if they exist for athletic recruiting. You won’t get an AO, AD or coach that will say so on record, but there is a lot of leeway.
Absolutely, if an opening comes up for a needed position, even if the school’s waitlist is closed, if a coach has a willing candidate, an offer can be made.
^ this - incredible amt of flexibility when rosters need to be filled - even post May 1
If there is any lesson that I learned from this entire experience (and kiddo #2 is right behind #1!), it’s never to underestimate the power and influence of a D3 coach with admissions. I was told by someone intimately Involved in the process that the “arms race” for talent is at a level that would have been unrecognizable 2-3 years ago (for basically all of the schools on kiddos initial list). This intense focus aside, we personally experienced a great deal of understanding and compassion when D exhibited concerns over first choice - these schools want to make sure the “fit” is right also, even after May 1st -
The other lesson is NOT to overestimate the power of coach and athletics in admissions. It’s not a slam dunk unless the athlete is way up there in a highly desired sport at s college. Yes, the ready to be played D1. Level football player will likely get a lot of considerations. Not so much the wrestler or swimmer or field hockey player. I well know a female soccer player who played at Ohio State. Yes, she was that good. But the schools were not exactly beating fine the doors for her to come join them.
It often comes down to trade offs among things like selectivity of the school, money, and getting in through the athletic dept. That was the situation for our athlete. Schools that were easy admit for him were the ones that tended to offer money. Williams, a school on his list sent him to the regular applicant process, and the coach showed no interest even though he well exceeded the abilities of most of that team. The fact of the matter there and then, was that the team didn’t need him, and the AD had other items on the dept wish lists more pressing.
It can be an extremely stressful process negotiating an athletic desk because it’s not like the rules are all out there, and you can lose opportunities by just doing the right things and you don’t know what they are. It’s not like you have an agent for this most of the time other than for the top dollar sports. Though that may be coming. High school GC isn’t going to be much, if any help. Ours were not. Coach can help but ours tended to be spotty with it. He was catch as catch can.
Should have prefaced my point with the caveat that I’m assuming the coach wants the kid. If not obviously it’s a different situation. Parents have to look in the mirror and do an honest self assessment of the situation…
Looked into many mirrors and tried to get as much info as possible. It was still a circus. I think things are more transparent with websites and forums out there for specific sports.
David Barry has a thread on why parents should not count on sports scholarships to pay for college. Of course, not. Can’t count on anything. I’ve seen academic hopes dashed by emotional upheavals, depression or plain old lack of interest and performance. Also, for most of us, we are looking for the best fit of s school and one that the student likes, not necessary the best deal.
It was very difficult to gauge the coaches’ involvement in admissions for my kid in a number of schools. In some cases it was overt but in others, it was not. At Williams, where there was no question that he would be a top contributing athlete, the coach was not interested . For my son, the choices came down to an academic edge in acceptances due to the sport or a full ride scholarship at schools where he was almost certainly, no, I think certainly going to get accepted without the support and even with some money. He was at a top level of D3 and mid level D1. At all but the very top level so his sport, he would have been competitive. It was a matter of who else was in line for the spots. Coaches can have picks long lined up so they aren’t interested.
Williams coach was very black and white with us - basically told us SAT minimum to get in. Probably differs by coach/sport
We went to college tour and info session at a school where the specific question was what the min SAT scores were for the college. The AO running the session was adamant that there was no such thing. We went from there to the coach who told my kid that he wasn’t going to get in through the athletic picks because he already had a list made and he didn’t make it, but that with SAT just a little higher, he’d get in through General Admissions. Kid was retaking anyways, got over that threshold, was accepted.
Helpful insight, thx
sooo which did she choose chicobeans?
She’s going to be a General!