How to go about Ivy League recruiting?

Athletic Recruits
1

<p>This is my first post to the CC community, despite my many hours stalking the forums, so I would like to say hello to everyone! :)</p>

<p>I am a track and field athlete for the class of 2013, and have been recently starting to look deeply into where I want to continue both my academic and athletic career. I've taken a strong liking to the idea of attending an Ivy/Stanford. But due to the hectic recruiting process for the former, I've come here looking for advice. </p>

<p>I believe I am more than athletically qualified to compete at an Ivy division level, and have even been shown a considerable amount of interest from top competetive DI schools (Alabama, Oregon, uMiami). The problem is my academic merit is probably not enough to get me in to these top schools by itself (I will include all stats at the end). </p>

<p>This lack of academic confidence makes me feel like I will be taking a huge risk next year waiting until late March to figure out if I'm going to be running for the Ivies rather than commiting somewhere else. Since most track and field recruiting is completed by February/March it will be pretty much a hit and miss on whether I lost the opportunity to run at some of these great schools, or alternatively have an amazing Ivy League admission day. </p>

<p>Sorry if this is becoming redundant, I'm just trying to express my concern as thoroughly as possible. I suppose my concrete quesiton is how I should approach Ivy League recruiting as a tier 1 priority, while keeping scholarship options open from other universities. </p>

<p>(And I have discussed this with the coaches from Brown, Columbia, and Princeton, but their advice was hardly reassuring -- they simply stated that they could fight for me in admissions/send likely letter, But I'm not sure how exactly that would work/how effective it would work or if this would even come before scholarship offer deadlines)</p>

<p>Thanks to anyone who has read this far, and I appreciate any feedback. If you need any more information please ask.</p>

<p>Here are the stats I promised.</p>

<p>GPA: 3.92
ACT: Scheduled for April but practice tests suggest 28-32
Rank: Top 10%
Awards: 6x Academic Letter Winner, 2x Distinguished Honor Roll
EC's: National Honor Society, Link Crew, Student 2 Student, FBLA, varsity soccer, varsity track.</p>

<p>Also my track stats for those who are curious (from sophomore year):
300m hurdles: 37.78 (State Champion)
110m hurdles: 14.80 (9th place state)
60m hurdles: 8.61 (Don't really run indoor)
4x400 Leg 1 (50.1)</p>

2

<p>If an Ivy League school recruits you for track, the offer of a Likely Letter usually comes in the fall or early winter of your Senior year, well before the NLI signing date. </p>

<p>I would agree that your times look to be in range. Your academics could be in range as well, depending on how you do on SATs. (search Academic Index). The coaches will show more interest once you have some real test scores to report.</p>

3

<p>If an Ivy was interested and sent a Likely in the fall or winter, would that mean I would have to apply to all these schools EA?</p>

4

<p>The coach wants to know that you are very serious about attending if offered a LL, so yes, applying EA is usually requested of LL recipients. HYP are single-choice EA (non binding, but you can only put in one EA ap) the rest are binding ED, I believe.</p>

5

<p>IvyHurdler,
a likely letter is only issued AFTER you have sent in a full application to the school, so you usually cannot apply to several schools. In other words, you’re not supposed to “collect” likely letters and decide later where you want to attend.
If you are seriously pursuing the ivies, and they are pursuing you, here’s an approximate timeline:
In June/July or thereabouts, the coaches will request copies of your test scores and transcript to submit to admission.
If they get the go-ahead from admission and want you to come to their school, they will ask you to get your application ready as soon as the materials are available (August). Some may even ask you to apply and submit other material later (essays and recommendations).
Either way, you need to ask your college counselor and teachers who will write recommendations to get everything ready earlier than for the regular applicants.
The coaches will set up official visits, which can start on the first day of class or Sept. 1.
You’ll go on official visits.
If there’s agreement with a coach, you officially apply.
The likely letter can be issued starting October 1.
You’re done.</p>

<p>Now, if you are interested in a non-ivy, you won’t have a written letter in hand that early. So, if you want to be 99.9% sure, the ivies actually give you a ‘quasi-admission’ letter earlier. However, although the signing period only starts in February for track and field, I would bet that students who are signing with Stanford or other D1 schools would have a firm agreement beforehand, i.e. before the early deadlines at the ivies. E.g. students who sign in November, usually get the whole admission process going over the summer.</p>

6

<p>@Beenthere2</p>

<p>Thanks that is all great information. My plan wasn’t really to collect likely letters, but I wanted to contact the coaches from all the Ivies because honestly I would happily attend any of them. And with the chaos surronding admissions these days I wanted to play it safe in case a coaches recommendation wasn’t strong enough to get me in. </p>

<p>-- Another question that stems from that is: exactly how strong of an influence does a coach have in the admission office? --</p>

<p>My top priority is attending an Ivy school and if I just happened to be rejected to all of them I want to know how I could maintain contact with other public universities about scholarship opportunities by the time Ivy Admission Day came around. I plan on applying early to Harvard and Princeton because those are the only two nonbinding early admission options, but after that it is a game of luck and prayer since I am not ready to commit to an ED application quite yet.</p>

7

<p>If a coach puts your ap on his list to admissions for a LL, the chances are very good that you’ll receive the LL. Once you receive that LL in the fall - it’s rock solid. The only way it gets rescinded is for criminal activity, bigtime drop in grades or cheating - basically the type of thing that would get a regular admission rescinded.</p>

<p>So if you get the LL in the fall from an Ivy, congratulations - you’re done. If the Ivy coach can’t get you the LL - continue the recruiting process with other schools.</p>

8

<p>^ what Varska said. If the coach wants you and you meet the academic threshold (3.9 GPA, top 10%, 32 ACT should probably do it; the coach will know), then your acceptance is very likely. By very likely, I mean approaching near certainty, as oppossed to the sub 10% rates for the general applicant pool.</p>

9

<p>@ivyhurdler
If both the Harvard and the Princeton coach want you and have received the go-ahead from admission, you will have to decide on one of them and apply there. You can’t apply to both at that point because the coaches won’t go for it. The Harvard coach doesn’t want to use up a spot with admission, only to find out later that you’ll go to Princeton, and vice versa.</p>

<p>Basically, what I’m saying is that now is the time to be in contact with all coaches, ivy and the D1 schools. By the summer and over the summer, you will be able to figure out where you want to go and where you will be admitted. You will know relatively early whether you will get a LL, so until then, you will be in contact with all the coaches you are interested in and who are interested in you. So, you won’t have to wait until March to find out whether you’re accepted by an ivy.</p>

<p>I don’t know how fast your times are in comparison to others who are also class of 2013 and academically in the ballpark, nor whether the respective colleges are looking for someone in your discipline. Have you contacted the coaches yet, and what’s their interest?</p>

<p>Also, make sure that you have a good reason why you want to attend the respective school, and not just because it is an ivy. So, when you contact the coaches, and especially later, when contact is established, explain a little why their school and team.</p>

10

<p>varska and been there absolutely correct. The likely letter is after you and coach have verbal commitment. just remember that you will not know what the financial aid package may be til after. also, financial package need based only, no athletic $. you will only be able to apply to one school this way; some binding others not. later rounds in ivies are not so easy since they are able to fill spots with committed applicants. your academic index needs to be on target (don’t know what for track specifically but from what i hear, pretty high). that ACT must be over 30, maybe even 32. Also, for a number of ivies you need SAT II’s as well. Ideally have all testing by July so, when coaches are able to more freely speak with you, the coach will know what he/she is really dealing with. Until then, it’s all conjecture. Good luck</p>

11

<p>Ivyhurdler,</p>

<p>Harvard and Princeton are both single-choice early action. That means you can only apply early to one of them, not both. From the Princeton website, a clarification of what single-choice early action entails:</p>

<p>"You may not apply to an early program at any other private college or university, but you may apply early to any public institution, as long as the decision is nonbinding. </p>

<p>You may apply to any international institution, as long as the decision is nonbinding.</p>

<p>You may apply to any college with a nonbinding rolling admission process."</p>

12

<p>

So it would seem. But is that really true? I’ll start another thread to explore the question.</p>

13

<p>absolutely true, if anyone finds out you applied to more, they will not accept you and will rescind an admissions offer! this is most basic honor code of the system. I also believe that common app will not allow you to sign more than one ED choice! you, your parent, and your college counselor all must sign the agreement. no HS should not allow this. you must sign an agreement that you are only applying to one. you can only apply to one early decision regardless of whether or not it is binding unless it falls into the above mentioned exceptions.</p>

14

<p>^Sherpa brings up an interesting point in the follow up thread. If you submit your ap before the EA deadline, but don’t designate it EA -you may be able to get your LL decision without having to play your only EA card</p>

15

<p>^Sherpa, sure, you could do the above. But then you’re not applying early. The OP mentioned that she intended to apply early to Harvard and Princeton, by which she meant EA --not just sending her app in before the deadline. And I quote: “I plan on applying early to Harvard and Princeton because those are the only two nonbinding early admission options”</p>

<p>My previous post stands. You may not apply early, meaning EA, to more than one SCEA school (exceptions --public universities, etc.–as noted).</p>

16

<p>^correction: that should read: if you’ve chosen the SCEA option at one school, you may not apply early to any other school, with the exception of public universities, etc.</p>

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<p>I think if a coach tells you that they will go for a LL, chances are pretty high that it will happen. Of course, there are always cases where it was “the first time” that admission did not play along and a recruit did not get a LL. However, if you apply early in September, you should either have your LL by the second week of October or the news that you won’t get a LL. In that case, there’s still time to withdraw the application or change it to RD and apply somewhere else.</p>