I hadn’t seen a discussion started yet for athletic recruits for HS class of 2020. Thought we could all chime in about our experiences so far and as we go through the ED process.
My child is looking only at DIII colleges and is presently waiting to hear back regarding pre reads. My child is seriously considering only three colleges, all NESCAC. At all three colleges my child initiated email correspondence after submitting the online questionnaires back in early March.
At the first choice college, my child met with the head coach at an unofficial visit in May, and although that only consisted of a 30 minute one-on-one talk in the coach’s office (no personal tour of athletic facilities etc), the coach’s email correspondence since that visit has been plentiful and enthusiastic. Cautiously optimistic.
The coach at the second choice college has been very enthusiastic: numerous emails, written letters, day long unofficial visit, meeting with other athletes on the team, etc. Only college where my child feels actively recruited.
The third choice college coach is an enigma. On the unofficial visit, the head coach was very complimentary and seemed engaged in the interaction. The coach personally spent 2.5 hours talking with my child and giving a tour of the campus and athletic facilities. However, the email correspondence (both prior to and after the unofficial visit) has been very inconsistent and verbiage in the email has lacked enthusiasm. Not getting warm fuzzies about this one.
3 ILs and 5 DIII (2 NESCAC included) in the mix. Some coaches “found her” at the end of her spring season by sending her a personal letter, email or by contacting her coach. She initiated contact with most others by filling out the recruit questionnaires and sending an email / athletic bio to the coaches in March. The one exception was an unofficial visit with an IL coach in the fall. She heard back from all but one coach in early June and submitted academic data for pre-reads, as requested.
The 1st NESCAC coach called today with results. Pre read green light, told she was #1 recruit, asked to apply ED with full support and invited for OV in September. Other NESCAC coach is eager and has called and written several times and asked her to visit this summer. Three other DIII coaches email they are interested (some more enthusiastically than others), stress importance of ED, asked her to visit, but no phone contact and no word yet on pre read results.
First IL coach met with us for over one hour last fall. Said she was already “in wheel house” athletically and had no concerns about academics. He said he’d come out to see her in action during spring season and outlined summer admissions process. He asked her to email him frequently even if she had nothing to report. We left that meeting with the sense that he wanted her without any caveats. She sent him a handwritten thank you note and complied with his request for email updates. Have not heard one word from him since!
IL coach #2 contacted her in recent weeks with a personal email that included some athletic information which showed he researched her a bit. He also contacted her college counselor. She is in pre-read process and was invited to a junior day recruit session in a few weeks.
IL coach #3 was recently hired. He has had a number of email exchanges with her and has submitted her data to his academic liaison. Today, he invited her for an unofficial visit in a few weeks.
I’m grateful for all I’ve learned from CC. The advice and anecdotes are invaluable. It’s just hard to trust your gut when you read stories of pre read green lights followed by ED deferrals or rejections. I fully appreciate the musical chair dilemma on both sides. I feel confident she’ll be happy wherever she lands but I’ll be very glad when we reach the end of this rocky road.
I have a 2021, so I appreciate this thread, I am sure I will learn a lot!
As for the OP – if you are getting prereads, doesn’t that have to mean you are being recruited? That has to mean there is a level of coach interest, not everyone is offered a preread.
Best of luck to both of you as you navigate the process!
@cinnamon1212 In terms of pre-reads and recruiting status, I think of it this way – a pre-read means a program is interested in a prospective student, but a pre-read is not sufficient to say that student is a “recruit” or is being recruited. A pre-read means a program is interested enough to see if the student is a viable candidate. Until the coach says something like, “I’m offering you a spot on the team [if you apply ED],” then the student is still “in the mix” but not necessarily being recruited. Coaches who are very “warm” on a kid may fall out of the process entirely. For my kid’s process, I looked at all programs and relationships in terms of kid being a “prospective recruit” until the coach said, “kid, you have a spot on my team. I hope you’ll choose my school.”
I agree there is some level of interest on the coach’s part if a student is offered a preread. However, as you may know, many more athletes are offered pre reads than are offered support with admissions.
There are some great CC threads on recruitment that will aid you. The advice I’ve found here has been so helpful as our family tries to navigate the recruitment path. Especially all the information about tips, slots, bands… It is a bit overwhelming but reassuring to know there are other families going through the same nail biting process!
Good luck, OP, it is a grueling process. Went thru it this past year with D19 who will be playing her sport this fall at a NESCAC. I also learned so much from the CC recruiting threads.
Our process went late into October, D had all positive pre-reads but experienced lots of coach rejection throughout the summer and fall as the funnel relentlessly got smaller…I underestimated the impact of these rejections on her. To her part, she received an offer for a slot/full support in early September, had visited the school and although she liked the coach and team, did not like the school at all, just could not see herself there. It was difficult for her to turn down an offer at a good NESCAC, with no other offers in hand. But it was the right decision for her.
To people who haven’t experienced it, the athletic recruits seem to have it so ‘easy’ by being accepted ED and done by December…but they didn’t see the rejections beforehand, or the constant communications and followup (some that can be tricky too) , or the stress of waiting for an acceptance after applying ED, as we all know of students who thought they had full support and end up not being accepted.
Not sure we would have done anything differently, so much of the process is out of the student’s/family’s control…continue to communicate with the coaches and have your kid make decisions based on logic and fit rather than emotion (easier said than done for sure). Good luck.
I think we were lucky with our D20. Process started in earnest September 1 of her junior year when coaches could reach out to her. She fielded calls from D1 and D3 schools but decided she preferred D1. Had a couple of “offers” in late December but ultimately wasn’t that interested after taking some unofficial visits. She verbally committed to her dream school in April. She just received all of the information for her OV for the fall and will have her application in by August 1.
@Mwfan1921 Agree with you about the view that college admissions is somehow “easier” because of the recruiting process. At times, I felt college search for a prospective athlete was like what they used to say about Ginger Rogers – she did what Fred Astaire did, only backwards and in heels. Kid was finding schools that were academic safety, match, reaches AND which were recruiting for his position in his year, played a compatible style of play that he could contribute to, AND coach wanted him, as compared to all those other kids emailing, coming to camp, sending updated film. There were successes and rejections, and kid learned to move through it all with relative calm. At the end, I so enjoyed watching him grow from the awkward high school sophomore who had some goofy responses to coach’s questions into a comfortable young man who handled calling a favorite coach to explain why he was choosing a rival school over his. And the opportunity for growth as a college athlete just continues – from his teammates becoming his “fam,” to improving his time and project management, to leadership etc.
Thank you for the thread!
We are mainly looking at dIII schools, DS had sent out prereads to five schools, heard back from one (positive), still waiting for SAT subject tests results back on 7/10 to be sent to one more school.
It will be a busy fall semester with OVs and potential early applications.
I’ll be watching this thread out of curiosity. . . . not for my kid! Curiosity because kid around the corner in our midwest state has tweeted he’s “been offered” at two HYPS schools. I’m curious on all of that! hope it all works out for you guys - and kid around the corner, too.
Our D20 just sent out pre-read materials to 4 D1s and 4 D3s. Waiting to hear back from them. Interestingly, she has been invited to a few fall OV already (these are D1s and D3s- all non-Ivy and non-NESCAC schools). Have not heard back from Ivy and NESCACs. Anyway I was surprised since I thought coaches might want to know if she passed pre-read before offering OV. I’m also curious why the coaches didn’t wait until after the champ meets in July/August to extend the invite.
We did unofficial visits to almost all of them except two D3 schools- will visit over the summer. We still need to send SAT subject test results on 7/10.
@shishamo
“I’m also curious why the coaches didn’t wait until after the champ meets in July/August to extend the invite.”
The summer championship meets are long course meets and for D3 schools, (and NCAAs in general), short course meet times are more meaningful/important. My understanding is that good SC Times might/might not translate into good LC times, and vice versa.
Edit to add, the invite is ongoing, even for D1. DS’ club has someone committed to big time D1 in March of Senior year. Things happen.
@Mwfan1921 and @Midwestmomofboys : totally agree with you. The amount of work, hoops to jump through, etc. that an athlete goes through over the summer is, at times, daunting. It was an additional full-time job. It was a roller-coaster ride, for sure.
Our process was something like this:
Son reached out to schools/coaches he was interested in; we visited.
initial read (transcript to Admissions for them to give the ok to continue recruiting)
Coaches asked if he wanted to apply ED
Pre-read (minus the essay, felt like he was applying already - haha); took about 3 weeks
Results of pre-read in early August. We stressed to him that even though this came back positive at his top 2, this was not set in stone until a) he applied and b) Admissions rendered their decision. We stressed over and over that a coach yes is not an admissions yes. We sat on pins and needles from October until December.
Financial read - we could have done one for where he’s attending, but were advised that the NPC was very accurate. They were right. It was.
One thing I cannot stress enough is that the athlete communicate with the coaches. We heard from one that just doing the questionairre meant nothing. The follow up…and timely…was key. They wanted to see the sincere interest from the athlete before they pushed forward. We also stressed to our son to not burn bridges and be respectful of their time. As it turns out, one of the coaches of a school he didn’t go with he sees all the time - the relationship is very amicable. You never know where they’ll turn up :).
@shishamo - not uncommon at all to be invited for an OV before the pre-read results. In fact, we were in the middle of pre-reads when the invites came through for our son. Keep in mind, the coach already knew that based on his transcript, he was recruitable by the school’s academic standards, so he was already in the ballpark there.
As I see it, the pre-read helps the coach see who he/she is willing to support for admission based on the feedback they get. Clearly if the result is poor, they move on.
A good coach who’s been there long enough knows how admissions at their school rolls, and they’ll likely have a good idea when you provide them with basic academic info.
There were probably 10-12 kids on my son’s 1st OV. Out of those kids, my son, one other boy and a girl received support. There were 2 more cycles of OV’s after that. Keep in mind, after the OV some kids originally offered support may decide not to take the support offer and go elsewhere. Our son needed to let the coach know within a week (maybe less?) whether or not this was the top choice. I’m sure that’s so the coach can move on to the next in line if he opted elsewhere. Happens all the time.
Best of luck to everyone! It’s a wild ride, for sure!
@kjs1992 , @makemesmart, thank you for the explanation. Yes, we have been sending transcripts etc all throughout the junior year so the coaches probably have a good idea where she stands academically.
LCM results: a few of the Ivy coaches said they will come to the LCM summer champ meets to watch (and implied that OV invite may/may not follow). D20 is not one of the top recruit at these schools. Faster swimmers are definitely committing over the spring and summer.
My S21 has seen only the very top recruits on his club team for 2020 committed last fall and into spring. Many of those who would typically be fast enough to swim
D1 are just ramping up now. It seems like under the new rules, if you’re national level, you’ll see activity junior year, otherwise it’s still summer between junior/senior year before things really ramp up.
@Darcy123
For DS20’s club, the girls of class of 2020 are committing (D1) much earlier than the boys, which I guess is generally the case as there are more girls’ scholarship money than that for boys. @shishamo
Good luck. ?
Anyone have a DS/DD20 who will miss their senior season due to rehab from an injury? DS20 tore his ACL in May, had surgery three weeks ago and is recovering very nicely, but it’s a 9-12 month rehab before you can return to athletics. He is/was a kicker on the football team and hoping to play in college in Texas. Not any of the big ones, probably more medium to small ones. He has some limited film from his junior season, but we had a senior kicker last year so that kid did most of it. He has been training with some very well connected kicking trainers (until his injury) so we hope he can get back to that training next spring (perhaps March 2020). If there is a good thing about this injury, it’s that special teams (kickers, punters, long snappers) are almost always the last players that colleges look for.
Most kickers (except for the best of the best at the biggest schools) don’t get scholarships right from the start, so PWO would be great. I don’t think he’s “big D1” caliber (such as UT, Texas Tech, etc.) but possibly the FCS D1 schools like Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston State, etc.
Son, just went through the recruiting process and landed at U Chicago as its #1 recruit in his sport. Also got offers from Columbia etc. I would say the following about athletic recruitment as someone who went through a steep learning curve ( still have things I don’t know) in 2 years:
It’s the most meritocratic process in today college admission. Things are mostly in the open and data driven, blind to race, income, sexual orientation, family connection. So have faith in it.
It also is impossible to faking, plagiarism, parents window dressing. These are the skills the students possess and it’s pretty transparent. Sometime you even know who you lost out to and why.
However, also want to mention two major difficulties people tend to overlook:
It’s super competitive. A lot of these top schools recruit nationally and internationally. Just think about this: only 5-7% HS varsity players get to play college. That’s no better than the regular admission rate of Harvard/Yale/UChicago. All these recruits have been watched, watched over and vetted for more than a year before talks like pre-read happens. My son was #1 in our state in his position, and he lost out to #16 in GA in Harvard. A lot of parents tend to over estimate the competitiveness of their kids and felt so shocked at the outcome.
This process is mostly transparent until the last minutes where coach needs to show his true cards with admission office as to on whom he wants to use his slots, on whom he would use soft support. A lot of surprise happens there. Know where you are is critical, but hard for 17-18 years old. It’s not coach being bad, just it’s constant moving target as he’s trying to recruit the best up to the decision time. Don’t over shoot your level and always have a backup plan, unless you received the OFFICIAL likely letters.
