If an athlete has interest from coaches and positive pre-reads, but decides not to ED for whatever reason, can they still find a spot?
I’m not asking about a specific situation, just trying to figure out how this all works. As an example, imagine a kid who needs to compare financial aid offers. If they don’t apply ED, does that mean they can’t get any help with admissions? If they get into a school on their own, can they still play?
Does the answer vary according to sport?
It is really up to the coach(es) whether they will ‘hold’ a spot for an athlete to apply regular decision or if they will take the athlete as a walk on.
Often the school will give a financial pre-read to athletes too, so while you couldn’t compare a final offer, you might be able to compare financials to some extent.
My daughter was accepted to a school and was going to sign her NLI early, in Nov. At that time there was only a week to sign early or then you had to wait until April. Coach said she could wait but there would be no change to the athletic offer. She signed early. When we got the financial aid/merit package in Feb, it wasn’t what we expected so D was going to take a gap year. Fortunately, the merit offer was a mistake and when they fixed it she was good to go.
I think most coaches are understanding that the financials are important. It doesn’t do the team any good for you to be excepted and then not be able to go to the school because you can’t afford it. I think they work with the timing for recruits they really want but they expect you not to play games either. If you just want to wait because you want to see if you get a better offer, then no, they won’t hold the spot for you, but if you really are trying to make the money work, then they can be a help for you with the FA office.
Depends on coach, school, sport, year, etc.
But in the case of your example, recruits can request financial aid pre-reads so those comparisons can be made pretty early in the process.
Not every recruited athlete applies ED though, even at some of the super selective schools.
All true. However, at the D3 level a recruit who elects not to apply ED does take substantial risk, especially if he or she is very good, but not an impact player.
Listen to the message to the coach: I can’t commit to your school because I need to compare financial aid offers. Once I get those offers, I may well not join your team. I’ll go to the highest bidder. While a reasonable decision for you, it may be unreasonable for a coach with a limited number of recruits that he/she can support to support a recruit who very well may go elsewhere. If a coach is going to help with admission, he/she wants to know that the recruit is going to attend.
Typically, a coach tries to recruit with an eye toward filling the roster, and often (but not always) coaches promise recruits a roster spot for the first year. That, in turn, limits options for athletes who are admitted without coach support to make the team.
Just know the risks. If you are looking at a school that otherwise would be an academic reach (and recruits often are admitted to such schools with coach support), understand that waiting for RD may dramatically reduce your chances for admission. When in doubt, ask the coach.
It’s very possible that COVID made it a non-typical year, but my son had zero issue with not EDing as a 2021 graduate with coach support. This was D3 - NESAC, Patriot League and UAA schools. A few of his teammates were also not EDing with NESAC schools - but as I said, it’s highly possible the lack of OV and in general no swimming for a year, impacted their recruiting and it’s not indicative of how a coach will respond in 2024. Even in 2021 the D1 ivy athletes we knew had to ED.
Depends on the sport, school, coach and kid. Often, though, the quid pro quo for getting the coach support is your agreement to attend if accepted, hence ED. Coaches don’t get to make admissions decisions for kids who won’t end up on the team. If your kid is accepted without coach support, they may still get a roster spot.
My personal advice is to ED where he has coach support provided the school can also do a pre-read for FA and give you a number you can afford. You will lose the chance to compare offers, but if you are okay with the one you have, that isn’t a bad trade…
One thing that helped us when my D23 was in similar situations was that we set a cost limit very early in the process. So financially she wasn’t really comparing offers between schools but instead saying without loans, we need the total COA to be at this amount. The school she ultimately committed to was able to get it to that amount, other schools were not so she could not commit to them.
We found financial aid, admissions and coaching staff to be very accessible and honest worth what they could or couldn’t offer and in the end the COA was even lower then our pre read amounts. But at nearly all the schools my D did pre reads at it was made clear that coach support and pre results were only reflective of an ED application.
But also remember that you are likely dealing with 23-24 tuition and housing costs, look into historic data around tuition increases to get an idea what it will be for 24-24 and onward. We negotiated an additional 5,000 after being accepted because of a raise in tuition once 23-24 amounts came out
We are full pay, but my D24 has received expected merit awards in conjunction with her pre-reads (in fact, just submitted ACT scores to one school that may be able to increase the merit).
As others have stated, it really depends on the school, sport and athlete, but in short there are student athletes and schools that a coach would welcome on their team even if they did not commit ED.
At times there is a confusion, sometimes on purpose by the picture a parent may paint, about being recruited vs. being offered coaches support with admissions. For some schools, coaches support with admissions may not needed by an athlete for admittance, or it may not be available from the coach, though the coach still recruits, just without admissions support.
Some sports, such as football with large rosters, can find a spot for a good player that did not ED.
During a recruiting visit to a NESCAC, the coach was giving us a tour and pointed a Sr. HS student that had been admitted and was still deciding between their NESCAC and an Ivy. The coaches were hoping that they would pick their school and play for them. So I assume that this student did not ED with coaches support for admittance but was still more than welcome on the team.
If all of your understanding of college athletic recruiting came from this forum, you might believe that most student athletes go on to compete in the Ivy League or NESCAC. This isn’t the case.
Its good to remember that coaches can give student athletes a number or things. Scholarships, admissions help, roster slots, or a tryout. Only a very few schools have the carefully choreographed process of recruiting athletes for a finite number of admissions slots (or bumps) like you see in Ivy League and NESCAC. In these cases, the process is governed by league-wide agreements on how things go.
When a coach has a finite number of slots to use, they want to make sure they are used for athletes who will come and compete for them. These slots are admission slots, not roster slots. If they use a slot for an athlete who doesn’t come, the coach doesn’t get an extra slot. The Ivy and NESCAC (track/XC) coaches we spoke with all wanted to use their slots early, but if things fell through would use them for regular admissions as best possible. None seemed willing to save a slot for regular admissions for even a top recruit. The bird in the hand analogy was used by multiple coaches.
My son also spoke with coaches at some universities in the 25-75 US News range. These schools had (some) athletic scholarships, and could offer help in the admission process–if needed. However, the help they could offer was a much less formal process and it didn’t seem like there was a hard and fast limit to the number of recruits they could help. There was no discussion that early application was important for admissions, but roster size was potentially a limit.
This is just a way to say that the process and timing can vary greatly. A good ice-breaker question to a coach is to ask about their requirements and timelines.
I agree that the scope here is very narrow but if offered any athletic money (from book funds to full ride) at any division (d1, d2 or NAIA) a NLI is signed so a commitment to the school and a promise to only apply to one school is made. So while an ED commitment isnt required at these schools, an even more binding commitment is made with the NLI
That being said many student athletes commit to all levels after application deadlines have passed and don’t use ED - but if a coach is offering support it is important to see if that support and roster spot will be there later in the process.
Every kids journey is different and unique and ultimately most kids end up at a place they can thrive academically, athletically and socially
Absolutely, and signing an NLI usually comes with its own deadline, which is often independent of applications.
I have a friend who met a coach for the first time, accepted a scholarship, applied to the college and was accepted to the college while on-deck at a weekend swim meet after getting a huge drop in his best time in an event. That was a pretty extreme journey, but it can happen.
Similar story for one of my daughter’s teammates. This past winter/early spring a coaching change at a d1 school created an opportunity - visited, signed and applied all in the same day
There is no implicit or explicit commitment that the recruit only apply to one school (and at many schools timing of NLI isn’t coordinated with app timing). I have had quite a few recruiting situations go bad, and I always encourage my students to get some rolling and/or EA apps in and to keep talking with other coaches (but being upfront about any verbal commitments). Bad things happen. Examples in the last few years include coach reneging on NLI (told kid there’s no room on the team in May of kid’s senior year. Kid, who had legitimate draft aspirations, decided to not stick with said school), denial or deferral in ED round after positive pre-read and full support offer, fail physical at military academy due to previously undiagnosed condition.
I agree that many recruits do not apply ED, but most do at highly rejective schools.
Yes, important to verify offer of support. Not many coaches will guarantee a roster spot no matter the level of support, and of course it’s meaningless if and when a new coach comes in.
I understand verbal have no true commitment but what is the point of an NLI being signed if it doesn’t have any weight regarding roster placement and money amounts?
I have seen verbal fall apart in both sides and I have seen two athletes change their minds after signing NLI but never a coach or school not honoring an NLI if the student gets admitted.
Have also heard stories of kids not getting accepted ED after passing pre reads but luckily have not personally seen that, but no NLI at those schools.
Maybe girls soccer is different because a large number of signing happen in November (90%+ within her club alone each year)
I didn’t say anything about verbal commitments. IME they fall apart a lot. In football, they are a joke on both sides…seriously, some recruits commit and de-commit 5-10 times. Coaches less so, but still happens. New coaches often drop all previous verbally committed athletes.
NLIs are (generally) binding on both parties and the scholarship $ guaranteed…but not a roster spot. The kid in my example who signed an NLI in December of senior year could have still gone to the power 5 school where he signed (he was accepted and the school would have to honor the scholarship), but the coach said there was no roster slot for him in May, May of his senior year. No reason for this kid to attend said school under that circumstance.
Everyone always thinks their sport is different but typically that’s not true.
So sad that the coach did that to the kid. Hopefully he found a place to excel academically and athletically. And his youth coaches made it well known what was done to him by that coach and school.
That being said, I think all kids know (even if they don’t want to admit it) that there is no promise of anything related to playing time or travel roster or practice squad ect even with signing. We no a lot of kids who didn’t make a single game day roster after signing and attending schools - especially at power 5 D1s
My point was just that if you are offered athletic money and sign a NLI that is binding as long as you are admitted. The post i replied to mentioned athletic money in context of applying or not applying ED, and NLI supersedes a verbal ED promise
It is not typical for a men’s soccer recruit to commit/decommit 5-10 times, no matter the division level. And very rare for a coach to renege on a commitment. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of it happening, although I am sure it must have.
To be clear, that is just a football thing. Football recruiting IS different! (the only one IME)
Got it, I thought you might have been referring to football. I was responding though to the quote above – men’s soccer IS different!